Three gates a supplier has to clear
A buyer moving from first contact to a purchase order passes three gates in sequence. A break at any one makes everything after it irrelevant.
Gate one, can you understand them. What kind of supplier is this: factory, trading company, solution provider, integrator? A break here looks like vague positioning, a wall of model numbers with no application context, and three different stories from the website, the marketplace page and the salesperson.
Gate two, can you verify them. Is the company and the factory real, has the product passed the tests your market requires, is there evidence of delivery, installation and after-sales? A break here looks like capability claims that exist only verbally, and published figures that cannot be independently checked.
Gate three, can you actually buy. Who to contact, what to send, whether a sample is available, how quoting works, how a volume order is confirmed. A break here looks like unstated minimum order and lead time, no visible way to request a sample, and enquiries nobody picks up.
If you are evaluating a Chinese supplier, this is the checklist you are already running, usually without saying so.
Registered statements used here
- The overseas buyer trust chain has three gates: understand, verify, buy. They are sequential; a break in one makes everything after it irrelevant.[public]
- More traffic does not repair a verification failure. Doubling it just doubles the number of buyers who leave.[public]
- The gates came out of one real engagement. For another industry the decision roles, risks and required evidence must be identified again. Borrow the structure, not the checklist.[public]