HomeCasesFrom 40 Cards to a Six-Factory Visit Cases /Trade Fair Support From 40 Cards to a Six-Factory Visit The show produced contacts, not decisions. Grading them against three signals cut forty to six, and the six were visited in two days. 5 min read Reading time October 26, 2026 Updated Trade Fair Support Filed under On this page9 sections Background The problem Scope What we did What we found Deliverables Result Limitations Next step Quick read · Trade Fair Support Forty business cards is not a result. Six factories worth visiting is. Typical scenario. Assembled from recurring project patterns, not a single client record. No client name or show is disclosed. Background Building materials, buyer expanding a supplier base, existing category knowledge. Deliverable: post-show grading plus factory visits. Timeframe: one week after the show. The problem The buyer had collected forty contacts over three days and had no basis for choosing which to visit during the remaining week in China. Scope Grade the forty against agreed signals, shortlist six, arrange and accompany two days of visits in one industrial belt. Quotation comparison excluded. What we did Three signals were agreed before grading: a quoted price range rather than “contact us”, evidence of in-house production of the key process, and a named person able to decide on MOQ. Each contact was scored against all three from the show records. Eleven had a price range; seven of those could name the key process as in-house; six of those had a decision-maker present. The six were scheduled by geography, two days, three per day with travel time between clusters. Visits followed a fixed sequence: process floor first, then quality records, then the commercial conversation. Doing it in that order meant the price discussion happened after the buyer had seen what the price was buying. What we found The three signals removed most of the forty without any judgement about quality. They only established whether a visit was worth the travel. Deliverables Grading table for forty contacts, six-visit schedule, on-site records for each, and a ranked recommendation. Result Six factories visited in two days within one industrial belt; three moved to sample stage. Basis note: the counts describe this grading exercise and depend on the signals chosen. Limitations No buyer, factory or show is identified. Signals suited to building materials; a different category needs different ones. Next step If a show has left you with a stack of cards, grade them before booking travel. Business travel in China covers the visit route. Related reading Factory Sourcing Four Days, Two Cities, Five Plants A route built around one industrial belt instead of th… Read the full case → Factory Audit Peak Season Delay, Found Four Weeks Early A two-week slip was visible in the bottleneck process … Read the full case → Factory Audit The Marks Did Not Match the Packing List Documents were assembled in the last week. Checking ma… Read the full case → Same kind of request? Tell us the category, quantity and target city. Scope, schedule and pricing basis reach you within 24 hours. Submit a request
