Monday, October 17, 2022

How to Find and Work With Suppliers - Entrepreneur

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Whether you're looking for raw materials for manufacturing or finished products to resell, this guide will help you find and forge great relationships with suppliers.
are essential to almost every . Without to make what you sell or manufacturers to provide what you resell, you will have a tough time growing. There are also many supplies and services your business consumes as part of general overhead, from paper clips to Internet access.
Suppliers and vendors-the terms are used interchangeably here-can do much more than merely supply you with the materials and services you need to do business. They can also be important sources of information, helping you evaluate the potential of new products, track competitors' actions and identify promising opportunities. Vendors can turn into partners, helping you cut costs, improve product designs and even fund new efforts. If you don't make selecting good suppliers and vendors a part of your growth plan, you're likely to regret it.
Evaluating Your Suppliers and Vendors
Suppliers can be divided into four general categories. They are:
What Makes a Good Supplier?
A lot of growing companies focus on one trait of their suppliers: price. And price certainly is important when you are selecting suppliers to accompany you as you grow your business. But there's more to a supplier than an invoice-and more to the cost of doing business with a supplier than the amount on a purchase order. Remember, too, that suppliers are in business to make money. If you go to the mat with them on every bill, ask them to shave prices on everything they sell to you, or fail to pay your bills promptly, don't be surprised if they stop calling.
After price, reliability is probably the key factor to look for in suppliers. Good suppliers will ship the right number of items, as promised, on time so that they arrive in good shape. Sometimes you can get the best reliability from a large supplier. These companies have the resources to devote to backup systems and sources so that, if something goes wrong, they can still live up to their responsibilities to you. However, don't neglect small suppliers. If you're a large customer of a small company, you'll get more attention and possibly better service and reliability than if you are a small customer of a large supplier. You should also consider splitting your orders among two smaller firms. This can provide you with a backup as well as a high profile.
Stability is another key indicator. You'll want to sign up with vendors who have been in business a long time and have done so without changing businesses every few years. A company that has long-tenured senior executives is another good sign, and a solid reputation with other customers is a promising indicator that a company is stable. When it comes to your own experience, look for telltale signs of vendor trouble, such as shipments that arrive earlier than you requested them-this can be a sign of a vendor that is short on orders and needs to accelerate cash receipts.
Don't forget location. Merchandise ordered from a distant supplier can take a long time to get to you and generate added freight charges quickly. Find out how long a shipment will take to arrive at your loading dock. If you are likely to need something fast, a distant supplier could present a real problem. Also, determine supplier freight policies before you order. If you order a certain quantity, for instance, you may get free shipping. You may be able to combine two or more orders into one and save on freight. Even better, find a comparable supplier closer to home to preserve cost savings and ordering flexibility.
Finally, there's a grab bag of traits that could generally be termed competency. You'll want suppliers who can offer the latest, most advanced products and services. They'll need to have well-trained employees to sell and service their goods. They should be able to offer you a variety of attractive financial terms on purchases. And they should have a realistic attitude toward you, their customer, so that they're willing and eager to work with you to grow both your businesses.
Changing Your Supplier Relationships
You may not need to find new suppliers to get a new deal. You can usually get discounts, obtain improved service and receive other features you need by making a request of your current suppliers-although it may not be as simple as merely asking. Here are some of the options and negotiating strategies for turning mediocre suppliers into top-shelf ones.
Making a Change
Having fewer vendors is usually better than having many vendors. Reducing the number of vendors you deal with cuts the administrative costs of working with many. Closer relationships with fewer vendors allow you to work together to control costs. Getting rid of troublesome vendors can quickly increase the efficiency of your purchasing and administrative staffs. So how do you decide when to change vendors? Here are keys areas to consider:
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Gabrielle Bienasz
Gabrielle Bienasz
Gabrielle Bienasz
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Safety tips for latchkey children from the AMR - SuperTalk Mississippi

As students across Mississippi have returned to the classroom, the American Medical Response, Inc. (AMR) has provided some safety tips for youth who return home from school while their parents are not present, also known as latchkey kids.
With inflation and the current state of the economy being a burden on many Mississippians, a lot of parents are unable to afford after-school care for their children but are also uncomfortable with the idea of leaving their kids at home unattended.
Eric Phillips with AMR sat down with us and discussed how parents and children can best be prepared to ensure the youth’s safety at home while an adult is not present in the home.
“The biggest thing is to have kind of a plan and a known way to act when they get home, specifically that the kids go through different scenarios and stuff that may go on,” Phillips said in an interview on The Metro.
Phillips gave the following list of recommendations for parents to teach latchkey children in order to maximize the kid’s safety in the home:
“If you do have those good routines down, if you are a working parent, and you’re not there when your child comes home, make sure that you have a way for them to call you,” Phillips said adding, “That’s a primary, but if you’ve got that routine already in place and you’ve already got it, make sure that you have a backup. If you’re at work and something happens and you’re not there and they call and they cannot get you, make sure that there’s somebody else that they can call and say, ‘Hey, I’m home.'”
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Canadian authorities propose new changes to Express Entry rules from 2023 - Economic Times

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