It doesn’t matter if you work for a mom and pop shop or a global enterprise, chances are if you’ve been tasked with making company merch, you’ve been faced with the task of managing multiple vendors. One vendor provides the products, one vendor does the decorating, another vendor handles fulfillment, and a third party has to deal with distribution?! Aren’t you tired just reading that? Let’s run through a few key steps in minimizing logistical headaches.
How do we know what we’re talking about, you ask? We’re a one-stop-shop for businesses of all sizes because we handle all the grunt work of vendor relationship management. Here’s how we do it…
Need to Skim? Key Takeaways:
- Establishing expectations from both sides of the vendor partnership is key in avoiding misunderstandings and disappointment.
- Clear and timely communication about any issues, project progress, and feedback demonstrates a reliable and functional partnership.
- At Imprint Engine, we know the time and energy it takes to juggle multiple vendors because we do it for our clients every day to make their lives easier.
Table of Contents
- Establishing expectations
- Prioritizing effective communication strategies
- Vet high quality vendors
- How to stop juggling multiple merch vendors
Establish Expectations
It’s critical to establish clear expectations from both sides of the vendor partnership to avoid misunderstandings and disappointment. These expectations include how you prefer to communicate, your quality standards, your decision-making process, timeline requirements, and overall scope of work. We make sure each vendor relationship is explained in our contracts so that expectations are met all the way until project completion.
Prioritize Effective Communication Strategies
Communication is the core of effective vendor management. It’s why we assign not just one, but a whole dedicated team project managers to every single project. There’s a myriad of reasons why it’s deeply ingrained in our culture. Here are just a few communication strategies we apply to vendor relationships.
1. Clear and Honest Communication
Maintaining clear and honest communication means that once expectations are established, both parties are regularly updating one another, raising and solving issues as they occur (rather than bringing them up in the eleventh hour), and sharing and gracefully receiving feedback.
2. Establishing Trust
Trust is the foundation of any relationship, and vendors are no exception. We have built our arsenal of collaborative partnerships by honoring commitments, delivering on quality, and meeting deadlines. Read our story about how we quickly earned Walmart’s trust by helping them exceed expectations in a pinch.
3. Sharing Relevant Information
There’s nothing worse than someone going dark on you or sharing important details in hindsight. It’s crucial to share relevant information as it arises in order to demonstrate that we have a constant pulse on the project’s progress and are reliable partners.
Vet High Quality Vendors
When selecting which vendors to work with, research prospects with your priorities in mind. In some cases, costs can sneak up out of nowhere. Plus, in order to have a high quality result, you must choose high quality vendors. A few of many key elements we consider beyond quality are budget, timeline constraints, and satisfactory customer service. Thanks to our strong vendor relationships, we’re often able to hook clients up with lower transportation and fulfillment costs.
Stop Juggling Merch Vendors With Imprint Engine
We know the time and logistics it takes to juggle countless vendors with various timelines because we do it every day for our clients! We’ve perfected the art of vendor collaboration to keep your brand experience projects free of roadblocks and headaches.
Let us be your one-stop success shop.
Get started on your next project with Imprint Engine by filling out this form.