Sourcing Wholesale Goods

Ask any entrepreneur for a business idea, and you’ll seldom hear retail. Many businessmen see retail as too difficult, or too risky, and one of the main reasons for this is that they don’t know how to source wholesale goods. Sourcing wholesale goods is one of the major hurdles facing any prospective businessman looking to venture into the retail market. However, with the advent of the Internet, it has become easier now than ever to both source and sell products from wholesale suppliers. In practical terms, what this means is that it is now easier than ever to enter the retail market through wholesale channels. In this article, we will cover the finer points of sourcing wholesale goods for your business.

Wholesalers are often considered to be insider secrets, and it is very rarely public knowledge. When making initial enquiries, it is almost impossible to find out who the main wholesalers are in your market, because the retailers don’t want to give the game away. Supply products down the chain makes good money for everyone involved, and at end of the day the retailers are only middlemen, taking a cut from the price you pay. Why would they let you in on it? What you have to do is dig a little deeper if you want to find wholesale suppliers.

Wholesale suppliers rarely advertise in your face, and if you’re wanting to buy from a wholesaler you’re going to have to go through a lot of hard work finding them first. Since the Internet has become more widespread, it has of course hand an effect on the way we look for information, but more on that later. For the time being, the primary way in which you should source wholesalers is in business directories. Business directories and relevant trade magazines are the main haunts of wholesalers, who usually work with a stable customer base rather than trying to actively recruit new clients. Finding them in a business listing guide is probably one of the best ways to discover the contact information you need to get the ball rolling on your acquisition.

Another vital tool in sourcing wholesale products is the world wide web, also known as the Internet. Every wholesaler that is worth his salts will have a website (usually a very poor website), allowing you to access their contact information, or order a brochure. Additionally there are one or two wholesale marketplaces where buyers and sellers can meet to exchange wholesale goods. Get yourself online, and get digging beneath the surface if you want to source wholesale goods – if you look in the right places, you’ll soon find the suppliers you are looking for.

Sourcing wholesale goods has traditionally been quite a difficult process, but rewarding after you’ve achieved success. By sourcing the right wholesale supplier, your business can flourish, through a mutual respect for each other’s needs and the desires of the end consumer. Over time, the relationship built with your wholesaler will prove to be very profitable, and provided you’ve chosen wisely, very successful.

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5 Ways to Retain Customers During a Tough Economy

Please Your Customers
Yes, this seems incredibly obvious but surprisingly, many business owners often neglect their current clientele in favor or garnering new patrons – a fruitless endeavor since your customer turnover will likely be high and you’ll never actually increase your number of customers.
In order to please your current customers, you must make customer service and satisfaction a priority. Cultivate a team of seasoned, savvy sales people who can establish and maintain ongoing relationships with customers. A company that places the utmost importance on customer service will have a much higher customer retention rate than a company that does not.

Control Expectations
While it’s important to keep customers happy, it’s equally as important to manage their expectations. Those that have expectations that are unrealistic and completely unattainable will never be happy. Not only will you probably end up losing the customer anyways, but you will drain precious resources trying to maintain them. Be honest and realistic with customers about what to expect with your service or product.

 

Know Your Customers
Sounds simple, but getting to know customers is easier said than done. It’s important to know their needs, their expectations as a customer, and how they feel about your company. One relatively inexpensive and easy way to get to know your customers is to implement online survey software and garner customer feedback. Offer small incentives (such as discounts or special offers) for customers willing to fill out customer satisfaction surveys. This will give you valuable feedback about the needs of your customers and how you can further meet them.

Maintain Communication with Customers
Stay in touch with current customers at least once every two months. Depending on the nature of your business and your relationship with customers, send an email, a thank you note, call them, or even take them out to lunch. Doing so will show that you appreciate their business and will keep you, as a service provider, in the forefront of their mind.

Keep Service Consistent
So many business owners lose valuable customers because they take them for granted; if you don’t always provide the top-notch customer service they expect, you will undoubtedly lose customers. Keep customer service a top priority and on the (hopefully) rare occasion that a customer is unhappy, do everything you can to rectify the situation to satisfy the customer.

