Communicating with your Suppliers and Business Partners

[Baa]

If you've never contacted a supplier or prospective business partner of any description before it can be fairly nerve wracking. It's incredibly easy to have any contact ignored so here's a few pointers that should ensure your questions are answered fully and in a timely fashion.

Many suppliers and services have a relatively small team and impressions are important.

Read everything you can on the website, all should have terms and conditions and a privacy policy, many still have FAQs (although unfashionable now I notice), About Us, Delivery and other further information pages. If you cannot find an answer to your question on the site then by all means ask the question. Any question that is fully answered on site might well be ignored. Many do spend the time to reply only to hear the phrase "yes I found that just after I e-mailed you". If you have asked a question and realised you have found the answer, tell them you've done so before they waste their time on you.

The internet has made things a lot less formal, however they aren't your mate in the pub at the other end ... be polite, professional and business like you can do this and still sound friendly. Bother to say hello and sign your name at the end. Have a stab at grammar, spelling and punctuation, it doesn't have to be perfect but txt speak is definitely out!

Be concise and specific.

Be wary of using humour, many long words, or overly complex language. Simple and clear is easiest all round.

Swearing and insults are no nos. Even if you are boiling with fury, don't succumb to this. It won't help your case in the slightest, could delay or even alter the response and with the various laws coming into play now could even cause you some personal trouble.

If you write to a business after their closing time or on a weekend, please don't expect an answer until they open again, any response during the closing time is a bonus and not a right.

One last thing from me for now

You may be typing on a machine but it's a person who reads it.

It's incredible how many people simply forget that small fact.

Any other tips?

[Andy c]

double posted somehow

[Andy c]

great post and should be heeded by anyone starting up or looking for new business like I am
Although I do do most of these ..the 1 guilty is not always reading everything on their site

[Baa]

Thanks Andy!

I think most of us are guilty of not reading everything to some degree, myself very much included there 

[Rainee Bows]

ahh i have trouble keeping my humour in check !!




Rain
xxxx

[seamus]

good post there Baa 


when ever I'm contacting a business, I try to keep it short and to the point,
theres been a good few times when I've had to contact a dropshipper to sort out an issue, instead of ranting, point out the problem as clearly as you can, and I find it helps to also point out how satisfied you are with the rest of their service.

Most of the dropshippers I tend to deal with are good at what they do, letting them know that does help, especially when you're contacting them to iron out a problem. A well mannered and friendly approach will get you alot further than ranting at them about what ever problem you need them to look at.

[Baa]

ahh i have trouble keeping my humour in check !!




Rain
xxxx

Why?

good post there Baa 


when ever I'm contacting a business, I try to keep it short and to the point,
theres been a good few times when I've had to contact a dropshipper to sort out an issue, instead of ranting, point out the problem as clearly as you can, and I find it helps to also point out how satisfied you are with the rest of their service.

Most of the dropshippers I tend to deal with are good at what they do, letting them know that does help, especially when you're contacting them to iron out a problem. A well mannered and friendly approach will get you alot further than ranting at them about what ever problem you need them to look at.

Good point well made!

[scotserve]

Another point to make is that I have too often seen the "I emailed them but got no reply"
Dear gawd you are in business or potentially so - pick up the blooming phone - if you are scared of talking to or dealing with people you are heading into the wrong business, whether online or offline retail is not for introverts

Todays society of the socially numbed seem to have major issues with communication - Ok I can be a bit OTT at times but I call it as I see it, if I have a supplier letting me down I dont send an email I call, you cannot pick up on language on an email but you can from a conversation i.e. are they lying

First contact is very important even if you are not a trekie, a well rehearsed contact formulae will do wonders compared to a faceless email, or even better make and appointment and go see them if possible, people react in different ways though so you cant win all the time, my solicitor I met 25 years ago - first time in his office he was in jeans and a tshirt with his feet up on the desk with paperwork everywhere but here was a guy i thought I could get on with and I was right ( made a bloody fortune out of me since :(  )
What i am trying to say i think is it is a numbers game - just like meeting people they dont all become your friends but the more you meet the more friends you will have - the same goes for business contacts not all will buy from you or sell to you but the more contacts you have the stronger your business will be 

[Andy c]

sometimes a phone is not the best option when it says phone this number so you do and you get though to a completely different company who has no idea what you are on about
but I do get your point + you can accomplish a lot more in a phone call than in an email being bounced backward and forward 

[Baa]

Good points again.

I prefer face to face to phone myself, but it can be a quicker way of getting to the point and receiving an answer than e-mail.