Maintaining Supplier Contact Details

Maintaining Supplier Contact Details

Maintaining Supplier Contact Details

In any business that hinges on sourcing good quality material at fair prices in real time, maintaining updated records of supplier details is more than important. Even after you have established a great working relationship with one supplier, you have no idea when you may need a back up or extra material for an order. What's more, what sells today may not sell tomorrow and a good reseller stays a step ahead by ensuring that he always carries an updated supplier database which can keep him in business for times to come.

Too many people make the mistake of spending months on supplier research only to throw it all away or at the very least, lose touch with those very people that they have painstakingly cultivated at parties, events and forums. In this business, knowing good suppliers can give you a real competitive advantage in any number of ways. Let's examine some of the top few advantages that a supplier database gives you:

1. Products are often out or low on stock. Having a second or third supply source is always a great way to ensure that you do not have to turn away any orders. It also means more chances of completing an order in time as you have the flexibility of sourcing from the right guy.2. Falling out with a supplier: Relationships don't always last and people with no supplier backups often get arm twisted into contracts and arrangements that are not beneficial for them. Having a ready database of suppliers ensures that you always have a fall back option.3. Shopping around for the best price: A cost advantage is one of the biggest advantages that a reseller can enjoy. Having more than one supplier allows you the flexibility of shopping around and subsequently negotiating the best price.4. Market Intelligence: Knowing suppliers in the market ensure that you can find out about competitors, new products in the market, trends and other information that you may need from time to time.

It is important to remember that maintaining a supplier database is not about having a diary of numbers to call. It is about building and maintaining relationships in the supply market that you can call upon when you need to. Remember the adage, `don't put all your eggs in one basket'. Well, supplier relationships are a lot like that; they are determined by businessrealities and what works today, may not always work a day after.

Knowing more people is a little bit like having more tools in the market to work with. Every supplier brings their own expertise to the table and if you can manage it, it may be wise to work with more than one at any given time. It is however, important to be able to do justice to each relationship without compromising the basic understanding you have with any one supplier. Good software and some basic sensitivity can go a long way in helping with that.

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