10 things foreign trade salesmen must do on the first day back to work after the 8-day National Day holiday! This is what veteran salesmen do!

The 8-day National Day holiday allows people to relax physically and mentally, but for foreign trade salesmen, the first day after the holiday is not a "warm-up", but the starting point of a sprint!

If you do well on this day, it will directly determine your October performance starting point, customer rhythm and the direction of the year-end peak season.

This article combines the practical experience of foreign trade sales champions and veteran salesmen to sort out for you——

✅ [10-step practical checklist for efficient resumption of work] on the first day after the National Day holiday

✅ [Operation points + implementation methods + successful experience] for each step

🚀 1. Quickly "review + return to the original position" to enter the foreign trade rhythm (30 minutes)

Purpose: To switch back from holiday mode to “sales combat mode”.

Core principle: Don’t rush to send emails, first “clear your mind + clear your schedule”.

✅ Operation steps:

1. Make a list of things to do before your vacation:

   • Open your CRM/email/WhatsApp/LinkedIn;

   • Find all customers who [have not responded before the holiday/have not followed up/are waiting to send samples/are waiting for quotes];

   • Mark the priority (A high intention, B general, C potential).

2. Organize your personal work environment:

   • Clean up the desktop, folders, and browser tabs;

   • Open commonly used work software: email, ChatGPT, customs data tools, Google Sheets, etc.;

   • Adjust your state: play a rhythmic BGM to get yourself online quickly.

3. Check important time nodes:

   • Are your overseas customers on holiday? (For example, Dussehra in India, German Unity Day, and other October holidays)

   • Does your industry have peak seasons? (e.g., Christmas stocking, Black Friday sales)

🔥Top Salesperson's Tip: "For the first hour after a holiday, focus on your 'presence' rather than your customers. Only when your presence is right will customers trust your professionalism and efficiency."

🧭 2. Email Blast Period — Who to Reply First? How to Reply? (1 hour)

After the holidays, there are usually dozens of unread emails in your mailbox. The key is to deal with them in layers .

✅ Classification strategy:

• Category A customers (important/ordered/negotiating) → Reply immediately;

• Category B customers (inquiring/potential) → reply before noon of the same day;

• Category C customers (new inquiries/no responses) → Batch sorting and processing on the next day.

✅ Reply template suggestions:

Topic: Hope you had a great holiday! Following up on our last discussion

Main text (example):

Hi [Name],
Hope you had a pleasant week!
Just following up on our previous discussion before the holiday.
Please let me know if there's any update or if you'd like us to prepare a new quotation.
Looking forward to continuing our cooperation this month.

Best regards,
[Your Name]

💡An old foreign trade expert advises: Don’t push for orders right away. Say a few words first and follow up lightly. It will be more natural.

📅 3. Create an October Sprint Plan, from day to week (1 hour)

The first day after the holiday is not about being busy, but about "planning".

✅ The plan is divided into three levels:

1. Monthly target (performance target + number of new customers)

   • For example: "This month's goal is to sign orders worth $50,000 / develop 15 new customers."

2. Weekly plan (weekly key market)

   • For example: In the first week, focus on following up with American customers, in the second week, target Southeast Asia, and in the third week, develop Europe.

3. Daily Actions (Specific Tasks)

   • Every day is divided into three parts: follow up with old customers in the morning, study the market at noon, and develop new customers in the afternoon.

🏆Secret to top sales: At the beginning of each month and after holidays, start with "Plan → Break Down → Execute." A plan creates a rhythm.

💬 4. Key Customer "Wake-up Communication" (1 hour)

During the long holidays, many clients' projects are put on hold. What you need to do is "actively wake them up" instead of passively waiting.

✅ Practical steps:

1. Filter out the customers who are focused on talking before the holiday;

2. Send a "light contact" email or WhatsApp message:

   • "Hope you had a great holiday! Let's continue where we left off."

3. You can include a small post-holiday discount/latest product update to rekindle interest.

⚡Successful Cases:

An old foreign trade salesman shared: He would send out 20 "wake-up letters" to a group of customers on the first day after every long vacation, and he could activate 3-5 silent customers on average!

📦 5. Check order and delivery progress (30 minutes)

Avoid post-holiday delays! Production, customs clearance, and logistics may be delayed during the holidays.

✅ Inspection points:

• Goods in transit and orders to be shipped before the holidays;

• Whether the shipping date is delayed;

• Whether the customs declaration, bill of lading and other documents are complete;

• Whether the logistics company has resumed operations.

💬 Recommendations:

Send a "progress confirmation letter" to the customer to demonstrate your professionalism and responsibility.

📊 6. Update CRM and customer data (30 minutes)

After a long holiday, CRM often lags behind.

Reorganizing customer data lays the foundation for the next round of development.

✅ Action:

• Enter the new customer information collected before the holiday into the CRM (such as AB CRM, intelligent customer management, free to use );

• Update customer stages (e.g. A/B/C grading);

• Mark the follow-up date and record the key points of the last communication.

🔍Top Sales Habits:

After each holiday, I spend half a day organizing the customer system to facilitate accurate follow-up.

🌐 7. Check the website/advertisement/inquiry source (30 minutes)

During the holidays, the website/advertisement is still running, don’t miss the holiday traffic bonus.

✅ Check content:

• Google Ads backend → Inquiry data and click status;

• Website backend (such as AB Customer Smart Website Building ) → Whether the new inquiry has been automatically included;

• Hot Content: Which articles or product pages have the most traffic?

💡Suggested actions:

Adjust advertising budgets or focus on specific countries based on the data.

📱 8. Social Media and Content Review (1 hour)

Many clients have just returned to work after the holidays, so updating your status on LinkedIn and Facebook at this time will give you extremely high exposure!

✅ Contents you can post:

• "We're back to work! Ready for new projects."

• Share new product pictures/customer reviews/post-holiday promotions.

🔁Experience of experienced foreign trade professionals: The 24 hours after the holiday is the golden period for social media exposure!

💎 9. Internal Communication and Collaboration (30 minutes)

Synchronize information with your team to avoid information gaps.

✅ Meeting points:

• Review pre-holiday orders and customer follow-up status;

• Each will report on the key directions for this month;

• Connect with the status of procurement, logistics, and finance departments.

⚙️Sales champion’s experience: The morning meeting on the first day after the holiday = the “restart button” for the team.

🎯 10. Emotional Management + Motivational Reboot (10 minutes)

Don’t overlook this! The most feared thing after the holidays is “holiday syndrome”.

Quickly adjust your mindset and rekindle yourself.

✅ Method:

• Set yourself a “small goal reward”:

  "I closed a small deal today, so I ordered a cup of milk tea to celebrate!"

• Post the October goal statement on your desk:

  “Every follow-up is one step closer to success.”

💪The creed of top foreign trade salesmen:

“On the first day after the holiday, don’t focus on performance, focus on state; once the state is right, performance will follow naturally!”

✅【Summary】10-step action plan for foreign trade workers returning to work after National Day

Conclusion

The first day after National Day is not a "recovery period" but a "start-up period".

Whoever can restore the rhythm fastest, wake up customers fastest, and get into the state fastest will be the first to seize the opportunity during the peak season.

Remember one sentence:

"Foreign trade doesn't have a post-holiday trough, it only takes off after the holidays."