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Is Technical Support Eating Into Your Broadband Budget?

It is astonishing that so few broadband providers realise how intensely irritated their customers have become by having to fork out £15 an hour for broadband technical support just to keep their £6 a month broadband working.

Since the beginning of April this year, BT broadband has been offering completely free telephone support with no charge at all for using their six most favourite chargeable numbers – that’s now 99% of numbers instead of 92%.

BT’s managing director, Gavin Patterson, estimates that broadband customers have been losing out as much as £70 million a year, quite a staggering amount.

In addition to BT, other innovative providers in the field are Be, O2, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Fasthosts Broadband, since they all provide totally free customer and technical support.

Do some homework before you buy

It seems unlikely, however, that many other broadband providers will follow BT’s lead and perhaps from one point of view that isn’t such a bad thing.

Freephone technical support raises prices of broadband packages so why pay for something that you might never use?

Then again, you do pay to have access to the Internet and quite rightly don’t expect to have to pay extra for what often turns out to be your broadband provider’s mistakes.

So how much are you actually paying your broadband provider for technical support?

The short answer is that it’s best to first do some careful research before you buy, taking care to check the small print, or clicking on the ‘contact us’ page of your broadband providers’ website and navigating around until you find the often-hidden telephone numbers page.

When free is not always free

Be cautious of some broadband providers who advertise free support.

That always sounds wonderful until you find it is only the customer support line which is free and that premium rates are charged for the essential technical support.

If you can afford to wait, a much cheaper option to deal with your problem is to make use of an email or phone call, or – if things are going really badly with no result – even a letter (you know, the one that goes in an envelope).

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CRM Is Crucial To Increasing Customer Loyalty

If you are going to win a race then you need to start with a strategy. The same rules apply whether you are running a marathon or running a company. In today’s world of business if you want to win the race then your strategy should include Customer Relations Management software. CRM is much more than a technology initiative.

In almost any business cultivating customer loyalty will equate to a boost in revenues and in the challenging economic environment we work in these days everything that can be done to get the edge over your competition should be taken advantage of. The CRM techniques that used to be the head of the track are no longer with the increased competition. Fore example Microsoft Dynamics CRM software are superior to many of the packages on the market.

Today’s market is tough and keeping the revenue flowing can be even tougher. One way to ensure you maintain your revenue and increase it is to build customer loyalty. I know what you’re thinking – customer service what the heck is that? How often do we get stuck on a phone pressing number after number to finally get a voice on the phone who knows nothing about you as a customer or your request. Believe me when I tell you that the company that get’s on the customer service and loyalty bandwagon is going to reap the benefits.

Choosing the appropriate CRM software is a great place to start. Now you can keep track of your customers and their needs from before they actually make a purchase, right through until they are a customer and then with after service to keep that customer and continue offering that customer product and services. Increased repeat business means increased revenue.

These days it seems that there is too much concentration on the technology and not enough on the human aspect. It seems we are all so enthralled with what technology can do for us that we forget that the human equation is still essential to any successful business. The smart business plan is going to incorporate the human force with the technological force and be the winner especially if that combination includes Microsoft Dynamic CRM Software.

There are plenty of CRM software packages on the market but Microsoft offers some advantages over others. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM things suddenly become crystal clear from beginning to end. You’ll be providing customer care like you never dreamed and your customers will be coming back for more.

Here’s a package that makes sure there’s no confusion. It’s seamless right off the line tracking your customer purchases, wants, and preferences so that no matter who takes the next call that will impress even the toughest customer with everything right in front of them.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM can take care of the simplest sales but it can also take care of the most complex sales processes. And just as seamlessly the most complex tasks so you certainly don’t have to worry about dropping the ball.

Microsoft CRM Software is extremely flexible because it is so configurable that you can make it work the way your business does, and it’s affordable too so you’ve simply got nothing to loose and a whole lot to gain when you invest in this software.

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