GGS Customer Relationship Management

Guidelines
Version No.:20211031 Effective Date: December 1, 2021

Preface

A high-performance sales team keeps its tools sharp with three vital elements: people (those they
recruited, trained, and motivated), the sales process, and their customer relationship management

(CRM) system. CRM records the life cycle of customer management, starting from lead

generation. A powerful CRM system can empower a sales team every step of the way, from new
customer acquisition to service provision to contract renewal.

The previous version of the Orion CRM system fails to reflect the features of a typical GGS sales
model because:

1. It has an imprecise sales funnel

2. It is short of an effective lead qualification link

3. Leads, prospects, and in-service customersare mixed up

In reality, the boundaries between leads, prospects, and existing customers must be clearly defined

if you are you succeed.

Sales process management

On the sales side, a CRM system should have five major modules: sales performance

management, sales performance forecast, standard methodology, team leaders' specific

solutions for underperformers, and rapid team leader assistance and performance planning

for team members.

Flaws of the previous sales funnel:

• Unreasonable layout: Only three checkpoints are defined in the sales process, which can

hardly guide sales management

• Unclear deliverables: The tasks of each checkpoint are not defined, which is prone to letting

some important tasks slip

• Lead qualification: Team members used to spend a considerable amount of time in lead
qualification, which is a waste of resources. The core value of a sales team is to recommend
the right products to the right customers and thereby secure orders.

B2B sales processes share some typical characteristics. First, it takes time to turn a lead into a

customer. Second, the process involves communication with different decision-makers or relevant

people from many departments. Third, the order value is relatively high and the sales process is

generally complicated. A visualized and predictable sales process can be achieved through

process breakdown, a summary of successful experience, completion of lead information, and lead

qualification.

In service customer management

Given the global service-side infrastructure today, an efficient CRM tool is

essential for customer retention.
Sellers around the world struggle to source consistent and in-depth services due to discrepant
service abilities across different channels. This is a stumbling block for helping them grow at the
same pace and retaining them on the platform, hence the significant differences in the renewal rate

across global sellers..

An effective solution is to improve the service ability of channel partners, so as to ameliorate the

customer emotional bondings and help sellers strengthen their operation capabilities, provided that
the following challenges are addressed first:

1. Channel partners are reluctant to invest service resources

2. Service standards are inconsistent across regions, and no applicable national

regulations are in place to ensure transparent service processes

3. No guidelines on standard services are available for channel partners, and their

data and customer management tools are underdeveloped

Based on the current situation of our global channel partners, we need to shift our focus to
service related function upgrade in the CRM system.

• A CRM system with a visualized service process can help us reach more sellers and trigger

the channel to optimize channel partners' organizational structures, thus enhancing service

proactivity, efficiency, and depth

• Workable offline service methodologies can be generalized to online versions, in a bid to

establish an SOP and monitor service performance, thus empowering and retaining sellers

[Statement]

Please read carefully the provisions of the Guidelines, especially those related to your immediate

interests. With your commitment to abiding by the Alibaba.com Channel Partner Agreement, you

acknowledge that you have read and understood the provisions of the Guidelines.

Chapter I: General

Article 1. The GGS Customer Relationship Management Guidelines (hereinafter referred to as the

"Guidelines") is issued as the fundamental basis for the definition of customer management rules
in different countries based on the Alibaba.com Channel Partnership Agreement in order to

establish an excellent GGS sales and service system, build a good market development and

customer service environment, protect the rights and interests of GGS sales executives and

customers, and reduce system operating costs.

Article 2. The Guidelines apply to channel partners who have registered on Alibaba.com and
become users of the customer relationship management system (hereinafter referred to as the

"CRM system") for overseas suppliers on Alibaba.com.

Chapter II: Definitions

Article 3. Channel partner: An enterprise, company, partnership, trust, or entity that has signed the

Alibaba.com Channel Partner Agreement with Alibaba.com to participate in the provision of

services.

Article 4. GGS CRM system: A customer operation system designed for the lifecycle management
of Global Gold Suppliers (GGS).

Article 5. Ticket handling system: A system in the Alibaba.com online ticket processing platform

(hereinafter referred to as the "ticket system"). It supports ticket classification and submission, and

guarantees efficient collaboration between business units (BUs) and service teams.

Article 6. Lead: A generic term of all leads that have not completed the payment in the CRM

system, including those created by channel partners and pre-qualified leads acquired through
marketing activities, network information, telephone consultation, interviews, and other methods,

and prospects developed through the constant follow-up by sales executives.

Article 7. Customer: A generic term of all sales leads that have completed the payment in the

CRM system, including unauthenticated customers and authenticated customers who have or have

not signed the service agreement.

Article 8. Channel sales executive: An employee of a channel partner who carries out customer

development activities (hereinafter referred to as the "sales executive").

Article 9. Channel service personnel: An employee of a channel partner who takes up customer

service duties.

