How to Boost Your Relationship With Vegetable and Fruit Vendors

Produce businesses who successfully manage their supply chains will likely understand how important it is to maintain relationships with vegetable and fruit vendors. After all, strong partnerships can cause your company to flourish and can help with achieving business goals.

In some cases, vendors can be a huge factor in why your business is doing well, so it’s crucial to not only build and sustain good relationships, but also differentiate yourself to vendors so they continue to work with you. Vendors that you’re already well-acquainted with could also present you with huge opportunities along the line.

Here is how you can boost your relationship with produce vendors, and how Silo can help you improve business relationships.

What to know about vendor relationships

Vendor relationships depend on a few key factors, including the following:

• Responsiveness - When concerns and issues arise, response time is crucial, especially in an industry that deals with such time-sensitive products

• Transparency and trust - Honesty is a must and is required on all levels to avoid conflicts down the supply chain, with trust serving as the foundation of a trade relationship

• Timely payments - When payments are made on time, or better yet, upfront, vendors know that they can depend on you and you’ll be preferred. 

When looking to better vendor relationships, these aspects should be taken into consideration for further development.

Here are some specific ways that you can improve your relationship with vendors.

1. Assist your vendors in business growth

Wholesale fruit vendors will likely appreciate the help, and growth will keep them in business to continue trading with you. Whether it’s agreeing to be a glowing reference for their future partnerships or providing them with more opportunities to work with you, vendors who know that you’re invested in the relationship will, in turn, give the same amount of energy back in helping you thrive.

The internal issues that occur within your business are likely to be present within other ones as well, which can give you an idea of what you can help with. You may want to avoid pointing vendors towards opportunities outside of your organization, but helping in non-competitive areas like business management can show that you care.

2. To some extent, waiting out performance issues can be beneficial

If you’re experiencing issues with wholesale vegetable vendors, your first instinct may be to replace them. However, that can end up costing more resources than it’s worth, and you may just end up having to go through the same thing again.

Instead, consider addressing performance issues through conversation, communication, and an offer to help. Approaching these issues in an understanding manner can form long-term trust, which breeds loyalty.

Sometimes, it’s just a matter of waiting as vendors settle the dust and stabilize during times of great change. Giving them a chance to recover shows that you believe in their capabilities.

3. Talk business strategy with vendors

It’s not uncommon to share business strategies with trade partners, as it ensures that both sides are on the same page. In this case, it can be as simple as talking about your company’s direction or creating a presentation to show where your business is headed.

Being transparent about internal issues and including the fact that you’re working on solving them shows that you’re proactive, demonstrating competency to vendors. Vendors may even propose solutions and offer to help. This sense of collaboration can do wonders for your relationship, even if you decide not to put those plans into action.

4. Only trade with a limited amount of vendors

While you may be tempted to expand your business and work with a large variety of vegetable and fruit vendors, this can end up being counterproductive on your end. After all, it’s better to prioritize quality over quantity in these types of situations.

Having to provide many other vendors with your products and services can not only divide your resources, but prevent you from investing the proper time into the relationships that you do have. Instead, it may be better to work with a smaller number of vendors and work on building strong relationships with them, since it will result in better return. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean only working with one or two vendors for a specific product. Encouraging competition between vendors (to some extent) can be good since it prevents you from relying too heavily on one company.

5. Make an effort in getting to know vendors

With a smaller number of vegetable and fruit vendors, it becomes easier to focus on making more significant strides in improving your existing relationships.

For example, some vendors may make an active effort in trying to develop your professional relationship, inviting you out to dinner or other social gatherings. These time commitments can quickly get out of hand when there are too many of them to manage. Plus, you may feel that these outings conflict with your off-time and take time away from your family.

But with fewer vendors, you can hone in on developing these relationships and get to know your vendors on a personal level. Taking time to meet up with them will help you stay preferred.

6. Make your vendors feel included in your team

It’s easy to operate your business on the basis of internal employees vs. non-employees, as it determines what information you’re likely to share. However, boosting your relationship with vendors can mean making them feel like they’re a part of your team.

This may involve inviting them to meetings, provided that they have the time to attend. Vendors are, after all, more likely to continue doing business with you if they’re filled in with what’s happening.

Better communications, payments, and access to capital with Silo

Maintaining relationships with vegetable and fruit vendors can require a lot of time investment, but it’s necessary for your business to succeed.

Technological solutions like Silo not only reduce operational inefficiencies, but also help facilitate better communication and stronger vendor relationships. Modern and flexible payment tools, and discreet access to affordable financing ensures that you’re in control of your cash flow health. 

With Silo, not only do you save time, but you’ll provide your vendors a better experience working with you.

Book a demo with Silo today!