It can be challenging to find the right supplier and build a great relationship within an industry. For many companies, it takes several rounds of trial and error to find the right match. Suppliers are everywhere, but how do you exactly connect with someone who will match all your expectations?
If you're curious about how you're going to find significant connections with suppliers and make a good deal for not only yourself but for the supplier, then you're in the right place.
Keep reading to find out more about connecting properly with suppliers to make a great deal and make sure that you have a great relationship.
Do Your Research
It is not enough to find the first supplier and try to make a deal with them. To make the great connection, you need to have the right resources in the proper research to back up your decisions. This involves looking at traditional and non-traditional choices. Your goal should be to find different suppliers who could potentially fit what you're looking for.
While doing your research, it's essential to understand precisely how you need to talk to them. Make sure you know the lingo, and you know exactly what they need to hear to know that you're serious about this deal. Additionally, you should also investigate the costs and understand precisely what you might be getting into. If you don't explore the prices, you could end up paying much more than you wanted!
Know the Different Types of Suppliers
Most people who look for suppliers don't know the difference between some of the main categories of these individuals that you will find in the market. There are manufacturers, distributors, independent craftspeople, and import sources.
• Manufacturers are the individuals that most retailers use to buy specific wares and specific qualifications for their companies. These are generally the lowest price, and they ship their items through freight because of the significant quantity people usually buy.
• Next are distributors, who are also known as wholesalers. These are a little bit higher in cost than manufacturers. However, they can supply retailers with small orders from various manufacturers, rather than only getting one manufacturer for a similar price. It's a lower freight bill with quick delivery because the distributor can have a higher cost per item to compensate for their shipment expenses.
• Independent craftspeople are also essential to investigate because they can create unique items for you to sell. These can catch people's eyes and get the right message across about your company. If you want to find unique products sold nowhere else but come at a premium, investigate independent craftspeople because they provide you with something not many others can create.
• For those interested in foreign goods, import sources help you find extraordinary items and sell them to your customers from around the world. Depending on your familiarity with overseas authorities, this might lead to more research. Furthermore, you may even want to travel abroad to see precisely what you're buying before you make the deal, making this quite costly.
Knowing the differences, you can make the right decision about what supplies you need for your company, how they can fit your budget, and what your needs are. When you're looking for the right supplier, there are a few things you need to keep in mind to have the proper relationship and to have an efficient business transaction.
Focus on Communication
We cannot stress this enough because many individuals do not realize how important this is. Communication above all is the most critical aspect of any business relationship. If you have a business relationship that lacks communication, you will have no idea what's going on and if everything will be on schedule. This can be stressful and should be avoided at all costs!
This can also put you in a compromising situation, especially if the supplier is noncommunicative and puts you in a position you are not ready to handle. If you're unable to supply your customers with the products you promised, this can tarnish your customer relationships and make the supplier relationship incredibly difficult to maintain or trust.
Pitch Your Plan Properly
When you're looking to pitch your plan to your supplier and sell them on whether they're going to get in business with you, you need to be professional and showcase your expertise. You cannot go into this meeting without any knowledge of what plan you're trying to sell because it's going to reflect poorly upon you. It would help if you sold them on why they should work with you and supply for you.
Treating this presentation as if you are trying to sell to investors is incredibly essential because you are selling their supplier! If they don't like your company and your plan, they will not want to buy into your proposal. If you're looking to find ways to make a meaningful connection and have your supplier satisfy your needs, you need to make sure that your supplier is sold on what you have to offer as a firm.
Find Areas of Mutual Benefit
While this goes without saying, it's essential that your business relationship with your supplier has a benefit for both you and the supplier. If you're trying to get a supplier who doesn't have any use for going into business with you, it's not going to work. Business relationships are transactional, and they work depending on who is getting the benefit. If you can show them why your relationship will help them, you will be able to sell them on your offer further.
Learn how to speak to your supplier, find out what they need, and satisfy that. If you can meet them at a price that they are willing to sell their items to you for, you will likely have their trust in their relationship. If you're not ready to find a way to benefit them as well as help you mutually, then you're likely not going to be able to sell them on working with you. This is the art of negotiation and something that you must learn to connect with suppliers!
