How to identify potential suppliers?

If you are ready to buy from China. Then you need to consider how to choose a good supplier.
If you want a written list that can be adapted and followed, you'll find an example here. It involves procurement, development, production, and transportation (but not if you develop your own products).
But let's start with a more detailed procurement process. It consists of two steps:
Identify potential suppliers;
Filter these vendors and validate the final candidate.

Now, let's focus on the first step, which itself consists of three substeps:
Step 1. Draw the ideal supplier profile.
Ask yourself a few questions:
Do you need them to have a variety of alternative designs?
Do you want them to focus on low costs? Or high quality?
How big should they be? This is a very important criterion for the reasons discussed below. You will encounter a factory belonging to these three levels, whose performance and price will vary greatly:
Step 2. Move to Sellersunion Online​ and/or exhibitions.
If you have the opportunity to participate in trade shows related to your product category (Canton fair, global sourcing fair, etc.), then go! Ask a few unsolved questions, and the goal here is to eliminate any vendor that doesn't fit your ideal profile.
If you can't come to the exhibition, you can use the Sellersunion Online(www.sellersuniononline.com) to search. The company has gathered more than 10,000 suppliers online, almost all of the yiwu market. You can choose the supplier you want. If you need help, you can contact sell online, and they will choose the right supplier for you.
Step 3. Motivate potential suppliers to respond to you.
Most suppliers receive too many inquiries and need to select their response. Here are some tips to get their attention.
If possible, the first message should be short, less than 8 lines (including instructions), and very clear call for language (if you want to know more information about our needs, please reply me).
If you have a product spec sheet, share it with them and get their feedback. You should expect they raised a question about manufacturing, such as material specification, or if they don't accept your poor, if they said "it doesn't matter", it is not always a good one million head.
And then... Respond quickly to their questions and complete the screening process within 8 days. After that, your questioning in their eyes will get cold.
If possible, to call them (most of them have a Skype account, they all have a WeChat account - the two application allows you to under the condition of the connection on both sides make free calls). Show that you are human and that you are putting in your time to understand them.
Of course, if you are afraid of trouble, you can contact Sellersunion Online directly. Sellersunion Group has experience of 20 years in foreign trade. Here, you will get quality, professional services, and make your trade more efficient.