Check Your Facts when establishing a Trading Relationship

I have been contacted by a supplier who is trying to invoice us for products sold to a third party. This surprised us as they seem to be competent in all that they do but they are venturing into a new sphere of selling.

Their basic flaw is that they have not researched the mechanism in which to supply the new client. They have just assumed that we were responsible for handling of the account. We introduced this supplier to an Independent Chain of Grocery Stores that we have an account with, however after reviewing the suppliers requirements, it was decided that it was the better option of having the supplier deal direct with the Customer. The supplier had been informed of what procedure they had to follow to deal with this customer, but the information was obviously not forwarded to the accounts department. As a consequence, they are now in the situation of where they have supplied goods to the customer, who do not have them as a registered supplier, and as a consequence, the supplier may not get paid as they have not established a trading relationship with the customer. What a mess!

The moral of this little story is that you should always establish a procedure when dealing with a new customer, find out what their requirements are, establish the trading relationship with them, then supply them with the goods, not the other way around.

Marketing is a complete process, show them the goods, establish a trading relationship, establish your prices etc then supply the goods, always in that order