Article 10. The same customer: Customers who have the same tax identification number and

corporate legal person, or have different tax identification numbers but the same legal person.

Article 11. Order clash: A circumstance where two or more sales executives follow up with the
same customer at the same time, and one of them has completed the transaction.

Article 12. Record of effective contact and follow-up: The activity where a channel partner

reaches the customer by phone, email, instant messaging, or other methods, checks "Effective
Communication" in the "Contact Result" column of the CRM Sales Record, and specifies the

following customer information in the CRM system: customer type (factory, trade company, or

trade company with factories); key person or not; with export experience or not (if yes, specify the

target market); with experience of operations on other e-commerce platforms or no; with

experience of attending offline exhibitions or not; with budget or not.

Article 13. Reach and content of service: Channel partners should contact customers by phone,

email, instant messaging, visit, or other methods, and provide training, guidance, and suggestions
for the customers' key persons or core operation managers for the purpose of increasing the

profitability and enhancing the emotional bondings with their customers.

Article 14. Effective service reach: An effective service reach is recorded if a channel partner

contacts a customer by phone, instant messaging, visit, or other methods exclude emails, has

fruitful communication, completes its services, and correctly fills out the CRM Service Note, in

which the Result field must be "Answered."

Article 15. First-year customer: A seller who signs the agreement for the first time within 12

months after the date when it subscribes to the service, or a seller who renews the service

agreement after at least one year of hiatus.

Article 16. Multi-year customer: A seller who renews the service agreement before the agreement

expires or within one year after the agreement expires.

Article 17. Proactive service task: An active service task is completed and recorded if a channel

partner has effectively reached a seller by the method and at the frequency as specified in the GGS

Supplier Service Level Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "SLA").

Chapter III: General

Article 18. Channel partners shall upload all the information of a lead or customer (including data

related to and correspondence with the said lead or customer) that they have contacted during the

marketing or selling of paid membership to the CRM system as per the guidelines provided by
Alibaba.com from time to time, and check the quality of the said information in accordance with

the requirements of Alibaba.com.

Article 19. Without the prior written consent of Alibaba.com, channel partners shall not manage

the members of Alibaba.com using any other similar system other than the CRM system.

Article 20. Where an employee of a channel partner resigns or has not logged on to the CRM

system for 30 days or longer, the leads and customer assets stored in the employee's private pool
should be promptly migrated to prevent customer churn. Otherwise, the said leads and customer

assets will be released to the public pool.

Article 21. For lead follow-up, the existing local regulations shall apply.

Article 22. For determination of an order clash, the existing local regulations shall apply.

Article 23. For sales leads move out rules, the existing local regulations shall apply.
Article 24. Channel partners should respond to customers' requests promptly in accordance with

the guides provided by Alibaba.com from time to time. Provisions for Class I breaches in the

Alibaba.com Channel Partner Agreement shall apply if a channel partner fails to do so and thereby

causes a customer complaint.

Chapter IV: Management of New Customers

The standard operating procedure of a complete sales process defined in the CRM system

(hereinafter referred to as the "SOP") is shown as follows:

1. After inputting a new lead into the private pool of a sales executive, the sales executive must

fill in the Record of Effective Contact and Follow-Up at the New, Qualification, and Needs

analysis stages of the CRM SOP within 24 hours, and determine the rating of the customer.

(Refer to Article 12. Record of effective contact and follow-up: The activity where a channel

partner reaches the customer by phone, email, instant messaging, or other methods, checks

"Effective Communication" in the "Contact Result" column of the CRM Sales Record, and
specifies the following customer information in the CRM system: customer type (factory,

trade company, or trade company with factories); key person or not; with export experience

or not (if yes, specify the target market); with experience of operations on other e-commerce

platforms or no; with experience of attending offline exhibitions or not; with budget or not.

2. Article 26. The sales executive shall, after sending a proposal to the customer, record and

describe the follow-up activity in detail at the Sent proposal stage of the CRM SOP within 24
hours.

3. The sales executive shall, after determining an offer and the payment time, record and

describe the follow-up activity in detail at the Agreed offer and Payment stages of the CRM

SOP within 24 hours.

Chapter V: Customer Management Rules
Article 28. As service providers, channel partners are obligated to effectively reach customers at
the frequency as specified in the SLA.

Article 29. In order to complete the service requirements stipulated in the SLA,
channel partners are obligated to arrange dedicated service personnel enough to meet
the minimum service frequency specified in the SLA.
In the event that a channel partner cannot meet the minimum service frequency/quality as

specified in the SLA, Alibaba.com has the right to require the channel partner to employ dedicated

service personnel at the ratio of 1:150 (dedicated service personnel to customers).

