You may be loyal to your supplier, but are you being taken for granted?

One of the best traits in life is loyalty and in the construction industry, being loyal to your supplier can come with many benefits, ranging from personal service to better prices.  

However, it’s also very possible that your supplier may not be as trusting as you are, which can lead to you being taken for granted – maybe your deliveries are consistently hit and miss, or your pricing isn’t as good as it could be. 

In this article, we will highlight that while having loyalty with your supplier is a great thing, there are a few things you need to be aware of to make sure you aren’t being seen as a number, instead of a person.  

Is your pricing right?  


If you’ve been with a supplier for many years and have always spent well with them, you’re likely to be dismayed if you hear on the grapevine that another, newer company has been offered better rates.  

Despite this, loyalty will cause some people to avoid conflict and not make a big deal out of it or bring it up, while those that do can be made to feel like a number very quickly.  

As such, with Multifix, we will have an annual meeting with you to go through rates and to make sure you’re getting the best value for money with our service.  

While we accept we are never going to be the cheapest supplier out there, we will always strive to make our rates competitive and make sure that you get full value when you work with us.  

Is your personal service acceptable?  


Arguably more important than price is the personal service you get. No-one wants to be treated in a way that could be deemed unsatisfactory or worse, plain bad.  

People like talking to people, especially if something unexpected arises. They’d much rather this than speak to an automated robot, or worse yet, have no-one to call at all.  

Again though, people will overlook this to a degree if they are very loyal to their supplier, even though it could actually be making life more difficult for them – especially in the long run.  

At Multifx, we have a dedicated Customer Service team in addition to our account managers, so you’ll always have someone to physically speak to if you ever need to.  

We want to make sure that you have the best personal service possible and that you feel comfortable knowing that no matter what your query is, you’ll always be greeted on first-name terms and have an expert answering the phone for you.  

Are your deliveries reliable? 


You may find with your supplier that you’re happy with your pricing and you’re happy with the personal service that you get from them, but that your deliveries are inconsistent and sometimes late.  

Much like with the two previous examples, those loyal to their supplier – in an act of good faith – will see this as a case of how mistakes can happen and think nothing of it, but if it keeps happening, then it can be detrimental to your business.  

We understand how vital deliveries are and that is why we’re so proud to state that we have a 99.3% success rate and that 75% of our deliveries will arrive before 12pm midday.  

We also have a fleet of our own vans at our disposal, with our own employed drivers, who are at a FORS Silver standard. You can find out more about that here and why it makes a difference to you.  

Is the tech suitable for your needs? 


In an everchanging and technologically advancing world, having the right tech can be a huge asset to you and your business, allowing you to do things more efficiently as a result.  

If there is no framework in place for you from a technological aspect, you can lose so much time by chasing invoices, proof of deliveries or finding out driver ETAs, even if you are loyal to your supplier.  

It is because of these issues that we have developed our customer portal the way we have, which can be the management tool you need as it can access all of the above with a few clicks.  

Whether it’s invoices or proof of deliveries, they will all be in one place and will save you hours of time scrambling around to get everything together, while our live track function enables you to see exactly where your driver is.  


The best outcome for you 


As we stated at the start of the article, loyalty is very important and being loyal to a supplier is by no means a bad thing and something you should be rewarded for.  

Unfortunately though, that isn’t always the case and the last thing we want is for you to feel you’re being exploited or undervalued. 

If you like what you see though and would like to see if we can offer you something different, we’d be more than happy to hear you out. To find out how to contact us, click here.