Beata Leyland
Business Owner & Author of this article
You are right to misunderstand, and so does the other party. If you want to build long-lasting relationships, be a pleasant person to work with, be respectful, curious, and communicate clearly. Your lack of vision is not your supplier's responsibility.
Intrigued ?
Many Owners wonder what is more challenging: finding a good factory or keeping a great factory.
I would say it depends on company growth and business strategy.
Here I would like to focus on scenarios when your company has a steady growth expansion, and you want to make sure that your current manufacturer is happy and will continue to work with you.
It would be a mistake to assume that as long as you pay on time, everything is fine.
It is a part of the equation, but there are more important pieces which many companies overlook.
That’s why I came to you with this article.
Don’t treat your current, reliable business partner for granted as one day you might be unpleasantly surprised.
First and foremost, when you have 2 businesses cooperating you need to understand that you have 2 different entities making business.
Their goals might temporarily align, but it doesn’t mean they always win. As much as you have your goals, so do they.
Your manufacturer does the best job to make sure you stay with them, help them with growth and financial flow, but the way you act and how you grow might change overtime. The same as your attitude, sales direction, etc.
You can already spot certain symptoms at the very beginning of cooperation:
- Do your values align with your factory? How do they communicate?
- How do they treat you? What is the quality of their work? Timelines? Pricing? Capacities?
- What is their vision of growth?
Serious companies, and a good Sourcing Agent, (that’s why I recommend us so much) would ask such questions early to make sure you have a secure business partner. In doing so, you mitigate production risk from the very beginning.
Sourcing is not about googling company names, sending emails and collecting offers, at least if you want to make it right, long-lasting and secure the best players on the market.
If you are small, a big player might treat you as a number and overlook you and this wouldn’t work for you long-term.
You need to choose someone who has a similar vision on growth but also is interested in your growth (here reading between the lines, research and understanding of the company are so important)
For all of us, these steps are step 0 and absolute basic for our clients.
Another step is a well-constructed contract understood by both sides and fair for both sides. The same rule applies to payment terms.
Once all these steps are done, you can focus on how to keep a good supplier happy and stay with you.
Respect.
You can’t avoid delays and problems in business.
They are a part of the landscape.
What you control is the way you approach them, how you behave, what kind of language you use.
If every small problem becomes a drama, it means you are unstable as a business or emotionally unstable.
The other party might assess you over time as a risk, or a burden not worth investing in.
Once good manufacturers grow they often drop clients which they categorize as a burden because they eat time and resources and don’t provide enough money.
Think about it next time before an angry call, or passive-aggressive email.
Listen to understand not respond, be respectful, and apologize when you make mistakes.
All of us make mistakes; it’s all about how we solve them.
Of course, this works the other way around.
Communication.
No matter if you work using your mother tongue or working with a manufacturer on the other side of the globe, watch your language.
What you say, how you say it and when you say it speaks volumes about you.
It’s better to be silent instead of saying words which will be difficult to explain later.
People have more compassion to phrase “let me think about it/ I need some time to make a decision’’ than someone who speaks faster than the brain can compute.
If you don’t understand behavior, some phrases and language of the other side simply ask and explain to them that you don’t understand.
If you want to do business locally and globally, then asking relentless (doesn’t mean stupid and ignorant) questions and being vulnerable on cultural differences is truly key.
You are right to misunderstand, and so does the other party.
If you want to build long-lasting relationships, be a pleasant person to work with, be respectful, curious, and communicate clearly.
Your lack of vision is not your supplier’s responsibility.
Include the company as a part of your own growth.
If you plan expansion, launching a new product, or increase quantities, share it with your current provider.
Show them that you treat them seriously, that you want to grow with them, and you are seeking their expertise and feedback.
It’s not a sign of weakness or lack of vision; it’s a sign of maturity and building a long-lasting vision.
If you come unprepared to them of course it could be read like that, but if you have a well thought plan, presenting a rough draft to your manufacturer can help you to build your vision.
People like to be listened, seen, treated fairly and included.
Basic obligations.
Respecting payment terms and contract frames are a basic foundation but not a core of successful cooperations.
NDAs and contracts are important of course, but they are a starting point.
As much as you judge, are biased about the other party, so are they about you.
Give them tools to better understand who you are, how you work, how you think, how you want to grow.
I write this article based on experience but also as an observation of many corporations which had huge potential and were killed by ego, mistrust, greed from the client’s side.
A business savvy mindset is not a permanent stage.
It’s a quality which goes hand and hand with the personal growth of the Executive. The same as a global mindset.
If you hire someone, it means that you trust the other party to do a good job.
Of course you check their work, but micromanagement is truly a last resort, not a default setting.
Companies love to cooperate with their clients long-term, but there are clients which don’t have the mindset to do it.
Overlooking small steps, small actions would be a fatal mistake here.
There is no AI script on how to maintain relations with people because we are different, we change and only respectful and frank communication can help both parties to grow together long-term.
Think about it next time you are choosing manufacturers and working with them daily.
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