Educational article with video
Finding Export Customers: How Do Buyers Search for Suppliers?
An adaptation of Mostafa Nezamparvar's lesson on buyer search behaviour, the difference between online visibility and online sales, and enabling initial contact.
Based on a talk by Mostafa Nezamparvar
Full article contents
Full lesson video
To find customers, understand how they search
This lesson by Mostafa Nezamparvar concerns finding export customers by understanding their behaviour. Rather than starting with where sellers should advertise, the video asks how buyers find suppliers and what encourages them to make contact.
The session discusses two groups: newcomers to the business and those experiencing problems with their current supply arrangements. What they share in this example is a need to find a supplier.
These two groups are not a complete classification of all buyers worldwide; they provide a starting point for discussing customer searches.
Two supplier-search situations in the session's example
Entering the business for the first time
They need supplier information to get started.
Problems with current supply
They search for another suitable option.
The no-internet example: where would buyers find a seller's name?
The educator then uses finding a factory in a large country as an example. Knowing that a product is manufactured in a country is not enough; buyers must identify the relevant city, area and business. Searching in person and visiting production facilities separately takes time and money, and may be harder for a specialist component.
The example does not suggest there are no offline ways to find suppliers. Its point is that the internet can play an important role in finding information. In this lesson, sellers should understand that stage of the buyer's work, rather than focusing only on the final purchase.
An internet presence does not necessarily mean online selling
The educator explicitly distinguishes being found online from selling online. A buyer may find only a supplier's name and contact details on the web, with discussions of specifications, orders and cooperation taking place later.
The initial purpose of an online presence may therefore be to enable contact.
From this perspective, sellers should be visible along the buyer's search path and provide a means of contact. If visitors cannot work out how to reach the business, visibility alone does not complete this stage.
This lesson is not about setting up an online shop, taking online payments or finalising orders on the web. It concerns the opportunity for an initial business contact. Separating this objective from the final sale helps set more precise expectations for introductory content and an online presence.
Start search terms with the customer's needs
At the end, the educator returns to several questions:
Questions for understanding searches
- How does a newcomer search?
- What words does someone with a supply problem use?
- How do they behave online?
- and what information would make them more likely to get in touch?
These questions show that choosing where to be visible requires understanding the buyer's problem. Two people may need the same product but search for different reasons and in different ways. Planning requires examining what information each needs while finding a supplier.
The video provides no ready-made keyword list, technical SEO method or advertising plan. Its main outcome is a research question: how do customers reach a seller's information, and what enables them to make first contact? Find the answer for your actual product and audience.
Summary: connect contact opportunities with search needs
To apply the discussion, first identify which buyer is searching for a supplier.
Then examine their search behaviour and terms, and consider what information and contact options they find when they discover the business.
These three elements are connected: the buyer's need, finding the seller and being able to make contact.
Understanding this process can make business introductions more targeted, but visibility or an enquiry does not guarantee a sale. The session itself focuses on establishing first contact, not promising that every visitor will become a customer.
From searching to first contact
The buyer's need
What goods and what kind of supplier do they need?
Search behaviour
What phrase do they search for, and with what expectation?
Discoverable information
Can they identify and find the relevant business?
Contact method
Can they establish first contact?
About this talk
This article is an edited, thematic adaptation of Mostafa Nezamparvar's video “How Do We Find Export Customers? Secrets Nobody Tells You!”, published on 3 October 2024 and embedded on this page. It is based on automatic Persian captions, not a word-for-word transcript. Product and supplier-search examples come from the talk itself; geographical figures and absolute statements have been omitted, and no technical instruction or outcome beyond the source has been added.