Individuals and families are not the only ones that have suffered in this economy.  Most businesses, big and small, have felt the pinch as well.  We all need to evaluate the way we do business to insure survival.  We need to be willing to change, to try new things, to think “outside the box”.

One of the easiest areas to evaluate is that of your suppliers.  It is very easy to settle into a routine, develop a good relationship with suppliers and trust that they are looking out for our best interest.  The fact of the matter is that those suppliers just simply increase prices for their regular customers by “X” percent periodically, while new customers are enticed with discounts, promotions, etc.   We see this happening in our personal lives all the time; satellite TV, cell phone service, bundling, etc.  It is up to us to keep everyone we do business with honest.  The longer you have done business with a vendor, the more important it is to check up on them.

Ok, now let’s look at one of your largest suppliers.   Find another supplier or two that can provide you with the same products.  Compare the prices of all the items that you purchase from them.  Speak with each of these new suppliers to find out what kind of deals they are willing to make to get your business.  Are these suppliers going to be able to save you money?  If so, you have a decision to make.  Either you switch to the new supplier or go back to your current supplier to negotiate new pricing based on the information you received from the prospective suppliers.  If you are receiving excellent service from your current supplier, it would be worthwhile trying to negotiate new pricing with them.  If the service is not what it could be, then making a switch to a new supplier would be recommended.  Remember, change can be a good thing.

Now it’s time to do the same exercise with the rest of your suppliers.  Many of your venders may be small in the grand scheme of things but evaluate each one anyway.  Saving a small amount of money with several vendors can add up.  This exercise actually can be a lot of fun, especially if you find one or two areas of your business that you can save money in.

Let me know how this worked for you.  Were you able to save money?  I sure hope so.

There are so many topics I want to explore that I am not sure where to begin.  It is very important for every business to explore different possibilities in order to keep their business fresh, keep it growing in popularity and in turn profitability.  Businesses need to always keep moving forward.  Don’t let your business stagnate just because you have been doing something for a long time.  Ask yourself why you do things the way you do them.  If the answer is because “that’s the way we have always done them” or “I don’t know, it’s just what we do”, then it’s time to evaluate what you are doing.  Neither of the above answers is an acceptable answer.  If you have evaluated doing things differently, tried doing them differently and still have found the old way is best, well that’s a better answer.   You just need to be sure that the old way is best because it really is best, not because the old way is easier than change.  It’s important to keep an open mind about change.  We need to listen to input from others and evaluate whether or not the ideas are plausible.  If they are, we should consider trying some of them.

Over the next couple of weeks I’d like to explore some of the many possibilities as it relates to restaurants, particularly small non-chain restaurants.  The reason I have chosen small non-chain restaurants is because they are the group of restaurants that have a harder time getting the word out about their business.  Advertising dollars are hard to come by and measuring the effectiveness of the advertising is, at best, difficult to do.  With that said however, all businesses can benefit from what we discussed today and what we will discuss going forward.  All businesses need to keep their business fresh, keep it growing in popularity and in profitability.

What are you doing to “keep it fresh”?