One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs by Stephen Key

Author:Stephen Key
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2013-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

Get Close to Your Vendors

It’s critical to understand and keep close tabs on every link in your supply chain—your manufacturer, sourcing agent, freight forwarder, warehouse, or whatever. Meet the people who make your business work, and build a good relationship with each of these key vendors.

I encourage you to visit your contract manufacturer at the very beginning, if you can, and then on a routine basis or when a problem arises. I always visit the facilities that make my product and get to know the general manager. It is also extremely important to build relationships with the people on the line. I try to understand any problems they are having, and I ask questions. “Is there any way to make the product better?” “What can we do to reduce the cost?” “Is there anything I can do to help you produce a better product?” It’s one thing to take a tour and talk to management about orders, but making a connection with the people on the line who are doing the actual work every day is invaluable. Without them, you don’t have a business.

This is yet another benefit to having a small business: you can meet all these people, and they can get to know you. If you have the time, take some of them out to lunch, dinner, or drinks. Do whatever you can to build a strong relationship. Then, if you have any problems, it’s easier to call them up and talk about it.

Keep abreast of new technologies, too. I’ve seen the manufacturing of my product change over the years. If you understand the process and stay close to your manufacturer, you can work together to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and prevent and solve problems.

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