An American customer inquired about the price, and I provided a detailed CIF quotation as well as the current sea freight rates. However, after sending the email, I never received a reply. I sent several follow-up emails, but there was still no response. Moreover, I could see this customer online on MSN every day, even at 2-3 PM (which is 2-3 AM in the US, sweat!!). When I sent him a message on MSN, he didn't reply either. I'm so confused... What's going on here?
Last week, I couldn't help myself anymore and decided to give him a call. In the evening, when I got home, I waited until around 9 PM, thinking it was probably a good time. With a notebook containing some prompts I had prepared, I made the call, but all I got was a voicemail. Hmm~5~5~5~, sigh, nothing can be done, leave the message then, and hang up.
After hanging up, I wasn't satisfied. I thought maybe he hadn't arrived at his office yet. So, I waited until 11 PM and picked up the phone again. This time, the ringtone only sounded twice before it connected. The other side already started speaking, but I was still catching up, sweating!! After the other party repeated themselves, I finally spoke, but after a few pleasantries, I realized something was off - there was no response. I said "Hello" twice and discovered that - the line dropped! Oh my goodness!! I wanted to bang my head against the wall. How could the connection be lost just when we finally connected?? Determined not to give up, I called again!! Once, twice, three times, but no one answered. Speechless, how could this happen??
A while later, I picked up the phone again, and finally, we connected. I asked if he had received my email and how he felt about it, etc. During the conversation, I sensed he might be calling from outside, so I asked, and indeed, he was on a business trip, which explained why he didn't reply to my emails. Then what about MSN? Dizzy, it turns out his family members were using it (you should have told me!). He also informed me about the current progress on his side and said there should be some developments next week. Then, BYE BYE.
Finally, I could relax. It was not easy!!
What I want to tell everyone is, don't give up easily, after all, every potential customer is hard to come by. If one way doesn't work, try several more times, and express directly what you need.