Do you ever wonder how to keep up with all of the new products and services that are available to benefit your business? It can be difficult to wade through the calls and mailers you receive from companies trying to win your business, but there could be products and services out there that can help your company be more competitive. So it behooves you to find a way to keep in touch your vendors in order to uncover those innovative ideas that will help you succeed.
One great way to find out about the latest and greatest trends and services is to schedule regular vendor/resource meetings. Pick one day each month, or two depending on the size of your company, and set aside time to host a meeting that allows a number of vendors to present their new products and services to relevant members of your staff.
There are several advantages to these regularly scheduled meetings:
- Your staff has a predictable schedule to meet with vendors, so interruptions during normal workdays are limited.
- Trends can change and develop quickly, so regularly scheduled meetings are a great way to keep up with what is happening in the marketplace.
- Vendors and suppliers invest in research and development of products that affect your clients. You can use the information they cultivate to strengthen your knowledge of your products for your customers.
- Scheduling meetings efficiently is a great way to stay ahead of your competition. Sales people are often seen as a nuisance, so if you’re “too busy” to meet with new vendors, you will miss out on the opportunities that a sales person has to offer. Remember, your competition is in the same boat, so let them make the mistake of not staying up on things.
- If you are behind on your knowledge of products and services offered by your vendors, you might find out things in these meetings that your competition already knows so you can gain back a little ground.
- Find something new. Although A new product or service is a great gateway to stay relevant and in front of your clientele.
It is likely that once word gets out that you host new product sessions, vendors will be vying for an available slot in a meeting. Set a policy for how many new products you will investigate and how many slots will be available for vendors with whom you already have a relationship. Stick to this policy to control the number of new calls you can expect from sales people.
The object of this procedure is to run a better business. If you adopt an attitude that sales people calling on you may actually help your company, not rip you off, you might come to realize that giving them their own day in the limelight can be beneficial to both of you; and that’s just good business.
# # # #
