From being questioned with “Why should we choose you?” to confidently saying “We understand our clients better than they understand themselves,” how did Xie Kai from Changzhou Suoteng Medical Technology Co., Ltd. achieve the leap from $800K to over $28M in annual sales?

Here is his story.

1. From $800K to $28M: Every Challenge Became a Wake-Up Call

In 2018, I used my ¥500,000 in savings to rent a small office in Changzhou and founded Suoteng Medical. Our main business is trading medical consumables—from disposable syringes and infusion sets to medical dressings and gloves.

At the beginning of entrepreneurship, you always carry the enthusiasm of a newcomer. But reality quickly hit hard: the medical consumables trade was already a red ocean. We had no manufacturing background and relied purely on trading. Why would we be able to stand out in such fierce competition?

Our earliest customers were literally “won over” at the Canton Fair.

One Malaysian buyer once asked me in broken Chinese:

“Compared with those big factories in Guangzhou, why should I choose you?”

That day I sat on the steps outside the exhibition hall, flipping through our price list until the edges curled. Apart from offering a 3% lower price, I couldn't find a second advantage.

Things got even tougher in 2019. Competitors were fighting price wars. Once, when I emailed a German client, they directly replied with a competitor's quotation:

“They are 12% cheaper than you.”

At the worst moment, only one salesperson and I remained in the office. On the computer screen was the number “Annual Sales: $800,000.” Neither of us spoke. The only sound was the wind outside the window, almost as if it was sighing for us.

We were like headless flies—running everywhere without direction.

Customers would say, “Your product parameters look good,” but never sign the order.

Even when our prices were competitive, we would soon see them signing contracts with someone else.

One day, while staring blankly at our customer database, I suddenly realized something:

We didn't actually understand what our customers truly needed.

Trying to find orders like that was like fishing in the dark. How could we possibly catch the big fish?

2. Data Became the “Truth Detector” That Revealed Customers' Real Cards

The turning point came in 2020.

At an industry forum, someone mentioned that customs data could reveal the real background of buyers. Curious, I compared several data providers and eventually chose Tendata.

The first time I used the system, I stared at the screen in disbelief.

That Malaysian client who constantly bargained with us?

Their quarterly syringe imports from China were five times the volume we had quoted.

So the issue wasn't that their demand was small—it was that we didn't understand their real purchasing scale.

From then on, Tendata became our “battle map.”

We mainly focused on two things:

1. Accessing the potential of existing clients

2. Screening high-quality new clients

For example, we had a Russian client we'd worked with for three years who only bought infusion needles from us.

After checking their data in Tendata, we discovered that they also purchased medical gloves every month from other suppliers—and gloves happened to be one of our strongest product lines.

I stayed up overnight organizing:

· their full procurement history

· price fluctuation analysis

· a customized supply proposal

When I sent it to them, their response came the next day:

“Your understanding of our company far exceeds our expectations.”

Two weeks later, they proposed making us their exclusive supplier for gloves.

Today, this client's order volume has tripled, and their reorder cycle has shortened by 40%.

Last year, our overall sales increased by 30%, with several long-term clients contributing significantly through new business expansion.

3. From “Casting a Wide Net” to “Precision Targeting”

With data support, acquiring new clients became much more efficient.

Tendata clearly shows buyers' sourcing channels and quarterly procurement volumes.

If a company has long-term cooperation with major manufacturers, we don't spend too much time pursuing them.

But if we discover a buyer frequently changing suppliers, we know there's an opportunity.

For example, we once spotted a Turkish buyer whose mask imports had been increasing for six consecutive months, yet they kept switching suppliers.

We contacted them with a targeted quotation, and the contract was signed within three weeks.

Now we consistently acquire around 10 new clients per month, and half of them come directly from Tendata's data screening.

The contact module on the Tendata platform is also extremely convenient.

In the past, we had to search everywhere for decision-makers' contact details. Now we can export them with one click. Even better, Tendata links directly to the LinkedIn profiles of these contacts, making communication much easier and more efficient.

Ultimately, this process is about doing less but focusing more.

Instead of chasing seemingly attractive but unlikely “big clients,” we concentrate our energy on highly matched prospects identified through data.

Every conversation and every proposal is built on a deep understanding of the client, which naturally gives us confidence.

People often ask me:“Is Tendata really worth it?”

My answer is simple.

There are no shortcuts in the import-export business. Data won't magically bring you orders.

But with data, you are no longer operating blindly.

Going from being asked “Why should we choose you?” to confidently saying “We understand your needs better than anyone else”—that's the confidence data brings to the table.