Maintaining Sanity in an Insane World

I’ve been in this business almost 30 years and I’ve never seen the chaos we have today. Not even after 9/11/2001.

As we all know, there are shortages of just about everything. And clients are clamoring for more and more as they try to gear up to meet the pent-up demand. If your clients are like mine, some are knowledgeable and aware of the supply chain and logistic issues and sympathize to the hoops we are jumping through to find anything.

Other clients seem to be clueless. You explain the situation and they still expect what they want when they want it.

And, even those clients that do understand, when you find something and say, “it’s first come first serve so order now” they still wait. Then are upset when they call a week or two later that the item is no longer available.

I don’t know about you, but my stress levels have been very high. It’s hard for me to say, “it can’t be done”.

How are you treating these situations? Of course, we are all frustrated. Vendors, distributors and clients alike. We have entered uncharted waters.

That’s why I decided to speak to a few business owners and vendors to find out how they are managing their sanity. I’ve started walking in the mornings again now that it is light earlier. At least I start my day a bit calmer. Some sort of exercise was a common occurrence for maintaining sanity.

And there were other threads of commonality quickly appeared and the some of the key observations follow:

Communication is Key

Most everyone indicated that you have to communicate with all your clients proactively about the shortages in general and the logistics issues. While some rush is available with limited vendors, most production times are longer than they’ve been in many years. And some have already sold out of their 2021 production times. I used that example to start a fire under a few customers that were dragging their feet. “Even if merchandise is available, production timing has increased to the point that some factories have already sold out their capacity for 2021”.

It worked too, several orders came in immediately.

Broadening Horizons is Necessary

We all have our favorite vendor partners, those we trust and use frequently because we know they will deliver for us. Unfortunately, now is the time we need to reach beyond our trusted list. We need to establish new relationships. Obviously, there are many vendors that offer similar items and you have to find the ones that can produce for you.

I met a new bag manufacturer (to me anyway) in 2019 at the PPAI show. They were very nice, liked their merchandise but never gave them an opportunity. I remembered them when a bag I order frequently from two different companies are now out of stock until next year. Low and behold, the company from the 2019 PPAI show came through. We have three orders in with them. They have been very professional and responsive.

They are now on my short list of vendors and may even become one of my preferred suppliers.

Steering the Client

We receive many types of client direction, from extremely specific to extremely vague and everything in between. I learned that we all have clients that say “I need something”. No further direction, no budget, quantity or event specifics. Those are easy to steer in the direction of deep inventory items. However, those that have a very specific idea of what they want/need can be more difficult now.

Vendors and owners alike, indicated they come back with alternative suggestions immediately. They felt it helped bring focus to the conversation with the client as to how to successfully proceed.

Understand the Timing

Both owner and vendors complained about false deadlines. Sometimes it’s the clients to blame, but as one vendor said “many times it’s the distributors that just want it faster.” However, I have clients that typically pad at least a week to their in-hands date. They are scared they won’t get their order on a timely basis, so they give a false deadline.

And it seems more prevalent than it used to be. I think part of it is the news reports that all shipping is overwhelmed. A local letter taking 3-4 days to be delivered 3 miles away and UPS and FedEx not guaranteeing any delivery times, express or ground.

As we all know, a day or two sometimes can make all the difference in the world. Most everyone I spoke with said they are not afraid to be perfectly honest with their clients. Asking them what is date of the event. Helping them understand that they are their partner and have their best interests at heart. It also help you to determine what to recommend how best to ship.

At the height of the pandemic many vendors had very long lead times because of the covid restrictions or just lack of workers. We want all our prized vendors (and us) to stay in business so if a client could wait, I would submit the order to one of those. However, if I knew the event date was within a few weeks, the order would go to a company that was able to get orders produced more quickly.

Know your Vendors

If you don’t already, everyone I spoke with recommended having a key point of contact at each of your primary vendors. I know I do. When I first started in the business, I wasn’t very loyal to suppliers. I didn’t understand the value of that relationship. But that changed quickly. And now, I reap the benefit of having a champion at many of my top suppliers. They have helped me tremendously through these past two years. If you haven’t already done so, make a list of your top 20 vendors by volume and start developing a closer relationship.

And vendors, we’d appreciate the outreach. If you’ve seen volume go up or go down, maybe we need some attention.

Out of Sight Out of Mind

This goes all ways. Vendors to Distributors; Distributors to Clients, Clients to their Customers. Everyone I spoke with said they are busier than ever. Granted, partly it’s because every order seems to take longer from finding inventory to extra follow-up. Of course, it’s also because clients are buying more.

But all of us need to stay in touch regularly. And we need to remind our clients that they need to continue to stay in front of their customers and be planning ahead for all the activity that’s sure to come back next year.

We all have begun nudging clients to provide direction on events scheduled in the first quarter every year. As a matter of fact, I’m finalizing one order for mid-February now. Clients will appreciate your diligence in keeping them on track. Because as you know, if they don’t order now, what they want may not be available in the first quarter.

One vendor I spoke with told me that several items they typically “ramp up their inventory” in January would probably not be available until April.

We are all racing to the end of the year. It’s our challenge and duty to help our clients not only make it a successful end to this year but also help them thrive in 2022.  

So, take a deep breath, exercise a little, stay focused and know you’ve got this.