Single Sourcing: Your guide to going solo with a supplier!
If you’re running a reseller gig, chances are you have stumbled across the questions of whether to go with casual flings with a variety of suppliers, or decide on a serious, long term, and exclusive relationship with just one.
There are pros and cons to every business strategy, and whilst flings are fun, nothing quite beats a solid, long-lasting and committed relationship. There are multiple advantages to single sourcing, not least of which is the rapport you’re able to build with your supplier. Open communication with a company that knows you, and knows your business, can boost your ability to offer consistency and solution focused services to your customers.
We believe there are five key things to consider when looking into any potential printing partner.
Range
Finding a supplier that has a large enough range to enable your growth moving forward is a solid start. Knowing that your trade print partner can take you from where you are now, to where you want to be in five years, means that you can minimise costs in the meantime, maximise volume leverage, and streamline your system to integrate seamlessly with theirs.
Take a look at their product range and make sure you’re satisfied with what’s on offer. It doesn’t hurt to take a look at their growth history either - have they added to their range over the last five years? Or has it dwindled? Knowing the answers to these types of questions can help you make a more informed decision about whether any given supplier is going to be able to help your business grow.
Quality
It’s not just the cost cutting and committed relationship that you can gain from single sourcing. If you spark up a romance with a trade printer who is passionate about delivering quality, then the reputation of your business as a whole is likely to level up.
If they sell quality, then you do too. Your trade printer should know that your reputation depends on theirs, and they should be committed to ensuring they deliver on that quality promise every time.
Price
Competitive pricing is a big ticket item on the list, and ensuring you’re able to maintain strong profit margins when selecting a trade printer is key. More than that, finding a supplier who provides you additional information, such as sales forecasts and offers resources to help you work with their promotions can be a HUGE time saver, so be on the lookout for tools like deals calendars, mockup imagery and white-labelled resources.
Service
This one is important! Nothing is worse than trying to fix an issue for a client, and not being able to speak to an actual person when you contact your supplier. Worse again is not being able to contact anyone at all. Make sure that any trade printer you're considering partnering with has a great reputation for customer service. Your ability to provide that service to your own clients depends on it!
Turnaround
If you are in the game of delivering products via a third party, then timelines are going to impact your business in a big way. If your supplier can’t tell you how quickly they can print, pack and post your jobs, then it’s going to become difficult for you to keep your customers happy (let’s face it, no-one wants to know the whys and hows, but everyone wants to know the whens!!)
Some trade printers are able to provide estimated time frames before you even place your order, with information on how long the process will take depending on if you order now, or in 2 hours time. That kind of detail is what is going to take you up a league in terms of customer satisfaction, and pave the way for your business to boom.
From consolidating their book-keeping and saving on space to decreasing delivery costs and streamlining distribution channels, companies that choose to find a single trade printer to source their products benefit considerably.
All that’s left is finding the right partner for your business.