👻 Why your regular supplier is ghosting you 👻

3 reasons why you're stressed out waiting to hear back and what you can do:

Do you have the itch?

The one that comes from knowing you sent everything that could possibly need to quote you or give you a delivery time, that your regular contact usually responds faster but maybe they are slammed busy, but its the end of the year, the holidays are coming, you've got to know yesterday about your new products and - STOP

Let me tell you what is going on and how to turn it around:

❶ Blackout Days

The Chinese government has cut factory working days in half. I won't go into all the reasons about why, it mostly has to do with and energy crisis, but you just need to know that your suppliers? Their work just doubled and they have half the time to do it all.

This means you may have to double the rate of your normal communication

BUT ALSO

double the effectiveness of those communications. Have the files they need ready in one email, not wait separately.

If you know you may have to consider options on an issue? Present them when you ask.

Make sure you give a nice short detailed snapshot of the situation you're asking about so they do not have to scroll up to remind themselves of the situation.

❷ The Culture of not saying 'No'

East Asian culture really hates telling people 'no' or they can't do something. They really view it as a failure on their business and/or something that you should have researched to know can't be done and they shouldn't be put in the position to tell you so (its a complicated thing to Westerners)

So sometimes instead of telling you 'no', they just won't respond.

Take this burden off of them (and increase the likelihood of response).

If you're asking if something is possible and it's important you know, give them a way to tell you 'no', even when this seems antithetical to the 'never take no for an answer' idea.

Bad Question: "Can this shipment be delivered by the end of the year?"

Good Question: "Can this be delivered by the end of the year? If not possible, when is the soonest? Can we ship half the order when its made to get here by EOY so we get some product now and don't have to wait for full production time to ship?"

Lots of options in that second one, you get more info and they have ways to either help you or they're shown you'll understand why its a 'no'.

❸ Its on purpose

This is the tough one. One you have to consider.

They may be purposefully ignoring you.

This could be for a few reasons, but you have to understand the situation that may lead to this: • Brands already ordering way more because of shipping crisis

• Not enough days in the year to help everyone

• Not enough time to tell everyone one that

• Pick the best looking ones to do business with

Probable not much different than yourself right now.

How do you solve this? You have to stand out and make it easy for them.

Implementing the above will help you on a good start.

If you want additional steps to take, we have a guide for that called 'How to Make 2022 Your Best Year and Not Go Bankrupt', which is now free to everyone.

Comment 'GUIDE' below now and we'll send you the link.