How to Become Your Customer’s Top Supplier

.  Most of us know that supplying a quality product or service on time, and at a fair price, are critical to achieving customer satisfaction. But what if you’re not the only one that can do this for your customer?

How can you become your customer’s first choice for their next order? Read on for five keys to becoming your customer’s top supplier.

Respond to all inquiries within 24 hours

Commitment is the key to meeting this goal, but it is also important to have an organized system for managing your responses. When a customer inquires via a phone call, send an email to summarize the call. Make sure to information the customer when more time is required to answer the concern by noting this in your email.  Make sure to include the date by which you will follow up. If you don’t have the information by that date, reply with a status report. Whenever you send a message that requires follow up, flag the message for follow up with a due date. Work through your follow up list every day to ensure the 24 hour rule is never missed.

Respond thoroughly and accurately

The content of your response is as important as the timeliness. Be sure to address every item, not just the one you happen to be focused on. Anticipate what questions might arise from your response and answer them before they are asked. Reread your entire response before sending to make sure the content is thorough and accurate.

Accommodate the unique business needs of your customer

If your customer needs special accommodations, find a way to make it happen and then set your prices accordingly.  Some of these accommodations could include blanket orders, consignment inventory, vendor managed inventory, long term agreements, scheduling agreements, lot traceability or customized documentation (i.e. packing slips, certificates of compliance, shipping labels).

Leverage technology to execute flawlessly

Accommodating the varying business needs of your customers is a difficult challenge that can be made easier with technology. You need an ERP system that is robust and customizable, and you need information systems personnel that can help you use all of the available functionality. If your customer needs something special, such as a packing slip that is different from what you normally send, write custom reports and code to make this happen automatically. No matter how good your staff is, they will make mistakes, and a new employee will step in to perform a task at some point, so use technology to eliminate the possibility of human error whenever you can.

Make problem resolution a top priority

Problems are inevitable. You will cause some, others will be of no fault of your own. In either case, these are often the times when your customer needs you to perform at your best, and they are likely to remember what you did or did not do to help minimize the impact of the problem on their business. Determining root cause and taking preventive action is important, but be sure to make containment and corrective action your top priority until the impact of the problem on your customer is minimized.

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