We spent nearly 200,000 RMB on an offline exhibition in Southeast Asia, but only got 3 vague potential customers, and all follow-ups came to nothing." This is the real experience of the person in charge of a local manufacturer in Weifang, Shandong, which has an annual output of 500 small loaders. Having focused on the domestic market for 5 years, the manufacturer planned to explore overseas markets at the beginning of 2024, but fell into the dilemma of "wanting to go overseas but having no access" - no overseas customer resources, unfamiliar with target market policies, and even no one who could professionally write basic English product manuals. After several unsuccessful attempts, the overseas expansion plan was once put on hold.
In June 2024, this Weifang small loader manufacturer became one of the first manufacturers to settle on the newly launched "Zhilian Global · Construction Machinery Cloud Trade" platform. Although the platform had no large number of previous cooperation cases at that time, it quickly tailored a "low-cost trial + precise breakthrough" initial overseas plan for the manufacturer based on the "small and medium-sized manufacturers' overseas service plan" accumulated through preliminary research.
The platform's service team first solved the pain point of "information asymmetry". Considering that the manufacturer mainly produces small loaders under 3 tons, which are suitable for orchard and small-scale infrastructure scenarios in Southeast Asia, the platform used its self-built Southeast Asian market database to screen out Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia - three countries with strong demand and low access thresholds. It also sorted out the demand preferences of local core procurement groups: small and medium-sized farmers and township infrastructure teams, who value compact body, low fuel consumption and equipped with simple maintenance toolkits. Based on this, the platform helped the manufacturer optimize its product introduction, changing the original selling point focusing on "load capacity" to a scenario-based expression of "narrow orchard road access + average daily fuel consumption of only 5 liters". The platform's professional team also translated and produced multilingual product manuals and operation videos.
In the customer acquisition stage, the platform avoided high-cost offline exhibitions and instead adopted two "lightweight" methods for precise reach: First, it collaborated with local construction machinery industry associations in Vietnam and Thailand to include the manufacturer's loaders in the "China High-Quality Machinery Recommendation List" and sent it to more than 500 association members. Second, using the overseas procurement intention pool accumulated in the platform's early stage, it screened 20 high-matching potential customers through AI matching. The platform's bilingual specialists assisted the manufacturer in one-on-one communication to answer basic questions about policies and after-sales services.