Get Multiple Quotes
Many people don't do this, but it's essential that they go and do their research and find multiple quotes from different suppliers. When you're looking into suppliers for your business, there are so many products out there. It is impossible to search through every supplier given how many there are for just one item! You'd be surprised precisely how many individuals would be willing to sell you the same plant pot for a similar price. There are more than 220,000 listings for just plastic packaging bags on our site!
If you can find the right supplier to work with your business, make sure you get a quote. Do this with at least a handful of different companies to ensure that you find the proper individuals you would like to seek to work with. It's always better to have more choices than to have none. You might be regretting your decision if you only have one to choose from and it's not someone you want to work with. If this happens, you must start all over from the drawing board.
Test Their Sources
Additionally, you need to test their sources before you buy. There is no reason why you should be signing any contract or agreement unless you try their samples. If a supplier doesn't want to test the product for you, this should also be a significant red flag. Suppliers should be more than excited to get your hands full of what they have to offer you.
Suppliers do want you to see the value of their products, which is why they're going to want to give you samples. Make sure you test all the pieces you'd like, and then you can go and proceed to get quotes. This is incredibly important. It will help alleviate a lot of the stress you might find when researching and finding the right supplier for your company.
Reference Past Customers and Current Customers
One of the best ways to get an idea of precisely what your supplier might be offering you is to get in contact with past in current customers. This can significantly help you decide if you want to work with or someone you want to pursue a business relationship with. Understanding precisely what occurred what their relationships will give you an idea of what yours might be like.
Using these reviews will help you properly understand what it's like to enter any negotiation and understand what the situation might be like when working with them. If you find it to be amicable, then you should proceed. If it's anything other than that, you need to be very cautious about what you do.
Be Honest
No one likes someone who's lying in business. It's not a good sign, and it's not a good way to practice the trade. That's why you should be upfront and honest from the very beginning. If your supplier knows precisely what you want, they will see if they can provide it for you. This also allows them to see your transparency and what you're looking for with this relationship.
Honesty is the best policy, and this goes for every area of life, but especially business. If you're dishonest in business, this will paint a terrible picture for you as a company, likely tainting much of your future relationships. Therefore, above all, connecting with suppliers is all about being honest and communicating exactly what you want.
Set an Example
Setting a good example when you're looking to be professional and to get into negotiation is an excellent policy to have. It would help if you found a way to cater to your supplier and still vouch for your needs. This is the example you want to set, and you want to make sure that you set the tone from the very beginning.
If you show your supplier that they need to sell to you why they should work with you, then that's the tone you're going to have, and you're going to set that example. You choose exactly what environment in what situation you would like to be in and how you want your supplier to reply to you. This will dictate how you proceed and what example you look to create with your company.
Be Strategic with Your Decision
Many people might try and find the supplier that offers the lowest cost, but you need to pay the balance game. Figure out if the value is worth the price or if you'd be willing to pay less to receive more. For example, perhaps you want to buy 1,000 specific blouses for your company. If you purchase this at a lower cost, the quality goes down. If you buy it at a higher price, the quantity might go down, but the quality will go up.
This decision depends very much on what your company provides. If you are a high-end company, you might want to go for more niche and unique suppliers than bulk and manufactured items. You need to make sure that you are strategic with your decision and find the right supplier for your company. This involves some deliberation and discussion, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that you find mutual benefit and that you help your customers find the right product for them.
Conclusion
Connecting with suppliers is not difficult, but you must have the right mentality and follow the right tips to make the right decision properly. If you're unable to do this, then you'll be unable to find the right supplier for your company. Suppliers are everywhere, but it's up to you to find the right one to ensure you have a communicative, respectful, and beneficial relationship on both sides.
Business is about profitability but also about making more relationships. Every aspect of business needs human interaction. This is incredibly important for you to understand how to make the proper connection, treat suppliers fairly, and help both of you achieve your goals in this transactional relationship.
