Suppliers come in all shapes and sizes. Some may be there for convenience, others because they’re an important part of your product or service offering. In the running of a restaurant, for example, it might be that we use branded local suppliers to provide us with certain ingredients, sausages for example. These higher-quality purchases can enable us to market local ingredients with a seal of quality in our foods, despite cheaper and more convenient options that we can find elsewhere.
But quality is hardly the only measure of success. In fact, suppliers that care will often be the biggest factor when considering overall quality and will transmit those ideals more efficiently. When choosing your suppliers, be that for your factory, local business or product designing pursuits, be sure to find those who hold a real care for their offering and industry.
There are a few means in which you can find and assess a supplier like this, provided you can remain observant. They are as follows:
Consider Their Willingness To Educate
A great supplier will be happy to educate you as to how their catalog is used, or what practical applications they can be used for. They will also wish to let you know, especially in refined fields that require plenty of internal understanding, the differences between certain products or what their uses are. This is what enables a firm to confidently know the difference between mechanical seal types if they hope to use them or accidentally fall into using a lesser option. Suppliers with a willingness to educate are worth your time, as they show a real regard for the client experience.
Consider Their Reliability
A reliable supplier, those that deliver on time, with regular packaging, with a regular delivery process, and with continually accurate invoicing efforts can be a worthwhile measure to consider. There’s plenty to be said for a reliable and seamless business experience. While we do hope for a good relationship with our suppliers, it’s unlikely you wish to worry about what the process will look like this week, or have to consider the relationship further than the purchase and reliable delivery of goods. In this way, both of your operations can run like clockwork, and that’s quite a positive thing to achieve ahead of time.
Consider Their Custom Advice
It can sometimes be that despite their reliability and offer of education, you need a more custom solution. Asking for them to offer a product to you, or to assess your needs and suggest a product or service they have to give can ensure that they are outfitting their offering to you, and not simply trying to sell you the most expensive or undersold item in their inventories. This can seem like an obvious consideration, but not all firms do it, and so this in itself can be a reliable and very much appreciated sign of a good supplier.
With this in mind, we hope you can work with suppliers that care.