To Be Successful In A Business You Need To Be Transparent To Your Suppliers
Advertisement
Advertisement
For a start-up company that is growing its business aggressively, cash flow is always tight and therefore, prioritising cash payments is necessary.Most start-up businesses, in their early days, delay supplier payments to fund growth and meet other critical expenses. But you must realise that if you want to delay payments to suppliers, it is very important to take them along with you. Suppliers must feel that they have a stake in your success. With your success, they will succeed as well.
Payments to meet monthly salaries, rental, and utility & communication bills have to be made every month without fail. I remember many meetings with my
Each time payments were delayed, rumour mills would start working overtime and I would start getting
Suppliers are also
Advertisement
In order to reinforce the confidence of our suppliers, I used to hold meetings with them in our offices and over a cup of tea, along with a samosa and a pastry, I explained to them that the company was growing fast and their payments would be delayed for the next few weeks. Every supplier always supported us wholeheartedly, throughout our journey.
On the other hand, there were distributors of some big
Whenever we delayed payments beyond the agreed norm, and this did happen several times, a few suppliers would stop their supplies.
The moment we started ordering goods from another supplier, I used to receive complaints from them stating that we had stopped buying from them and that their business with us was reducing!
They did not want to stop supplies to us! At best, they tried and reduced the margin they offered on the supplies to compensate for their
Advertisement
Suppliers, understandably, want payments on time, but they do not want to stop doing business with the company. This was a clear indication to me that they trusted the company, they trusted our business and most importantly, they trusted our dream.
We stretched the payments to the suppliers but we never let the relationship break. As a wise man once said, “Stretch the thread of a relationship as long as you can, but don’t let the thread break. Once the thread breaks, no matter how hard you try to rejoin the parts, there will always be a knot in it.”
The author is the
Advertisement
- I got a $40K raise using this 30-second strategy. It made me realize loud work, not hard work, always wins.
- Qatar Airways' new CEO explains why it's sticking with the Airbus A380 as other airlines retire the costly superjumbo
- Prince Harry and Meghan found out about Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis on TV like everyone else, report says
- Banks' GNPAs set to improve further to 2.1 pc by FY25: Care Ratings
- FPIs make remarkable comeback, infuse ₹2 lakh cr in FY24
- PM Modi and Bill Gates discuss AI, climate change, millets and more
- Consuming excessive salt and inadequate potassium, protein is making North Indians prone to life-threatening diseases: Study
- Upcoming cars and two-wheelers launching in India in April 2024