除了假装工厂,贸易公司还能如何拿下客户？

　　除了假装工厂，贸易公司还能如何拿下客户？ 双语文章，大家可以在学知识的同时练练英语。创_丹牛 文&编_可妮酱 来源_外贸G友团。

　　If a trading company says "our advantage is price, and our price is lower than many factories", I believe your first reaction must be doubtful.

　　如果一家贸易公司说：“我们的价格具有优势，而且还比很多工厂都要便宜得多”，我想你一定会翻个白眼给他。

　　How can the price of a trading company be lower than a factory?

　　贸易公司的价格怎么可能比工厂还低？

　　But in fact, this is possible.

　　但不好意思，这还真就是可能的。

　　The reason is very simple, because plenty of factories all have problems in cost management.

　　原因非常简单，因为很多工厂在成本管理方面，本来就是存在问题的。

　　Although they have been fighting with the "visible cost" for a long time, they have always ignored the "invisible cost".

　　尽管他们一直都在努力地和“看得见的成本”搏斗，却总在忽略“看不见的成本”。

　　what is the visible cost?

　　什么是看得见的成本呢？

　　Wages,equipment costs, marketing costs, etc., these are all visible costs.

　　工资、设备费用、营销费用……这些都是看得见的成本。

　　So, what is the invisible cost?

　　那么，什么是看不见的成本呢？

　　Before explaining, let me share you a story.

　　在解释之前，我先给大家分享一个故事吧。

　　About two years ago, we established a partnership with a supplier.

　　大概是两年前的时候，我们公司和一个供应商确立了合作伙伴关系。

　　At first, everything went very smoothly.

　　一开始，一切都进展得非常顺利。

　　But after about a year of cooperation, we found that something was wrong.

　　但在合作了大概一年时间后，我们发现有些地方不太对劲。

　　That is, no matter what we ask him to do, he will waste lots of time.

　　那就是，无论我们让这个供应商去做什么，他永远都是磨磨唧唧的。

　　After in-depth communication, we found that it is all caused by their Cumbersome process.

　　深入沟通后，我们发现，这完全是因为他们工厂的流程太繁琐了。

　　Any decision in the factory needs to be approved by the purchasing, production, finance and other departments.

　　每做一个决策，都需要经过采购、生产、财务等其他部门的审核和批准。

　　And the most incredible thing is that we even experienced a delivery period as long as half a year.

　　而最不可思议的是，我们甚至还经历过一次长达半年的交货期。

　　That is to say, they have almost doubled the delivery time.

　　也就是说，他们把货期给活生生地拖长了两倍。

　　In this case, they can only accept half of the orders from us in one year.

　　在这种情况下，他们一年也只能接下我们一半的订单。

　　It is conceivable that at such a low turnover rate, the cost of the factory will naturally soar.

　　可想而知，在这么低的周转率下，工厂的成本自然就会飙升。

　　And this is one kind of invisible cost.

　　而这就是一种看不见的成本。

　　Therefore, the invisible cost refers to the waste of resources that are easily ignored in the operation or management process.

　　因此，看不见的成本可以被理解为是，那些在经营或管理过程中很容易被忽略的资源浪费。

　　In a word, it is these invisible costs that are constantly pushing up the total cost of the factory.

　　总而言之，正是这些看不见的成本一直在推高工厂的总成本。

　　This is one of the main reasons why we cannot simply equate factories with low cost.

　　这也是为什么我们不能简单地把工厂等同于成本低的主要原因之一。

　　In particular, many factories are just doing assembly work and have no core competencies at all.

　　尤其是很多工厂仅仅只是在做一些组装的工作，完全没有核心竞争力可言。

　　For them, cost is actually a big problem.

　　对于他们来说，成本实际上就是一个大问题。

　　Of course, you may ask me, since factories cannot do it, how can trading companies realize it?

　　当然，这个时候你可能就会问了，既然工厂都做不到低成本，贸易公司又怎么可能实现呢？

　　Actually, there are many things they can do to achieve this goal , such as the following:

　　事实上，为了实现低成本的目标，有很多事情是贸易公司可以做的，譬如以下这几件：

　　1

　　Sourcing and selecting quality suppliers

　　开发优质的供应商

　　For some people, finding a supplier is a very simple matter.

　　在一些朋友看来，寻找供应商是一件非常简单的事情。

　　But in my opinion, it's as difficult as finding a right soulmate.

　　但在我看来，这件事情和找到另一半契合的灵魂一样困难。

　　After all, in B2B field, we all are looking for long-term relationships, not one-night stands.

　　毕竟在B2B领域，大家追求的都是长久的合作关系，而不是一夜情。

　　That also means,  you can never expect to find a quality supplier on the B2B platform with the simple sentences like "Do you have XX products? I want to purchase".

