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by: StuMcLaren
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Vendors and fulfillment are critical to taking your product or service from concept to cash. These could be graphic designers, they could be web programmers, they could be fulfillment houses, they could be CD duplicators. There are all kinds of different types of vendors that you may come across in your business. Here are a few tips on how to build a quality relationship with these people and cut back on your fulfillment costs.

To get started, you can send them recommendations and referrals. I try and do this with anyone I work with because if I am able to give them more business, the value of my relationship with them goes much further. It changes the way they view me now because not only do I give them the business I use them for, but also the people I associate with. I will become more favorable then most clients. What you really have to look at is how you can benefit your vendors quickly and easily - giving them referrals is a great way to start.

Here is another tip that I have also done - joint venture projects with my vendors. This is an example of one jv project I've done. Graphic designer are great at what they do and can really change the way people view your products. The graphic designer I was working with and I decided to do a joint venture project together - she would do the design at no cost and I would do the marketing and put together the product. Then we would split any profits.

Boom! Just like that I had almost completely eliminated my cost up front and now don't have to worry about coming up with that money. Starting out, this was really helpful as I didn't have the money to put up front to hire a graphic designer. So this strategy is really great for that reason and many others.

Some people tell me, "Yeah, but Stu, you're giving away 50% of the profits. That's a big chunk of money." Well, time out for a second. I'm of the viewpoint that it's better to get your projects completed and making some money versus keeping all of nothing and not getting anything completed.

Instead of just letting those ideas sit on shelf, not making any money, I made an effort to approach and build a relationship with that specific vendor and was able to get those projects completed and off the shelf.

Whether you are just starting out, on a tight budget, or just want to get projects done economically, you really have to look to be creative. Joint venture project with my vendors is one creative idea I've used with multiple different vendors.

The other thing that you can do to save a lot of money when you're working with vendors is do as much of the work as possible, ahead of time. You're saving the vendor time. You're saving them effort. You can ask them, perhaps, questions on how you could save money, how you could cut down their effort, cut down your overall project costs. These vendors will work with you. They'll help you. They know you have budgets to work within, and so they're always interested in working with you and trying to help you.

Here is another tip - create a template instead of just a project. This way you can use it more than once, without having to pay for the same thing twice. I'll go into more detail to explain it better.

We will use developing e-Books for example. Instead of getting a graphic designer to design a specific layout for each of your e-Books you generate, it would be a lot easier and cheaper for you to get them to design a template. That way you can use that template for every e-Book you generate after that point instead of paying for it again.

That is a completely different approach, yet it will save you hundreds - if not thousands - of dollars in the long-run. Yet, it's pretty much the same amount of effort for the graphic designer. So that's another creative idea on how you can save a lot of money when working with vendors, and also building relationships with vendors.

As you can see, these are just a few quick examples on how to both cut costs and build strong long lasting relationships with vendors and fulfillment companies. Once you start thinking outside of the box, many more strategies will come to you.

By exploring your creativity ideas will come to you when you need them the most!

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