Are you thinking about getting a new supplier for your business? For specific industries, supplies are important and will guarantee that they can offer a quality solution to clients that they demand. However, there are a few considerations you must keep in mind before leaping to start a partnership or business relationship with a supplier.
Reviews
The first point of focus that you should always consider when looking for a supplier for your business is the reviews. You need to make sure that you find real reviews from real customers. This is particularly important for B2B business models. Be aware that in a lot of cases, it’s not always possible to find reviews for companies online. Unfortunately, this can be more problematic than negative ones. Either, a company won’t have a high number of customers or, they could be actively avoiding reviews. In cases like this, it’s quite possible there are some ugly truths beneath the surface.
Turn Around
If you are thinking about purchasing bulk orders from suppliers, do make sure that you check their turnaround time. Be aware that this will be a USP for some companies and if it is, you’ll find it clearly marked on their site and various parts of their brand profile. Be aware that sometimes it can be worth paying more for a faster turnaround. Particularly if you want to make sure that customers aren’t going to have to wait around for a product or a delivery.
Customer Service
If you are choosing a supplier to form a relationship with, you need to make sure that they are easy to contact. If they are going to be constantly out of reach and not at all accessible, well, then you have an issue. Essentially, you’ll find that constantly on the phone trying to deal with problems. You could be left on hold or simply ignored. Some companies don’t even provide a point of contact and will instead suggest you wait for them to connect you. This is a major red light and one that you can’t ignore.
Choice
You need to make sure that when you choose a supplier, they can offer the level of choice you need. It’s never going to be useful if you have to deal with limited options. If that’s the case then you’re just going to end up going to another supplier. Ideally, the supplier should have a wide enough stock list that you can always rely on them. If you’re looking for a solenoid, you don’t want to be limited to one specific type. You should be able to browse through a good selection to find the perfect option for your industrial engineering needs.
Quality
This is another factor that you might be present or the very least mentioned in the reviews. Pay attention to the longevity of products as well as reliability. Remember, a couple of negative comments are always going to be around. This isn’t really anything to worry about because the supplier is never going to impress or satisfy 100% of their clients. What you need to watch out for are signs of a pattern where there have been multiple issues with quality.
We hope this helps you find the right supplier for your company.