What Should You Look For When Choosing a Supply Partner?

No one truly does anything completely on their own. Life is full of collaboration, cooperation, and teamwork. Business is no exception, hence the large B2B sector.

Teamwork and collaborations done right can result in better problem-solving, productivity, and creativity leading to stronger relationships. However, when done incorrectly it can result in conflicts, wasted time, and less than optimal performance.

When choosing a long-term supply chain partner to work with, it’s important to not just think about the price tag, but also what you’re getting for that price – the value. When you pay attention to price alone, you miss the hidden costs of inefficiency and poor communication, which can result in lost revenue and harm to company reputation, another cost. It’s a cliché, but “you get what you pay for” is often true.

At Murray Uniforms, we create long-term partnerships with businesses in a wide range of industries to provide them with high-quality, bespoke work uniforms that support their business objectives and deliver a real return on investment.

In this blog post, we’re going to explore seven important things to consider when choosing a supplier to work with.

1.    What is their financial sustainability like?

In this day and age, there’s a lot of financial instability and uncertainty. That can lead to anxious feelings, which in turn affects productivity. When you get a mortgage on a house, the bank checks your income and employment history, bank balance, and credit score to assess the risk of loaning money to you.

Similarly, every time you choose to start a business relationship, you’re taking a chance, so you need to mitigate it by doing your due diligence. When considering long-term supply chain partnerships, it’s important to consider the company’s financial health by checking key financial stability ratios on their balance sheet to ensure that they are stable and able to meet obligations. According to research by Fundsquire, 20% of small businesses in the UK fail in their first year and around 60% of small businesses in the UK fail within the first three years. You may see news stories of businesses shutting abruptly and customers being concerned about redeeming gift vouchers and creditors chasing the company to get money owed.

2. What are their environmental sustainability policies?

Not only should a supply chain partner be financially sustainable, it should also be operating with the environment in mind. We only have one liveable planet, so it’s important to take care of it and minimise our impact on the environment. Because climate change is frequently in the news, it’s on many consumers’ minds and thanks to the internet, consumers are more savvy than they have ever been. According to Deloitte, the five most valued sustainable or ethical practices are producing sustainable packaging and products, reducing waste in manufacturing processes, committing to ethical working practices, respect for human rights, and reducing carbon footprint.

When deciding to partner with another company, it’s important to think about their sustainability policies and ensure that they can track their carbon emissions, the ethics of their supply chain (e.g. workers’ rights, animal testing), and are doing their part to reduce waste. 

3. How are they innovating?

In the arts, the greatest artists are those who have an innovation mindset, always pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo, experimenting and trying new things, and never resting on their laurels. Those who are stuck in their ways and don’t take chances often get left behind when a new artist emerges and shakes things up. No one wants to be known as a one trick pony.

Similarly, the greatest companies are always innovating and finding ways to do what they do better and smarter. They fuse the best of the past and the present to create the best possible product and service offerings. Great companies experiment with new technologies and perfect new techniques.

Here’s what Topps Tiles had to say about our innovative uniform designs:

“Ideally when searching for a supplier, you’re actually looking for a trusted partner to your business. A team that will help push you forward with a proactive approach and innovative ideas. I can certainly say that we have found that with Murray.”

4. What is their customer service like?

Customer service can make or break a business. Great products and services attract customers, but great customer service and experience is what turns people into repeat, loyal customers. According to research from Salesforce, “80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services” and “88% of customers say good customer service makes them more likely to purchase again.”

But what makes great customer service? Having staff who care and are great listeners, communicators, and problem solvers. All of these characteristics help make a great team player, which is important in any business relationship, working together to achieve one goal.

Great customer service is swift, personalised, proactive, adaptable, and convenient. It should be easy to get in contact with customer service in case of any issues and customer service should always be friendly, personal, and competent. 

5. How is their project management and quality control?

Skills for project management may sound basic, but they shouldn’t be taken for granted. It involves excellent planning and organisational skills. Project management is like the oil in a machine, if it’s not well-oiled, then the machine will break down. Before getting started on a project, it is important to outline the goals, objectives, deliverables, and delegate work to team members, so everyone knows what they’re doing, when the deadline is, and what the client expects.

Without proper project management, a task, challenge, project, or job can go completely wrong. If your supply chain partner is not organised and communicating effectively, the project can go over time, over budget, or fail altogether.  

If you want a high-quality product, your expectations should be managed with regards to how long it takes and how much it costs. Be wary of too good to be true pricing. It’s impossible to get all three: fast, good, and cheap.

There are three sides to the project management triangle: Scope, Cost, and Time. Scope is the size of the project in terms of quality, detail, and magnitude of the deliverables. Bigger projects are going to cost more money because they’re more complex and detailed. Cost isn’t just about money; it’s also about resources such as number of team members and equipment and facilities needed. Some important elements of time to keep track of include the project timeline and phases, number of hours worked, internal goalposts, and time set aside for planning and strategy.

The point is, you’ll never get all three: fast, good, and cheap. If there’s a tight deadline, it’s going to require overtime and more dedicated resources, and hence it’s going to cost more money. If the deadline isn’t tight but quality and price are of the utmost importance, then the trade-off is it’s going to take longer.

Every project comes with risks so it’s important to have effective communication and avoiding/minimising delays by ensuring that all stakeholders are engaged is incredibly important as well.

6. Have they dedicated resources to forecasting?

Forecasting is a very important part of operations, and resources should be dedicated to it. Planning ahead is key in supplying uniforms and it is wise to look 6-9 months ahead to formulate the forecast. It takes proactive communication between the client and the supplier to plan for what the client needs now and in the future by using data provided by the client. This data is then analysed to identify trends, patterns, and possible issues, optimising stock levels and helping the client make informed decisions about ordering.

It is good practice for account managers to continually engage transparently with clients to understand what is changing in their world that could impact the demand of uniform, as account managers are the voice of the client within the business and they take their comments and communicate to the rest of the team: design, manufacturing, warehouse, etc. 

Some important factors in forecasting to fine-tune stock include:

• Staff turnover
• New locations or closing locations
• Mergers and acquisitions, resulting in redesigns or more uniforms needed
• Demographic information such as gender breakdown of employees, size profiles, culture (religion and nationality), and special needs such as pregnancy, menopause, and disability
• Seasonal trends

7. Do they value honesty?

Trust is the cornerstone of every relationship, be it personal or professional. If the trust isn’t there, how can the relationship be healthy? Businesses shouldn’t just be accountable to their shareholders, but also their customers and society. Companies should act ethically, treating their customers and employees well and being transparent with their employees and customers, but it doesn’t stop there. They should uphold ethical standards in every decision they make and every interaction by being honest, transparent, accountable, and fair in their dealings with others. Having a track record of trustworthiness is incredibly important in having good relationships with customers and employees and retaining them.

At Murray, we are proud to have been in business for 50 years, always innovating and developing with new ways of designing uniforms that enable your team to Work Smarter® and have your ESG values in mind. We have strong company culture and values and because we consistently provide legendary service and demonstrate integrity, we have a world-class NPS score of +87.

We have developed the Science of Uniform®, an evidence-based, data-backed process to design uniforms that not only look smart but perform smart – fit for purpose and made to last. You’re not just a name and a number, we really get to know your company, and this helps inform our bespoke design process. Don’t just take our word for it, Dunelm had this to say about our work:

“Working with Murray has been great, it feels as if they’re a big enough company to compete, but still small enough to care and that they treat our colleagues as their colleagues… working with Murray has been a genuine pleasure.”

If you’d like to learn more about what we can do for your business, book a consultation.