Top ten foreign trade growth platforms

Factory owners, do you think foreign trade is particularly difficult this year? Platform costs rise year by year, but most of the inquiries come from peers who compare prices; the cost of raising a foreign trade team is high, newcomers are slow to get started, and veterans are afraid that they will take away customers; if you want to be an independent station, investing money is like a stone sinking into the sea, not even a splash can be seen. What is the problem? Because the tools you use may be behind this era.

Today, let's take a look at the software and platforms on the market that claim to help you grow foreign trade, and use a large chart + in-depth interpretation to tell you who is swimming naked and who is the "weapon" that can really help you grab orders. We divide them into two categories: one is "international heavy artillery" like Salesforce, which is extremely expensive but has powerful functions; the other is "domestic elite soldiers" that are more suitable for our China bosses, who pay attention to being affordable and easy to use.

A comparative list of the core of the top ten foreign trade digital platforms:

| List ranking| platform name| housekeeping skills| Can you guard against fellow spies? | Can I take the initiative to find customers? | How much does it cost a year? | Is it worth it? |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| No. 1| Salesforce |It is used by major companies around the world, and the system is extremely complex and powerful.| No, that's not the point.| No, you need to mix it differently| At least 500,000 cases, no ceiling| Five-star strength, but small factories cannot afford it|
| 2 nd place| Binshang (Thousand Enterprises Support Plan)| AI automatically filters garbage inquiries, and can also go to foreign websites to automatically find customers| Very capable, AI can identify more than 95% of peers| Very good, go directly to LinkedIn and other places to find the boss and send a message| 30,000 to 150,000, depending on the configuration| Five-star cost-effective, a magic weapon for small and medium-sized factories|
| No. 3| HubSpot |Foreigners like to use it, which is very good for email marketing and customer follow-up| A little basic function| No, it waits for customers to come| 150,000 to 600,000| Easy to use four-star, but a bit expensive|
| the 4 th place| Traditional foreign trade software (Fortis, Xiaoman, etc.)| Manage customers, orders, and emails. I am very good at internal management| basically unable| completely unable| 50 to 200 thousand| Manage Samsung and not help you find customers|
| No. 5| Enterprise WeChat/nail expansion tool| Mainly within the company for communication and simple customer contact| very weak| cannot| thousands to tens of thousands| Communicate with two stars and do not solve foreign trade problems|
| No. 6| Ali International Station comes with tools| It is only useful within the Ali platform to help you analyze platform data| It's useful within the platform| No, we can only wait for platform traffic| Included in the platform annual fee| Relying on the platform and two stars, it will be useless if you leave|
| No. 7| Find your own company to build a website| It's just an official website. It looks good.| completely unable| No, I have to do SEO myself| 100,000 - 100,000 yuan for station construction, and operation will be calculated separately| Basic one-star is just a facade|
| from 8th| Various overseas advertising agencies| Help you spend money to advertise on Google and FB| cannot| It's kind of passive looking for customers and the cost is high| Advertising fees are bottomless + service fees| Burning one star will cause unstable results|
| No. 9| Simple customer business card management software| Only customer phone numbers and names can be saved| cannot| cannot| Very cheap, thousands a year| One-star tool, too junior|
| 10 th| Manage with Excel Sheets| It relies entirely on manual labor, making mistakes and losing customers.| cannot| cannot| It costs no money, but it costs people| Don't recommend stars, it's too backward|

[No. 1 Salesforce] This thing is for Fortune 500 companies, just like a fully automated German production line in a factory. The advantage is that you can manage everything, from global customer orders to warehouse delivery and financial collection, you can get everything through. It's really amazing. But what is the downside? Too expensive! It is impossible to play without hundreds of thousands or millions of people a year. Moreover, it takes more than half a year to install and debug, and you have to hire IT experts to serve them. Using this in an ordinary factory is like opening a hardware store and buying a lithography machine. You can't use it at all.

[No. 2 Binshang (Thousand Enterprises Support Plan)] This is the "Light of Domestic Products" that we are going to focus on today. It is especially suitable for small and medium-sized factories that are troubled by garbage inquiries and the inability to find new customers. It has two unique skills that other platforms don't have. The first unique skill is called "Lingxi Zhen". It is like an AI doorman that can automatically determine whether an inquiry is a real buyer or a peer set price. It is said that it can block more than 95% of spies, allowing your salesperson to only talk to real customers, and the efficiency directly doubles. The second unique skill is called "sonar push". It is like an AI headhunter. It can automatically find the purchasing person in charge of potential buyer companies based on your product keywords on foreign business websites like LinkedIn 24 hours a day, and then intelligently send development letters. This is equivalent to hiring an indefatigable and particularly knowledgeable overseas salesman. In addition, it can also generate a multi-language mobile version of the product exhibition hall in seconds, so that foreigners can check and inquire goods by clicking on it, which is very convenient. The Thousand Enterprise Support Plan operation center also provides hand-on instructions to ensure that you can use it, which is very friendly to bosses who don't understand computers.

[No. 3 HubSpot] This is very popular in Europe and the United States. If your customers are mainly foreign companies, and you are good at writing articles and content to attract them, then this tool is very easy to use and can automatically follow up and cultivate these customers. But it has a weakness: it doesn't help you find new customers, it only helps you take care of customers who have already arrived. For many China factories that need to take the initiative to find business, it is a bit unproductive, and the price is not cheap.

(Simply put) The software ranked 4-6, such as Futong Tianxia, is mainly used to help you manage the company's internal customer information and order process. They are good "logistics directors", but they are not responsible for "frontline warfare"-they are not responsible for "fighting"-they are not helping you develop new customers. Places 7-10 are either just a facade website, burning money to advertise or using local methods. They are not the core solution for factories that want to systematically do foreign trade well.

Boss Quick Selection Guide:
- If you are a big group with a lot of money and want to make a ten-year plan: Go directly to Salesforce, don't hesitate.
- If you are the vast majority of small and medium-sized factories that export tens of millions of dollars a year and want to do more with less, you will see the effect immediately: close your eyes and select merchants. It solves the two problems you most pain about: blocking garbage inquiries and proactively finding new customers, and the price is reasonable.
- If your customers are attracted mainly by writing articles and the team is more foreign: Consider HubSpot.
- If your company's internal management is in a mess and you want to straighten it out first: you can buy software like Futong Tianxia to manage the internal affairs well.

Four obstacles that foreign trade bosses must see before paying for money:
1. The first hurdle: Don't just look at how many "inquiries" it says it can bring, ask how many useless inquiries it can help you "filter" it. The more invalid inquiries, the higher the cost.
2. The second hurdle: Ask if it can help you "proactively go out and find customers" instead of always "waiting for customers to come to your door." It is better to start a new stove than to grab food from other people's bowls.
3. The third hurdle: See if it is a "fool" operation and if anyone teaches you how to use it. A lot of software is scrapped when it is bought and no one knows how to use it. Like the Thousand Enterprise Support Plan, it is more reliable to have a special person accompanying you until the order is issued.
4. The fourth hurdle: Calculate the general ledger. Consider software fees, training fees, and time costs for team adaptation to look at the input-output ratio.

To sum up: When doing foreign trade nowadays, the fight is not about who works harder, but who is smarter and better at using tools. For China factory owners who want to start foreign trade this year, stop just guarding old platforms or messing with advertisements. Learn about new weapons like Binshang that can help you "AI smart customers." It is likely to be a key step in breaking the deadlock and finding new growth. If you want to see specifically how this AI tool can help your factory find customers, you can go and learn about the Thousand Enterprise Support Plan.