Relationships highly define business success. No enterprise can thrive without establishing strong links with both customers and suppliers.
Generally, more effort is poured into the customer side. Businesses nurture and manage relationships with clients through customer service and marketing to maximize income.
But the supplier network is just as crucial.
For instance, you will need hotel food suppliers to provide you with all the resources you need for the products and services you sell if you are in the F&B industry. Establishing a healthy relationship with hotel food suppliers will help you gain better business value. You will most likely benefit from preferential pricing, dedicated service, and special terms.
If you’re looking to focus on choosing the right supplier and building better relationships with them, then this guide might help.
How to find a supplier
In the business realm, some enterprises are not compatible. Regardless of how committed you are to building a relationship based on openness, fairness, and good communication, unsatisfactory arrangements can still happen. Your ability to build excellent relationships also depends on choosing to work with the right people.
It is not always about the cost. Don’t base your selection solely on a supplier’s rates. Reputational damage caused by poor order fulfillment and quality can render any initial price-based saving irrelevant.
Here are five key factors when selecting the best frozen cakes suppliers — or any other type of supplier, for that matter.
Location
Keep your supply chains local, as this can minimize risks and boost the sustainability of your business. Partnering with local suppliers for items can bring benefits to your organization, including fewer supply chain costs, greater control, more flexibility, and being community-friendly.
But whenever there is a need for you to partner with distant suppliers, look into their freight policies to minimize issues with extra freight costs and delivery times.
Stability
Stability is a crucial consideration, especially if you are entering into a long-term contract. You should always exercise due diligence. For instance, check how long the suppliers have been in the business, and look into their credit history to determine if they are financially stable.
Reliability
Reliable food and beverage suppliers deliver goods on time. Generally, working with large suppliers ensures they will have sufficient resources and dependable systems in place if anything goes wrong; however, you will probably find it easier to establish closer relationships with small suppliers.
Regardless of which type of supplier you choose, go with ones that can respond better and faster to different requests, such as holding on to stock and rush orders.
Business values
Choose a supplier that has the same business values as yours. For instance, when your company advocates corporate social or environmental responsibility, consider issues like the environmental impact of their processes and product packaging.
Price
Affordability is among the key considerations when finding a supplier. Opt for competitively priced firms so you can better manage your finances.
And remember that cheap doesn’t always mean better value for money. When the supplier’s product quality is poor, you can incur additional costs for replacement and returns, or worse, lose transactions with delays.
4 tips for building better supplier relationships
Client-supplier relationships must be a two-way street.
From your standpoint, you want assurance that all your orders will arrive on time. You want your business to be prioritized and receive a high quality of service.
For the suppliers’ side, they also want you to be reliable because repeat orders will give them a constant income stream. Fluctuations or changes in order regularity and size may pose hassles for them; still, they will be ready to accommodate the needs of their loyal clients as long as they give sufficient notice ahead of time.
Strong relationships depend on both sides working hand-in-hand to make sure that each side fulfills its obligations. Here are tips for building excellent and long-lasting client-supplier relationships.
1.Make payments on time
For any business, late payments are a bad practice.
If you don’t receive the money you are owed on the expected date, it can negatively affect your cash flow, and even get you financially exposed. The same is true if you don’t make timely payments to your suppliers. They might not be able to restock, so if you have rush orders, they can’t be in a position to help out.
Most of all, making a timely payment is about showing respect.
2.Give notice ahead of time
Though there will be times when you may need to make last-minute orders, try to give plenty of notice to your suppliers. You are not the only client your supplier has and they have other obligations. So when you have special requirements or orders that are out of the ordinary, inform them as soon as possible.
3.Review the terms regularly
Having regular discussions regarding business arrangements is an essential part of good communication. This way, both parties can ascertain if everything is working as planned. This will also give both parties the opportunity to make improvements and modifications to their current system in place.
3.Be flexible with payment arrangements
The payment arrangement is a crucial factor to consider when dealing with suppliers.
Though you might have reasons for your preferred payment terms, you should also understand that your suppliers have their own. The key is to discuss your reasons, respect their terms, and compromise.
Having credit available is an excellent contingency should you need flexible payments from your suppliers. This allows you to absorb some risks of making rush or unexpected orders, helping your suppliers keep up with your needs. Best of all, it will put you in a very strong negotiating position because you have enough capital to back up your request.
When finding a supplier, look for value for money, reliability, quality, clear communication, and excellence in service. And once you find suitable suppliers, aim to build stronger and longer bonds with them.
AUTHOR BIO
Jad Asaad is the Marketing Manager at Bidfood UAE with more than eight years of experience in digital, online and offline marketing. He started his career in Beirut working in a creative agency and then moved to Dubai to further expand his career. He created and implemented award-winning high-impact digital and offline marketing campaigns that consistently generated revenue streams and improved performance in targeted segments.
