Businesses and their suppliers have intimate relationships that are crucial for the success of both parties. Companies may be the storefront that sells specific items, but suppliers need to provide them with a consistent stream of quality products to sell.

Unfortunately, it can be daunting for newer businesses to secure deals with reputable suppliers, especially if they’ve yet to begin networking. In fact, finding a trustworthy supplier can be one of the more challenging aspects of starting up your own company.

So in this post, let’s take a look at some of the difficulties you might face when searching for a supplier and how to overcome them.

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Quality control

Some products are easy to find especially if you look to overseas manufacturers and suppliers. However, there’s no telling how good the product will be or if it’ll be compatible with your business model or products.

It’s a good idea to request samples when possible or to visit the factory where the products are made. This will allow you to inspect the quality of the product before you decide to place an order or establish a long-term partnership.

This kind of advice applies to everything from electronics manufacturers to restaurants. Quality products are made from quality components, parts, and ingredients. If your supplier can’t deliver quality, then your end product will ultimately suffer.

Lead times

There are some cases where you may need to customize a product before it can fit into your business or workflow. For instance, white-label products need to be designed before they can be sold, and you may need to work closely with a bearing manufacturer in order to produce parts to an exact specification for your needs. As a result, those products need to be made which can take some time.

New businesses tend to have a harder time securing short lead times because a manufacturer or supplier will likely prioritize clients that they have worked with for a long time. You should try to factor this into your business plans because the last thing you want is for your supplier to cause delays.

Consider scalability

As your business grows, you’ll probably need to order larger quantities of suppliers, or place orders more frequently to meet demand. It’s worth keeping in mind that not all suppliers will be able to scale their services to meet your demands. Eventually, you might find yourself struggling to source products from just one supplier.

If this happens, you need to think about consistency across all of your products and services. Sourcing from multiple vendors may lead to small but noticeable differences in the quality of your product which may upset your customers.

There’s no definitive solution to dealing with the scalability of your business and how it relates to finding suppliers. It’s a delicate balancing act that requires constant communication between you and your suppliers, especially if they have a responsibility to provide for other clients as well. Eventually, you may need to abandon existing suppliers in favor of more established ones to satisfy your product needs.