One of my clients received a letter from a vendor announcing a price increase of 7% in 60 days. Due to this vendor’s letter announcing the increase, I suggested that we schedule a meeting with the owner of the company in 30 days to discuss the issue. During the next month, we researched competitive vendors’ pricing compared to the current supplier. What we found was interesting. There were better prices and better-quality products from other vendors in the market.
The letter about the price increase from the supplier made my client aware that he was overpaying for inventory. That vendor, as well as several others, was over-charging him. Most of my client’s existing vendors have been selling his company for a long time. The suppliers were slowly moving up their prices knowing that he was not checking competitors’ pricing. The time invested in meeting with many of the vendors materially improved my client’s profitability.
You must continually check your suppliers’ pricing, quality, and terms or the result will be you overpaying your vendors!
About the Author
Robert S. (“Bob”) Curry - Bob Curry is an Author, Keynote Speaker, Seasoned Business Coach, and successful Turnaround Specialist. Earlier in his career, he served as President and CEO of three different companies, the largest with annual sales of more than $1.3 billion dollars - all which experienced successful turnarounds under his management. After turning around three companies as the President/CEO, he started his turnaround consulting firm, and for the past twenty years, he has turned around more than eighty distressed companies in many different industries helping each to establish a strong management team and become profitable. He has published three books: "From Red to Black," "The Turnaround," and “The Turnaround 2.” He resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his wife, Esther.
All three books are true stories about the turnarounds of real companies that I have turned around during my career. In each book, I shared my (“PIR’s”) Profit Improvement Recommendations which helped turnaround the companies from Losses to Profits. PIR’s help to grow sales, reduce expenses, improve cash flow, increase profits, and most noteworthy, strengthen the management teams. All three books are on sale on Amazon.com in paperback, kindle, or audio.