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Sourcing is a relationship trust matters
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As a supplier, one must be willing to show and tell the buyer your credentials – business registration information, product patents, company certifications, industry experience and more.
Back words with actions. Once a buyer has committed to an order, ship them what you have advertised, follow what was agreed upon and ensure delivery is timely.
As a buyer, convince your supplier you mean serious business. Besides company credentials and sourcing history and experience, tell them in a clear manner what your sourcing needs and requests are.
Stay true to your words. Trying to impress a supplier by initially placing a large order is a big no-no if you aren’t going to commit to it.
John Niggl, Client Manager at InTouch Manufacturing Services, says in an interview with Global Sources:
“Buyers wanting to garner trust with their suppliers would do well to be frank, direct and open. A buyer that’s just getting started and wants to start with a small “trial” order should be upfront about it. And a buyer with strict requirements for third-party oversight should clarify that as well, especially one that plans to charge back their supplier for the cost of re-inspection, for example, which is common.”
Betrayed? Time to move on
There will be times that you, the supplier or buyer, cannot find the business partner who is willing to do all of the things mentioned above.
Or worse, you have been scammed already by fake suppliers or buyers.
What to do? When trust is broken in sourcing, move on. Dan Harris of ChinaLawBlog advises importers to walk away when they see fraud, quoting Quality Inspection Blog’s Renaud Anjoran:
“Any little fraud (e.g. pretending they are a manufacturer when actually they are a trading company) IS a fraud. If they lie about this, they will lie about other things too.”
Search for a new supplier or partner with another buyer.
Meeting the right one
Finally met a trustworthy sourcing partner? Great! Nurture that relationship by staying trustworthy, too.
Maintaining good relationships has a lot of benefits. In China, for instance, relationships or “guanxi” that have lasted long indeed resulted in good things.
Gary Huang of 80/20 Sourcing in a Smart China Sourcing article about the art of guanxi wrote that among the advantages for buyers are better pricing, lower MOQs, better payment terms and high priority from suppliers, higher chances of accommodating requests and lower chances of IP being leaked to competitors.
On the supplier side, good relationships of course reap great buyer feedback, more buyer connections, and repeat orders.
Article source: https://www.smartchinasourcing.com/sourcing-relationship-trust-matters/
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