Forging strong relationships with your suppliers can be
critical to the success of your company. And like any
relationship you need to embrace building and strengthening
that relationship. You may only see yourself as a customer
and them as a vendor but your relationship can be much more
than that. You may say that there are other suppliers out
there and that may well be true but will having to start
all over give you more value or less. And if you do a lot
of business with other small companies will a big company
appreciate you as much as that fellow small business does.
Your relationships are not something that should be
overlooked.
Relationship building in business never ends but it starts
on that first day when your dream is born. When you take
your concept and begin to turn it into reality. And no
matter what type of business you are in you will need
suppliers of one sort or another. Whether it is for your
phone service, landlord, banker, or a soft drink supplier.
Everyone you buy something from whether it is a product or
service is a form of supplier. Now obviously some suppliers
will only require limited contact, and going to your local
office supply store and buying something won't provide
opportunities to build a meaningful relationship but plenty
of opportunities will present themselves.
Many of those opportunities will come through phone calls
with sales representatives. This can turn into sit down
meetings with them. Many times they'll come to the office
for a visit. One of my standard practices has always been
to get to know the sales reps that come to visit. And
whether you need something from them or not ask them to
drop buy. The better they know you the more they will
appreciate your business with them. Especially if they've
worked for the same company for many years. I've always
made it a point to show them around our facility. So that
they could get a feel for what we do and where we're going.
I've always made sure to tell them how much I appreciate
working with them and that I'm glad they're along for the
ride. Using the saying my success is your success may sound
kind of cliché but it has always been the point I
was trying to make. My suppliers are my partners and with
they're help I can succeed. And my business can thrive.
You do need to remember that you're still their customer
and they will look out for their own best interests first
just as you would yours. So when you are on the lookout for
new suppliers especially in the first months of your
company's existence you need to be diligent when searching
for vendors. Especially if they're going to be critical to
your existence by supplying something you have to have that
few companies offer.
So you need to realize that just as your relationship with
your customers is important so to is the relationship with
your suppliers. Because when you need something in a hurry,
or you need to stretch a payment out a little, or you have
a large job that won't pay for awhile and you need special
terms they'll be more willing to listen to you if they know
you by more than a customer number. In business all your
relationships are important.
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Cash Miller is an experienced entrepreneur and speaker who
has spent over a decade as a small business owner. His
years of experience in small business cover such topics as
planning, management, marketing, human resources,
ecommerce, and taxation. If you are looking for more
information on this subject and others related to starting
and running a small business you can visit his website at
http://www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com
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