Account Manager- take 1

For my internship I’ve been given 3 duties- this blog, getting the “China Sourcer” magazine launched (www.chinasourcinginfo.org) and assisting my boss Pramod with vendor coordination as an account manager. Fortunately I’ve been assigned to a small account for the time being (per my request as I desire to learn, and not completely screw something major up!) that is starting to get into crunch time. Just being attached to this case a week, I can see how PassageMaker has continuously been able to grow these past few years.

My client, a good guy from Canada, found his own supplier here in China (something that PM also does, but is able to do a much more thorough job of investigating as it’s a backbone of the business). And of course, the supplier has not really been a good fit so PM has been hired to help clean up the mess, and get his project finished and sent out.

I feel for our client, as he’s spent a lot of money on what I would call a very luxurious model in this particular market. He’s gonna have to spend a lot more money to get this project out of china and into the stores. He himself has seen the light and will most likely use PassageMaker for any future orders he may place.

I don’t really think it’s a situation that the supplier doesn’t care, but I also don’t get the feeling that my client is this supplier’s biggest customer either. My client is a good source of some money, but certainly not the big fish in the pond so to say, and so things get done, just slowly and not as thoroughly as it could be. But soon enough this project will be done (knock on wood) and the client can move to a better situation via PassageMaker. It’s a good account to start with, and I see things only getting harder from here.