This series uses Dingli, a Patisco demo account. Every system screen and all the data shown here came from real operations in the system, including the exchanges between buyers and suppliers; they are not mock-ups. The people and dialogue are dramatized, and the illustrations are for illustration only. Screens are shown in the system's Chinese interface; Patisco is also available in English and other languages.
In the story: the first Monday after the show, morning
Eleven
A-Zhe lines up the business cards on his desk and counts them twice. Eleven.
Four are from existing customers, two are from sales reps at neighboring booths, and one is a loyalty card from a lunchbox shop near the venue that got mixed in at some point.
"Boss, I remember when we'd come back from a show with cards bundled in rubber bands."
Chairman Lin comes over with his tea, looks at the row of cards, and doesn't say anything right away.
What's really costing A-Zhe sleep is an email from the third day of the show. Dana in the US wrote, very politely: next year the company will consolidate suppliers, and chains and cassettes "may be concentrated with two." May. Two. No word on whether Dingli is one of them.
How it used to go
A good part of the old business came from waiting.
Waiting for shows: customers walk into the booth, say what they want, sales writes it down and goes back to quote. Waiting for referrals: an existing customer recommends a friend, and one phone call brings them in. Waiting for big customers: one large account keeps half a production line going, and everyone can relax.
Dingli has come through these years the same way. Northwind's yearly volume equals three small customers. So A-Zhe read that "may be concentrated with two" email three times.
Chairman Lin's old story
Chairman Lin sits down next to A-Zhe.
"When I'd just taken over, our biggest customer left once. Seven years together, and just like that, gone."
"Why?"
"We hadn't done anything wrong. He beat his competitor using our goods, so his competitor switched to a better supplier and caught up. After that, he had to switch too, just to keep pace." Chairman Lin takes a sip of tea. "Big customers not renewing is simply going to happen. The question is what you still have in hand when it does."
A-Zhe thinks it over. "So we need to find more new customers?"
"New customers have changed too." Chairman Lin points at the row of cards. "You think they didn't come to the booth because they aren't interested?"
How customers find suppliers now
A-Zhe opens his phone and pulls up a news item he saved last month.
"Gartner published a survey in 2025 that asked more than six hundred corporate buyers. Sixty-one percent said that, for the whole buying process, they'd rather not have to deal with a sales rep at all. Most will research online and compare on their own first."
"Exactly," Chairman Lin says. "Today's customers won't walk in and say, 'Here's what I want made, please make it for me.' They do a round of research first, make sure you have what they want, and only then open their mouths. Until they do, you have no idea they ever came by."
"So all those people at the booth who didn't leave a card . . ."
"They may have looked at us on their phones already. Or looked and left."
A-Zhe suddenly thinks of three weeks ago, that QR code on the back of the card, and the "Trade Show Samples" public page with no prices on it.
"Boss, if they really did look, what happens after they get home?"
Chairman Lin stands and pats him on the shoulder. "That depends on whether, when someone wants to find you, you can catch them."
What Dingli can offer now
A-Zhe opens [Public pages Admin] and goes through them one by one: Europe, the US, Japan, each with its own language and prices; and the one for the show, with no prices, where people can inquire directly.
Anyone with the link can open these pages, without signing up or writing to ask first. When customers want to "do a round of research first," at least Dingli has something to show them.
But he knows this is only the first step. After they've looked, then what? When a customer wants to ask about price or work together, whether Dingli can catch that is a matter for the next episode.
Customers then vs. customers now
| Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| How they get to know a supplier | Walk into the booth, a friend's referral | Research and compare online on their own first |
| When they speak up | Ask first if interested | Ask only once they're sure you have what they want |
| When the supplier finds out | The moment the customer enters the booth | The moment the customer speaks up |
| Where the opportunity gets lost | Slow quote, wrong price | Before the customer ever speaks up, they've already left |
A word for the boss: Big customers will leave, and new customers won't walk in on their own. What you can do is make sure the people looking for you can find you, understand you, and ask you.
The real-world backdrop:
- A Gartner survey published in June 2025 (632 B2B buyers surveyed in August and September 2024): 61% of buyers prefer a buying process with no sales rep involved at all, and most research on their own through digital channels first. Gartner press release
- Our take: "The Market Hasn't Disappeared; Buyers' Positions Are Just Shifting Faster" and "Why Be Surprised When a Big Customer Doesn't Renew? It Was Always Going to Happen."