Images_December_2019_Digital Edition

www.images-magazine.com DECEMBER 2019 images 53 KB BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT contact as a friend — my friendly relationship with the big suppliers ceased as soon as I no longer meant anything to their bottom line. David and Goliath When you’re a small-business David doing business with big-supplier Goliaths, you can’t expect to meet force with force — you have to outwit them. The rule in the business world is similar to that of the jungle: the strongest will prevail, unless the weaker are smarter. Large suppliers will use their superior size and strength to exercise influence and even intimidate small businesses when it suits them, much more so if the small businesses don’t have alternative sources of supply. My small business of eight employees couldn’t have been more of a David in comparison with its main supplier, Goliath Ink (my pseudonym for them), a wholly owned subsidiary of a vertically integrated, publicly traded, multinational conglomerate with over 7,000 employees. Because of its dependence upon Goliath Ink, which would hear no criticism of its adverse pricing structure, my small business was at a disadvantage. Goliath Ink, through lack of Canadian market awareness and a lingering dose of arrogance born of being the industry leader for many years, dogmatically adhered to the belief that its product was vastly superior to all else in the market and therefore its significantly higher prices were justified. But market circumstances had changed. Competitors closed the quality gap while maintaining lower prices. I was left no choice but to supplement our product range with a less expensive Very little sentiment is involved in big business brand of textile screen printing ink to satisfy the demands of certain price- sensitive customers. However, I didn’t want Goliath Ink to know this because I couldn’t trust them not to turn nasty. Soon after the first delivery of the new brand of ink to our warehouse, Goliath’s representative responsible for our account paid us a rare visit. So soon, in fact, that I wondered if he’d heard about the second brand of ink and was on a mission to investigate. It was, the representative said in the phone call from Los Angeles, to be just a quick, same day, in-and-out visit to review a few figures and compile projections for the coming year. We extended the courtesy of a warehouse tour — a courtesy we extended to all our suppliers’ representatives, even though we knew they were only interested in seeing if we were carrying competitors’ products. To this day I don’t know if he suspected anything, but the only ink the representative saw in our warehouse was Goliath’s. The day before he arrived I rented a one-tonne cube van, into which our warehouse manager loaded the entire inventory of the new brand of ink — and she drove it away to a parking spot just 50 feet away. As soon as the representative was safely winging his way back to California, the truck was backed up to the warehouse and unloading commenced. A head-to- head confrontation that could have ended badly for my small business was avoided. When backed into a corner by a big supplier, a small business needs to be smart. Sometimes survival can depend upon creative solutions. The cooperative supplier Diplomacy when patience wears thin, courtesy when provoked, assertiveness without aggression, and a dash of humour when appropriate can go a long way to maintaining cooperative supplier relationships. Though not guaranteed, stable and reliable sources of supply should be the reward. Oh, and finally, don’t forget that a cooperative supplier is a supplier paid on time. Characters Who Can Make Or Break Your Small Business is a new book from accountant and print industry veteran Michael Best that identifies the issues faced by small business owners and offers advice backed up by real life examples. It is available from www.smallbusinesscharacters.com and Amazon . such as staff and management changes, intended new products, and other information that might be useful to know but that’s not yet intended for public consumption. It’s surprising how indiscreet and loose-lipped some employees of big companies can be, particularly if they have reason to be disgruntled. Disputes and disagreements Disputes and disagreements between small businesses and their suppliers are bound to arise from time to time. The key to preserving an amicable supplier relationship lies in how the small business owner (or an employee) handles the dispute. That doesn’t mean you should allow your small business to be pushed around by bigger and stronger suppliers, but an abrasive or threatening stance will almost certainly be inappropriate, ineffective, and potentially destructive. Even in the most frustrating and trying of circumstances with a big-company supplier, there are alternatives. You can appeal to reason, cry for help, prod a conscience, or try humour — but you don’t want to act hastily or thoughtlessly and potentially destroy a supplier relationship worth preserving. You’re not family I have known small business owners, particularly new ones, to be quite naive in their dealings with large suppliers. You need to understand that it’s all about the bottom line. Notwithstanding the best efforts of the public relations departments and advertising agencies, very little sentiment is involved in big business — it’s ultimately about the money and the quarterly financial report. Individual representatives of big companies assigned to your small business account will quite often be affable and even likeable, but they are the facade for something a lot less personable and potentially ruthless. The supplier’s priority is moving as much product out the door as possible at the best price possible. It’s best to make it a rule, for yourself as the owner and for employees, to treat every supplier cordially but on a businesslike basis. Because that’s what it really is — just business. And you’ll be better off not expecting anything more than that. On rare occasions I’ve seen the rule violated without ill effect, but in those circumstances the supplier was usually a small business owner too. Among the suppliers my business dealt with over a twenty-year period, just one has shown an interest in maintaining