Everything Chinese is not...

                          Definition of Junk: Chinese Trade Vessel

In the following email exchange, Mark Knudson, owner of Modern Fence Technologies was seeking relief from excessive emails from an exporter. He responded to the email with a request that the sender stop spamming him and other members of the North American Fence Contractors Association.

The sender apologized and promised to stop sending. Mark pointed out that he had heard from four members, complaining of this one sender spamming them. The sender then apologized again and said that the goal was to put information in front of potential customers, and started to defend the quality and price of the product offered, and again promised to not send email again.

Mark then responded by inviting the sender to consider joining NAFCA, which would accomplish the goal of putting product in front of potential customers through the regional and international Expos. The response was friendly, with the sender stating that because there is a cost to join, approval from a superior was required, then went on to try to differentiate from all the “many similar emails everyday”, and asked if Mark had ever bought from China and was he satisfied with quality and delivery time.

Mark's response was that the emails are referred to as “spam”, because they are junk. He pointed out that the market is full of junk, and no one likes to put out money for junk. He went on to encourage the sender that there is a right way and a wrong way to do business, and only one way that is sustainable.

Apparently, he struck a nerve. The response was all out of proportion to the discussion, and quite revealing. I'd love to dissect the message in full, but I'll leave that to the reader. I have heard the objection in point three hundreds of times. And not just about Chinese suppliers. U.S. Suppliers run into this same attitude all the time. Everyone wants something for nothing, or at least that's what they want to leave you with. The suppliers that survive this constant struggle are the ones who refuse to sacrifice their integrity or the value of their products to demands for lower price.

The final point devolves into a rant about the U.S. and, if it weren't so serious, would be funny. The sender touches on a faint glimmer of understanding of the point Mark was trying to make, in the line “our quotation is not cheap,but we can guarantee our quality.” Once the sender understands what that statement really means, selling will become much more rewarding.

The fact is, price is never the only objection. It is just the first one that most people will throw at you. Especially in the U.S., where we are conditioned to want to have one of everything, and most people are willing to sacrifice the quality of the things they have in order to cross more lines off their list of things they don’t have.

The only way I can see to reconcile Mark and the sender of these emails is to teach the sender how to sell quality, integrity, service and value instead of price. Until that happens, spammers will be annoyed, and Mark will continue not buying Chinese imports.

          The email exchange is posted here.