A Zoom Call with a Vietnamese Battery Client: Notes from Remote Risk Assessment
- 08/24/2020
- Posted by: Charles.YANG
- Category: Field Practice
Not all consulting begins with a site visit. Sometimes, it starts with a shaky internet connection, a PDF company profile, and a client asking:
“Can you tell if this supplier is real—just from a Zoom call?”
This post is a reflection from a remote risk screening session with a Vietnamese client sourcing AAA and coin cell batteries from South China.
The Situation
The client had found a supplier via Alibaba and was preparing to issue their first $60,000 order.
Their concerns were:
- The supplier’s response speed dropped after initial quotation
- Bank account namedidn’t match the business license
- They wereoffered unusually large discountsfor air shipment
They wanted a quick confidence check, without a full audit.
What We Did During the Call
- Live walkthrough of supplier profile: We requested they screen-share their Alibaba backend and Zoomed in on their “Verified Business” tab.
- Business license review: We ran OCR on the business license screenshot, pulled the name into Qichacha for real-time registry check.
- Social media & review scan: Checked Baidu, Weixin, and B2B platforms for transaction traces, comments, and job postings.
- Asked 3 unexpected questions: About production bottlenecks, export licenses, and packaging traceability.
The Findings
With our QR2: Process Quality Validation service, we support GMP-regulated facilities in preparing for:
- ✅ The company existed and had a clean registry
- ❌ Their bank account was under an individual name, not the registered company
- ❌ They refused to share factory photos or customer references
- ⚠️ Their Alibaba backend showed “Inactive since March 2020”
We advised the client not to proceed without an escrow mechanism or third-party escrow inspection.
Remote Consulting: What Works
This case confirmed a few things we’ve learned over the years:
- Screensharing is better than PowerPoint
- Real-time registry checks (like Qichacha, Tianyancha) expose shell entities fast
- Suppliers who hesitate to show floor photos = risk signal
- Asking “Can I speak to your quality manager?” in a first call is a great stress test
“When in doubt, don’t ask for a brochure. Ask for a walkthrough.”