If you take a little time to formulate your plan and you look at the situation as an opportunity, you will be amazed at the benefits. Because this IS an opportunity. An opportunity to expand your network, your resources and maybe even your communication horizons. All without having to commit to any of the print providers who are seeking your attention. For the most part, they are reaching out to find new contacts to try to jump start their portfolios, maybe due to the dip from the economy, maybe because of a seasonal dip or maybe because they are just trying to strengthen their customer base. Whatever the reason, if you have a plan that lays out, in a direct and honest way, your print situation, expectations, current landscape & needs, then you are halfway home.
FORMULATING THE PLAN
Pre-qualifying points:
You will need to formulate a plan that includes bullet points on company led initiatives, your current print environment & supplier situation as your first line to pre-qualify or disqualify potential suppliers.
- Company Led Initiatives include guidelines around hiring new suppliers such as diversity initiatives, volume discount policies or the need to use union printers for example. Suppliers that don't meet these stipulations or restrictions, can not be pre-qualified as a potential vendor (under the current landscape.)
- Current Print Environment includes type of print you outsource, number of projects you typically outsource, volume trends (increase/decrease) and print trends (i.e. toward digital print, web, email, etc). A supplier that doesn't meet your current/future needs and expectations in regards to their capabilities, can not pass the pre-qualification filter.
- Supplier Situation includes whether suppliers are in the middle of a contract, when the contracts are due to end and likelihood of rebidding, current supplier coverage, alignment or gaps for each type of work you outsource, as well as supplier trends (recent increase/decrease in supplier base). A supplier that doesn't meet your current/future needs and expectations in regards to their capabilities, can not pass the pre-qualification filter.
You can use these areas as a filter to help you "pre-qualify" vendors right up front, especially if you initially concentrate on company initiatives or restrictions. For example, at my last company, I was mandated to use Union Printers for all member collateral. Secondarily, there was a push to engage women and minority owned businesses for other work, whenever we needed to add a new supplier. Using these two initiatives as a filter made it easy to pre-qualify suppliers even before I knew what equipment they had on their floor. They appreciated the honesty and we both appreciated the time that was saved on both our ends.
For the printers that meet any of your company initiative filters, you can then turn to the current print environment and supplier situation to further pre-qualify the supplier and/or communicate whether there is any current opportunity available to them. Using this battle plan, you can quickly identify suppliers that may fill any gaps that you may have, identify mirror capabilities you already have covered by other suppliers or you can easily disqualify the supplier based on the company's current initiatives or print and vendor alignment situations.
Sales reps, wait, let me qualify this, most all sales reps will respect an honest approach, even if it means the door is currently not open to them with your company. They'll likely appreciate it more than leading them on and ultimately wasting their time calling on you when you have no intention on bringing them into the fold at that time because of company initiatives or your current print & supplier climate and scenario.
Pre-Qualified, what next?
If you happen to have a need for a supplier and they meet your pre-qualification filters, then great! You are ready for the next step that includes site visits, pricing and expectation discussions, etc as well as to bring other areas of your company into the fold as needed, such as Procurement, Finance, marketing, etc.
But what happens if a supplier meets your pre-qualification filters but you just don't have room for them? Well, be honest and tell them where they stack up against your guidelines and where they stand in regards to the current situation and scope. Likewise, be honest and direct in communicating the prospect (or not) of bringing in new suppliers in the near future. Think of it as a relationship, because that is what it ultimately is. It's better to be honest than to get their hopes up by stringing them along and ultimately wasting everyone's time and thus, diminishing your credibility. And have an open mind and keep the big picture in mind...NEVER SAY NEVER!
Never say Never!
Another key part of your plan is to never say never. What I mean by this is to never just abruptly close the door on a prospective supplier, whether they met your pre-qualification guidelines or not. It is one thing to not need their services today because of initiatives or current print and supplier scenarios, but what happens if you suddenly lose a supplier, get a complex new project handed to you or need a specialty supplier that requires a new supplier and you don't remember the salesman or company that called on you last year that could fill this need for you??? A great practice is to ALWAYS ask the sales rep to send you a package in the mail that includes 2 of their business cards, samples of work, equipment and capabilities list. When it arrives, find some time to take a few minutes to flip through it. Save one of the card in your rolodex, then file the package away so you can access it if and when you ever need it again. Make sure you allot space in a file drawer or storage area to keep these packages, because they are worth their weight in gold when you can ride in to save the day by having such resources at your fingertips! And it is also a good practice to tell the sales rep that you will keep their info on file and if anything changes in the future (with initiatives and situations), you will consider their services at that time.
A very valuable benefit of this practice is that you will also have a rolodex full of potential contacts, aka your network! You never know what the future holds...whether it's a sudden need for a new supplier or whether your need to network for a friend or for yourself; you never know when your network may come in handy. Believe me, it is gratifying when you get a call from someone who had called you 2 years previous and you flip to their business card and ask if they are still at ABC company or when they left ABC company. They'll be appreciative that you even remembered a 2 minute call from 2 years ago. Again, don't underestimate your network and contacts, especially in the seemingly small graphic arts world!
Pushy? Be firm and be fair!
Occasionally you will get a pushy rep who demands to meet with you or who demands to go higher in the chain of command. You need to be firm and you need to be fair. You need to communicate that your time and your team's time is very valuable, as is the sales reps and that if any of the parameters change, you will gladly consider taking a closer look at the services he is offering, (as professionally as possible). I have even communicated to the really really pushy rep, that out of fairness, I would honestly need to make time to meet with every (otherwise) pre-qualified vendor if I broke rank and agreed to meet with him/her and there just isn't enough time in a day or week to do so. You are being fair to you, your team, your company and the sales rep. If you have a semi-open mind then you are not passing up the deal of the century, so stick to your guns and politely, but firmly address the request.
TO SUMMARIZE:
- Make sure you take the time to have a pre-qualification plan in place to deal with potential suppliers.
- Have a subsequent communication plan in place that is honest, firm and fair that lets the supplier know where they stand against your guidelines, the prospects of doing business with you today and what steps you would take if/when the situation changes and a need arises for their services.
- Never close the door completely, ALWAYS ask for the supplier to send you a package that includes 2 business cards, samples and an equipment/capabilities list and close by letting the supplier know that you will keep the info on file in order to contact them if the situation changes and their services are warranted.
- File one business card in your rolodex for easy retrieval and to boost your contact network
- File the supplier's marketing package away for easy retrieval should the need arise
- Be honest, firm and fair and you will build a healthy and respectful persona for yourself along with a potentially strong network of contacts
I believe that you will build a solid and respectful reputation in the industry using this strategy, even from those who you never do business with. I have had some of the most interesting and educational conversations with supplier sales reps that I have never done business with, largely because of the mutual respect level that has been forged over the years. To wit, I recently received an unsolicited recommendation for a job that I interviewed for from someone that I never personally met, but I had dealings with on a peripheral level when their company called on me a number of years ago. A company I did not do business with, in fact. One couldn't ask for a better compliment than that!
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