First Step Marketing

Large international corporations have departments crammed full of people whose only responsibility is to buy, buy, buy for the company: office supplies, employee vehicles, computers equipment, phone service, travel . . . you name it, they buy it. Their titles are usually Buyer or Procurement Manager. They also keep track of what arrives when, where it is stored, and how long it will last.

To a new business owner, this is the consummate luxury. Not only do you probably wish you had someone to do all this for you, but you could probably use the same big budget, too.

Needless to say, the lack of money and help will probably mean that when you first start your business, you’ll have to do all the work alone. Even if you run a business based on your knowledge and experience, you’ll still need to get materials and supplies, find your customers, and provide the information in a form that is useful for clients.

Finding Them

So how do you locate the suppliers and vendors who will provide you with everything you need in order to run your business? That’s easy. The best sources for supplies for your business are the brands or companies with which you are already familiar in your personal life: the warehouse office supply stores, online office supply catalogs, and even the cleaning supplies under your kitchen sink or at the local discount store. If you need items that are more business-related than you’ve required in the past, the Yellow Pages is a great resource for vendors in your region. A brief run-through may even give you ideas for other products and services that may help grow your business.

The advantage of working with these companies is that you can pick up the materials yourself whenever you need them, and there’s usually no minimum order. The downside is the cost. Because you are not buying twenty-five boxes of copy paper at one time, you’re probably paying a lot more. Plus, you either have to pay for the supplies when you pick them up or put the expense on your credit card, where you may then pay interest on the purchase. Of course, if you can deal with wholesalers and distributors from the beginning, you will probably be billed on a net thirty-days basis—payment due thirty days after you’ve accepted the delivery— and get free shipping, which can add a significant boost to your cash flow every month. But you don’t need twenty-five boxes of copy paper . . . Yet.

And you probably don’t have the storage space handy, either. Besides, the distributor might even decide that you’re too small potatoes for him to deal with anyway. In any case, the question you’ll regularly face when it comes to supplies is quantity versus price. Since you probably don’t want to tie up a lot of money in materials you won’t be using for several months, it’s a good idea to pay the extra cost to get fewer supplies and be able to use your money for other business-related items.

Joining Forces

Another good source of suppliers when you’re starting out is the list of vendors supplied by the local or national trade organization for your industry. When you join the National Association of Small Specialty Food Manufacturers, for example, you get a membership card and a subscription to the monthly trade publication, but most trade groups also provide members with a list of approved vendors. These are companies that have agreed to provide their service or product to members at a discount regardless of the quantity they need. They do this because it’s a market they may otherwise not have tapped, and they’re counting on you growing into a larger business, which will mean more business for them. When you place an order with an approved vendor, you will have to give your membership number, but that’s usually as complex as it gets. You get the lower quantity you need at a price that’s less than you’d be able to get on your own or at one of the superstores.

If you’re not sure yet what different types of supplies and items you will need to successfully operate your business, take a look at the advertisements in the trade association’s monthly publication. Note the advertisers you think you may need to call on in the future; you can even call them up to get a copy of their catalog and price list. And if there’s a product or service you know you need but can’t find a company to provide, call up your trade organization and ask the membership services director for leads.

Later, as you grow, you’ll want to deal with wholesalers and distributors and sales reps who will cater to your business, offer free shipping and delivery, and set up accounts for you at reasonable terms. But as with everything, there are clear exceptions; in fact, you may discover that all things considered, you still get the best price at the same haunts you frequented before you became an entrepreneur. No matter what, once you set your priorities as to cost or convenience, there are plenty of vendors and suppliers around who will be happy to bend over backwards to help your business grow.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Make Money by working with Suppliers and Vendors

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 3:14 am and is filed under Budgeting, Sales, Warehouse Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.