How do you choose your suppliers? Even in the digital age, the Common Law of Business Balance is still as true as was back in the late 1800s when it was written. In fact, it is truer than ever before, especially in the global village where cheap suppliers abound.
Take a look at the Law. Then take a look at some points about choosing suppliers.
The Common Law of Business Balance
“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey.
It is unwise to pay too much, but it is also unwise to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot…
It can’t be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
Attributed to John Ruskin, 1819 – 1900
Choosing Your Suppliers
Just relying on the content and glitziness of a website to tell you the credibility, reliability and quality of a possible supplier is dangerous.
An apparently poor website could be an indication of a poor supplier, but it may also be an indication that the supplier is too busy doing great work to worry too much about their website. (Yes, it happens a lot.)
Conversely, an apparently good website may be an indication of a good supplier, but it could just be a good website created by a good web development company on behalf of a not-so-good supplier. And many apparently ‘good’ websites are built as scam sites to rip money out of the digital wallets of unsuspecting or naive customers.
So, how do you assess a good supplier online? Of course, you check out their website but don’t stop there.
- Obviously price is one factor, but you can get a lot of great stuff for free so assessing on price can be tricky. That said, if you are paying for something and the deal really is too good to be true, then it may not be. And if it is free, then find out what the supplier’s business model really is. Unless they are a government agency or a not-for-profit organization, they will be trying to make money somehow. (And many government agencies and not-for-profits try to make money too…)
- Make sure you have clear criteria that you are using to assess suppliers. Your gut feeling may be one of the criteria, but not the only one. Never ignore your gut feeling, especially with an online business. But don’t blindly trust your gut feeling either.
- Try to allow plenty of time to select your suppliers. Scams and cons happen every day online and it is easy to fall into a trap, especially when you are in a hurry.
- Look for comments and reviews that others have said about them. Search for review sites about the industry, business or products. Read the reviews – but question them as well. Setting up phoney review sites is becoming a competitive tactic to promote one business and rip into its competitors.
- Google the business name with the word ‘scam’ after it – and see what comes up. You could be amazed at what you find.
- Find out the names of the people behind the company you are looking to do business with. Search for the people on Google, or better still use LinkedIn, www.pipl.com or www.spokeo.com
- Do a ‘Whois” look up on the domain they are using to find out the details of the people behind the name. Often this could be a front company and you may not learn a lot, but it’s worth doing anyway. You can learn more about Whois searches on Wikipedia. Check out Whois sites on domain registrars for the country where the domain is registered. There are plenty of Whois search facilities online. For Australia, I like to use Enetica’s Whois search. In the USA my favorites Whois search facilities are either GoDaddy or Network Solutions.
- Look for testimonials and references from other customers. Contact them through LinkedIn, pipl or spokeo and ask them straight up how they find the experience of dealing with the company in question. Use Skype, phone or email. Personal contact is best – and make sure you are not talking to a representative of the supplier company wearing a digital mask pretending to be another customer. (yes, this happens.)
- Find out all you can first, and then give it the “Duck Test”. If something looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and flies, walks and swims like a duck then it could be a duck. But it might not be, especially online. Sometimes you’ll only know a bit later on… Remember the story of the Ugly Duckling that grew up into a beautiful swan.
Don’t be put off from trying new suppliers, but check them out thoroughly and use your common sense.
Related Posts: