Owning a business requires you to create relationships with many other companies, clients, and individuals. From accountants to lawyers to your suppliers, there are always relationships that you should work to improve. When it comes to your supplier relations, here are three of the top reasons you really should consider strengthening your relationships.
Reduced Costs
You should think of suppliers as businesses just like your own. When you have loyal clients, you can rely on a steady paycheck to pass onto your employees. Your suppliers think the same way about your loyalty to them. When you stick with the same suppliers for the long haul, you can expect to get better pricing on your inventory. Since you won’t need to spend time renegotiating contracts, placing orders, and so forth, the supplier can save on costs associated with these task for their staff. This means more cost savings for them and translates to more cost savings for you. In many cases, money can also be saved by choosing a local supplier. In most areas it’s as simple as searching online using local terms like “New Jersey chemical supplier” for your area.
They Get to Know Your Needs
Think of your supplier as your business’s personalization service. As you work on strengthening your relationships with your suppliers, you can expect them to get even better at determining your needs. This could be in the form of automatic shipments, calling you with new products that could benefit your business, and alerting you of any issues that may come up with future orders. When you work with someone for a long time, you get to know them. Your suppliers will get to know your business well and be a major benefit to providing you with the right supplies you need at the best discount.
This familiarity can also be a great backup or safety net for your operation. For example, if you hired a new supply manager and they overlooked an important order, a supplier you’ve built rapport with is likely to call or email to see if your company is skipping a regular order on purpose. It’s not something you should actively rely on, but it can come in handy in case something goes wrong. In that same scenario, a good business relationship with suppliers can help a new supply manager reduce the stress of transitioning to a new job and even help them learn how parts of their job work. Again, this isn’t something you want to rely on, but it’s worth
Protect Your Brand Name
Have you ever thought about how your brand name can be affected by the quality of products that your suppliers ship to you? Your supplier is the start of the process. If you start with less than quality supplies, you’re going to get a less than quality product. When dealing with any sort of specialized suppliers, like lab reagent suppliers, you want to ensure that you’re getting quality materials. When you can rely on the consistent delivery of these quality materials, you can protect your brand name.
As a business owner, creating relationships with your suppliers is a must. They can help your business succeed by reducing costs, understanding your exact needs, and protecting your brand name. If you don’t have solid relationships with your local suppliers, we highly suggest that you get started today.
