Supplier relationships (continued)
Those comments bring up the matter of supplier relationships, because business works through relationships.
Suppliers want to do business with those whom they can trust to pay their accounts on time. In return, a good customer should expect to receive a better price or reward structure than another business which doesn't pay its bills on time, or which continually tries to drive a hard bargain.
Of course, like fruit supply and demand prices, there are times when rewards are freely given or have to be hard-won.
I have also noted that a good customer can get taken for granted. That is, suppliers can tend to forget the good customer who doesn't challenge prices too much, and who is never a problem to the accounts receivable department.
It seems to be broad human nature to take things for granted when things are running smoothly. So there may be good reasons for 'shaking a supplier's tree' once in a while, just to make sure it is paying attention to your business.
However, asking for attention, and being listened to, requires that you are a good customer. Ultimately, a customer who doesn't shop around and pays on time is more valuable to a supplier than one who can be hard to get along with and who regularly exceeds credit terms.
Managing cash flow difficulties (continued next issue)
See this article in Tree Fruit March 2015