　　这也意味着，你无法奢望凭着一句“你有做XX产品吗？我要下单”，就能够在B2B平台上开发出优质的供应商。

　　This behavior is quite stupid and ridiculous.

　　这是非常愚蠢和可笑的一种行为。

　　You have to understand that those quality suppliers are not short of orders, you can not use orders to bind them.

　　你必须明白，那些优质的供应商们都是不缺订单的， 你也无法用订单去束缚他们。

　　Therefore, for trading companies, they can first select a supplier with experience in supply chain management.

　　因此，对于贸易公司来说，可以做的就是，先筛选一家在供应链管理方面有经验的供应商。

　　Then, they can form a long-term strategic partnership to win support.

　　然后再通过建立长期的战略合作关系，来赢取对方的支持。

　　2

　　Educate and manage suppliers

　　教育和管理供应商

　　In fact, managing suppliers is similar to educating employees.

　　事实上，管理供应商就和管理下属是有异曲同工之处的。

　　Just as employers cannot ensure that every employee is a talent before he or she is hired, buyers cannot ensure that every supplier can do best before he or she is educated.

　　就像雇主们无法确保，每位职员在被招进来之前都是优秀的一样，采购也无法确保，每位供应商在被教育之前，就能独当一面。

　　In particular, it is undeniable that many suppliers have no experience in supply chain management.

　　尤其是，我们不可否认，很多供应商在供应链管理方面都是没有经验的。

　　In this case, trading companies need to spend time and energy to improve the management capabilities of the suppliers.

　　在这种情况下，贸易公司就需要花时间和精力去提升供应商们的管理能力。

　　Although these are all nice words, what does that mean on a practical level?

　　但话虽如此，实际上应该如何操作呢？

　　Simply, trading companies can act as a consultant to help suppliers identify problems and propose solutions.

　　简单来说，贸易公司可以像一个咨询师那样，去帮助供应商们发现问题，并提出解决方案。

　　3

　　Manage the sub-suppliers

　　管理下级供应商

　　The sub-suppliers, in simple terms, refers to the supplier's supplier.

　　下级供应商，简单来说指的就是供应商的供应商。

　　In the traditional business model, we are basically unable to reach the sub-suppliers.

　　在传统的商业模式中，我们基本上是无法接触到下级供应商的。

　　Especially in the case of limited resources, we can only manage the major supplier, and the responsibility of managing the sub-suppliers is more given to him.

　　尤其是在资源有限的情况下，我们只能管理主要供应商，并把管理次级供应商的职责给到他。

　　But it seems to me that managing the sub-suppliers by ourselves is necessary.

　　但站在我的角度来看，亲自管理下级供应商是非常有必要的。

　　Because it can at least bring us the following three benefits:

　　因为它至少能给我们带来以下这三大好处：

　　① Reduce purchasing cost through scale effect.

　　通过规模效应，实现采购成本的降低。

　　② Ensure raw materials meet terminal technical standards.

　　确保原材料符合终端技术标准。

　　③ Ensure our unique value and core competence in the supply chain.

　　确保我们自身在供应链的独特价值和核心竞争力。

　　That is to say, trading companies can achieve cost reduction and speed up through the management of sub-suppliers.

　　也就是说，贸易公司可以通过对下级供应商的管理，来实现降本提速。

　　4

　　Achieve optimal configuration of the supply chain

　　实现供应链的最优配置

　　As a buyers, what would you do if you need to purchase 10,000 street lamps?

　　作为一个采购，假如你需要采购一万个路灯，你会怎么处理？

　　I believe that most buyers will try to find a factory which can produce street lamps, and then place the order.

　　我相信大多数人的做法都会是，尽量找到一家生产路灯的工厂，然后把订单下给他。

　　But in fact, this practice will increase a lot of purchasing costs.

　　但实际上，这种做法会增加大量的采购成本。

　　A better way could be to purchase  parts from different places where the raw materials are the cheapest.

　　更恰当的方法应该是，从不同地方采购路灯的零部件，而且这些地方的原材料价格都是最低的。

　　For example, we can purchase the shell of the street lamp from ningbo and the lens of the street lamp from wuxi.

　　譬如，我们可以从宁波采购路灯的壳体，从无锡采购路灯的透镜。

　　After that, we can choose a factory with low labor cost to assemble the parts.

　　在此之后，我们可以选择一家劳动成本低的工厂，去完成零部件的组装。

　　Rember that all competition is essentially supply chain competition.

　　记住，所有的竞争本质上都是供应链的竞争。

　　This is one of the important reasons why trading companies can be cheaper than factories.

　　这也是为什么贸易公司能比工厂更便宜的重要原因之一。

　　In a word, what matters is not whether you are a factory or not, but whether you have the supply chain management capabilities.

　　总而言之，你是否是工厂不重要，重要的是，你是否具备供应链管理能力（原标题：除了假装工厂,贸易公司还能如何拿下客户？）。