A regretful email

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Chris，我之前有个德国意向客户有给我一次回复 但是我没有把握好 半夜邮件回的太急了没有考虑清楚就发了 后面发了好几次他都不理我了，但是打电话给他公司还是有其他人接听 应该是家族企业 这种情况有办法破解吗？

当我看到这个问题时，我最初的想法是因为是半夜回复邮件太急了，导致价格报错，或者是急于回邮件有些问题没有交待清楚，但实际情况不是这样：

Customer's inquiry:

"Dear James,

nice to meet you by this way. I’m R, General Manager of HT

HT is found 2007, we are Agents and deputies for ABC Products with more than 100 customers which we have good business since years. Our goal is to keep a long term relationship which is based on honest, transfer and polite together.

We only work with real manufactures – NO SALES/DEALARS !

Are you manufacture, or onyl a sales office ?

Do you have Agents in Germany ?

Do you have customers in Germany – any reputations ?

If I‘ll send you a RFQ with customers datas, how I can be sure you never will contac rmy customer directly ?

NDA ?

QAA ?"

这是一封很不错的主动建立联系的询盘，客户的问题也很具体，客户的职位是general manager，本来是一个价值很高的询盘。

我们看看James是怎么回复的：

Lieber R,  

Thank you so much for your email.

Yes, we are the real manufacturer of ABC . Die Welt ist so groß(①）, there must some companies accept SALES OR DEALARS, we shouldn't use lie to get a new customer.(②）

We only make ABC-1, ABC-2, ABC-3, and ABC-4.

Sorry that we don't have agents in Germany. Before COVID-19 I always went to Germany, most of time mache ich Urlaub（③）.

We have customers in Germany, but not so much, mainly three trading companies order to us, they are located Munchen, Berlin, and Schwarzenbruck. If you need to know their name I have to ask for their agreement first.

There might have hundreds of people from China contacting you everyday ④and ask for a chance to service you. but you choose us to build you a quote, and we contact your customer directly, it's a kind of cheat, not a good way to show our thanks.

NDA or QAA is unnecessary, ⑤ you have my word⑥. Money is nothing before Honest. But if you need it we can sign it for sure.

Unfortuanlly now because of COVID-19 it's diffcult to come China, or I go Germany. Normally I will be in Munchen on November for Electronica xx. After this kind of situation pass you are very welcome to visit our factory. You will be in my list during next trip to Germany.⑦

When you have any question please feel free to contact me at any time.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen ⑧

James,

①，Die Welt ist so groß是德语换成英语的意思是：the world is so big.（世界太大了），正常的商务邮件只有在首尾寒暄的时候可以切换成客户语言，在正文中是不允许切换为其他语言的，在这里有一种随意、冒犯甚至是故意炫耀自己德语的意味。

②，We shouldn't use lie to get new customer. 我们不用谎言来获取客户，仔细体会有一种意思是：我们不屑于用谎言来开发新客户。

③，mache ich Urlaub德语翻译成英语是on vacation（大部分时间是在度假），又是正常英文邮件切换成德语表示度假。

④，这里想表示的意思是虽然国内每天有几百人联系你，但是你信任我，我们反倒去直接联系客户说不过去。但这种说法（几百人联系你之类的）在正式邮件里不得体，你要拿出让客户选择你的理由和信心。

⑤，NDA or QAA is unnecessary, 保密协议和质量保证协议没必要，⑥you have my words,我说到做到。money is nothing before honest，可能的意思为没有表现出诚意以前金钱不值一提。but if you need, we can sign it for sure. 补充一句：如果需要的话，我们也还是可以签的。

⑦，you will be in my list during next trip to Germany.意思是下次去德国，你会在我的拜访清单上。买方用这种表达，似乎大家更习惯一些？

⑧, Mit freundlichen Grüßen 意思为Best regards,

这封邮件发过去以后，客户从此再无回复，无论是邮件，电话，拜访，客户一概拒绝，得知客户的公司被收购，以后再也没办法联系合作了，james说：

“这件事情一直压在我心里 我就是写完这个邮件 开发了这个客户以后 一直时不时会想起这个客户 后悔我的措辞”

我的回复是：这是你在膨胀时期写的邮件。james回复：是的。

我们这个时候应该回头去看看客户在做自我介绍时说的一句话：Our goal is to keep a long term relationship which is based on honest, transfer and polite together. 这里的transfer是客户的角色和身份决定的，而对着james的回复，另外2个词honest和polite显得异常的扎眼。

总结；james入行的时候就开始向我咨询问题了，我认为这个产品是不错的，很有竞争力和行业壁垒，在沉淀了很长时间后，开始在欧洲到处飞谈客户等，不用想肯定是客户大爆发了，再加上产品在行业内有竞争力，很容易膨胀。这个客户的不回复，纯粹是因为自己的头脑发热造成的，当自己的客户群体无限膨胀，态度上已经到了无法冷静的地步了，所以用词随意、散漫、甚至有一些自大，比如you will be in my list durng next ...。当行业进入冷静期或者个人业务进入瓶颈期时再回头看这封邮件会有悔恨终身的感觉，最关键的是客户再也没有给你弥补这种冒犯的机会，因为公司被收购了。

这封邮件值得每个人读一读，外贸人的一言一行面对的都是活生生的客户，每一句话，每个措辞都可能造成无法挽回的局面，同时也足以让自己遗憾终身。

客户询盘邮件：

james回复