Vendors and fulfillment are critical to taking your product or service from concept to cash. These could be graphic designers, they could be web programmers, they could be fulfillment houses, they could be CD duplicators. There are all kinds of different types of vendors that you may come across in your business. Here are a few tips on how to build a quality relationship with these people and cut back on your fulfillment costs.
To get started, you can send them recommendations and referrals. I try and do this with anyone I work with because if I am able to give them more business, the value of my relationship with them goes much further. It changes the way they view me now because not only do I give them the business I use them for, but also the people I associate with. I will become more favorable then most clients. What you really have to look at is how you can benefit your vendors quickly and easily - giving them referrals is a great way to start.
I’ve also done joint venture projects with my vendors. Here’s a quick scenario. One of the people that I was working with was a graphic designer. We decided to do a joint venture project together, where she would do the graphic design at no cost, I would provide the product and then put for the marketing effort, and together we would split the profits.
Boom! Just like that I had almost completely eliminated my cost up front and now don’t have to worry about coming up with that money. Starting out, this was really helpful as I didn’t have the money to put up front to hire a graphic designer. So this strategy is really great for that reason and many others.
Some people will think, “If I split the profits with someone else, I’m going to loose a big chunk of money!” Time out. Personally, I think that it is better to actually get your projects completed, making some money, rather than not have any completed and not be making any money.
Instead of just letting those ideas sit on shelf, not making any money, I made an effort to approach and build a relationship with that specific vendor and was able to get those projects completed and off the shelf.
When you are on a tight marketing budget, you’ve got to get creative. And that is one creative idea that I’ve used. I’ve also used that with web developers.
Another tip to save money that I have learned over the course of using vendors is to have as much work done ahead of time. By doing this you are cutting down on the time and effort your vendor needs to use on your project. You can even ask your vendor questions, like, how could you decrease they’re effort, reduce your overall costs, etc. Vendors will answer these for you, they want to work with you. Everyone has a budget to work within and vendors will be willing to help you stay within it, they are always interested in your business and will help you meet your goals.
Here is another tip - create a template instead of just a project. This way you can use it more than once, without having to pay for the same thing twice. I’ll go into more detail to explain it better.
We will use developing e-Books for example. Instead of getting a graphic designer to design a specific layout for each of your e-Books you generate, it would be a lot easier and cheaper for you to get them to design a template. That way you can use that template for every e-Book you generate after that point instead of paying for it again.
That is a completely different approach, yet it will save you hundreds - if not thousands - of dollars in the long-run. Yet, it’s pretty much the same amount of effort for the graphic designer. So that’s another creative idea on how you can save a lot of money when working with vendors, and also building relationships with vendors.
Your vendors and fulfillment companies can really make a difference in your business and these are just a few ideas on how you can build your relationship with them and also cut costs. More strategies will come to you if you only start thinking outside the box!
By exploring your creativity ideas will come to you when you need them the most!