1. GGS Supplier Service Level Agreement (SLA)

1.1 Proactive service items and standard process

Article 29. For first-year customers, channel partners shall actively provide basic services as per

the following requirements:

M1 (Within a month after subscription to the service):

• Instruct sellers to complete two on boarding tasks, and effectively reach sellers

M2 - M12 (Within 2-12 months after subscription to the service):

• Effectively reach to sellers and actively provide guidance for their tasks

• Actively push the monthly service report once every month

• Provide 1-on-1 service diagnosis at least three times a year. The service diagnoses should be
recorded and the first service diagnosis should be performed within four months after

subscription to the service. Also, the diagnosis should ensure effective service reach by

phone, video meeting, and visit.

Article 30. For multi-year sellers, channel partners shall actively provide basic services as per the

following requirements:

As from the last provision of service,

• Effectively reach to sellers and actively provide guidance for their tasks

• Actively push the monthly service report once every month

• Provide 1-on-1 service diagnosis at least three times a year. The service diagnoses should be
recorded and the first service diagnosis should be performed within four months after

subscription to the service. Also, the diagnosis should ensure effective service reach by

phone, video meeting, and visit.

Service Process and Frequency for First-Year Customers

Service Process and Frequency for Multi-Year Customers

Tips: The service frequencies indicated in the above figures are based on effective reaches of

service. For more information, see 1.2.

1.2 Requirements on minimum service content and frequency

Article 31. For each of its customers, a channel partner should have at least 1 effective service

record bi-monthly, 6 in total within 1 year (via call/webinar/seminar/visit, exclude email),

including at least 3 records of 1-on-1 service diagnosis that is completed by call/video/or visit a
year. The first service diagnosis should be performed within 4 months after subscription to the

service. Subject to CRM effective service notes.

1.3 Requirements on service performance

Article 32. Channel partners should help sellers reach the value of a performance metric does not

fall short of the delivery target at the corresponding checkpoint (calculated according to the data

of sellers with high renewal probability). See the table below:

Seller type Checkpoint Performance metric Delivery target

15DPP15

PP 30D reach 2-Star PP

M1 threshold

Smart showcase
Switch on & basic settings
Auto response
First-year
Star Rating Reach 1 Star
customer
Within M3 Potential, Top and
≥ 60%
Super Products%

Top and Super

≥ 3%
Within M6 Products%

Star Rating Reach 2 Star

Potential, Top and

≥ 70%
Within Q1 Super Products%
Multi-year
Star Rating Reach 3 Star
customer
Top and Super
Within Q2 ≥ 4%
Products%

4. Penalties
(I) Customer service requirements
Assessment frequency:
• Proactive services provided by a channel partner for its customers are assessed quarterly

according to the assessment results. The following requirements and penalty rules shall apply.

Service frequency requirements:

Refer to the requirements of Article 31:

For each of its customers, a channel partner should have at least 1 effective service record bi-

monthly, 6 in total within 1 year (via call/webinar/seminar/visit, exclude email), including at least
3 records of 1-on-1 service diagnosis that is completed by call/video/or visit a year. The first service

diagnosis should be performed within 4 months after subscription to the service. Subject to CRM

effective service notes.

Channel partners should complete 2 times effective service and submit corresponding service

records (incl. 1 time diagnosis) in CRM for their in-service customers, the overall completion rate

must be higher than 70%

Channel partners that fail to meet the above requirements are required to carry out corrective

measures in a given time period. Otherwise, the penalty rules stipulated in Articles 5.7 and 5.11 of

the Reseller Agreement shall apply.

1. If a channel partner fails to meet the requirements in a single quarter when this regulation

becomes valid in FY23, Alibaba.com will send a notice on rectification in a given time

period.

2. If the channel partner receives such notice for two consecutive quarters, Alibaba.com might

impose penalties by deducting commissions according to the channel operation regulations in

FY23.

3. Channel partners who fails to meet the bottom line within this fiscal year will receive letter of

rectification at the end of Mar.

Non-compliance penalty rules:

• For the project-based customers of some channel partners, if a customer has designated its

channel partner, the above customer transfer rules do not apply. However, Alibaba.com

reserves the right to impose penalties

Exemption conditions

• For customers who cannot be reached through SSO or close their stores due to risk control,
 the channel partner can apply for exemption from the above rules.

• For the project-based customers of some channel partners, if a customer has designated its
channel partner, the above customer transfer rules do not apply. However, Alibaba.com

reserves the right to impose penalties by deducting commissions.

(2) Penalties for fraudulent follow-up

• Definition of fraudulent customer follow-up record: A customer follow-up record that is

concocted or is untrue.

• In case any employee of a channel partner is found to fabricate customer follow-up records,
the channel partner will be penalized, depending on the severity of the consequence, as per the
provisions related to fraudulent actions specified in the Reseller Agreement, and will be

disqualified from all incentives for a quarter

• Alibaba.com has the right to impose the corresponding penalties for other violations. See the
provisions in the agreement for the penalty rules for channel partners.