Getting The Best Out Of Your Sourcing Agent [Podcast Ep15]

 

 

Scroll to the bottom of the post to find out about our special offers on the sample concierge and trademark registration services.

What is the added value of working with a 3rd party sourcing agent?

What should you expect from a sourcing agent (or whenever you outsource work)?

The key issue is in the working of the first question…

“Added value.”

Some business owners think they can outsource everything to a sourcing agent and that’s that.

Not so.

The sourcing agent adds value to your existing business and systems.

(You can’t create something from nothing.)

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Sourcing Agents follow your lead

You’re the leader, the business owner, the CEO, the entrepreneur, etc.

You have to know what you want and drive your team to achieve it.

And use resources to make it easier for you and your team, lighten the workload and save you time.

Now, if you’re not seeing this added value in your business…

Then you have to take a step back and ask, “am I using these resources in the right way?”…

“Am I stepping up to my responsibilities and the things I need to do for this project to be successful?”

So, when looking at a sourcing agent…what do they offer?

Skills and knowledge sourcing agents bring to the table

GlobalTQM, for example, we offer people on the ground in China with a wide array of expertise and benefits:

• Quick access to manufacturers
• Shorter sampling times
• People who speak the local language
• In the same time zone
• Domain-specific knowledge like shipping, quality control, regulatory compliance, testing, legal/IP, commercial documentation

Being able to access these skillsets on demand is very helpful.

What’s NOT helpful, is to go the sourcing agent and say, “you handle everything, I’m going to sit back and relax.”

You’re the team leader and you’ve got this resource that’s helping you and guiding you along the way.

You still have to manage core tasks like strategy, product development, and so on.

And here’s another thing…

(We talk to our clients about this often)

Can sourcing agents help you eliminate failures and problems?

Just because you’re working with a sourcing agent, don’t think your results are guaranteed!

In any business, even with time spent researching, strategizing, planning, and executing…

The result can still be failure.

And you won’t know until you go through that process.

It’s a big misconception to think you can cut out those failures by working with a sourcing agent.

You can’t.

What you can do, hopefully, is avoid some failures OR fail faster.

(Rather than spending more time and money to end up failing anyway.)

This reduces risk, and that’s a win in my book.

What do I mean when I talk about failure?

Let me give you some examples:

• The factory can’t make the product compliant for your country
• They can’t produce it at the price you want
• They make mistakes on the colors and packaging
• You find out production is going to be delayed
• They send you the wrong samples

You can never guarantee these things won’t happen.

If and when they do happen, having a sourcing agent is going to reduce the risk and shorten your recovery time.

You have someone to help you deal with these problems and shorten the learning curve.

And this creates the #1 value add when working with a sourcing agent:

The #1 reason to work with a sourcing agent

Your time and mental energy is freed up for the core tasks of growing your business.

Keep in mind, it’s a lot more costly to deal with problems later in the game than it is to handle them as they arise.

We even recorded a podcast about it – when quitting is success, not failure.

You did the work and put the effort in, and concluded your idea is not viable.

That, in itself, is success!

It’s an essential shift in thinking…any entrepreneurial endeavor has to have this mindset.

There’s no such thing as a perfect experience and you’re going to have hundreds of failures.

You want to find those failures faster because they’ll help you find the winners faster.

Would you rather find out there’s a problem with your business 1 month down the line, or 6?

Would you rather find out there’s a problem 6 months down the line and quit, rather than place the order and get it to market, only to find it doesn’t sell, or there’s a compliance problem and a year later you’re dealing with a recall?

Now, unfortunately, in many cases you learn these lessons with experience.

So until you’ve faced these problems (and lost of a lot of time and money) you won’t see the value in working with a sourcing agent.

(Good thing we’re here to teach you otherwise.)

Efficiency is a game-changer.

Special Offer for Podcast Listeners 😉

We’ve got not one, but TWO special offers for you…

Sample Concierge:

International courier charges being what they are…

Bad samples can cost you a pretty penny.

And it’s always been hit-or-miss because you just had to take your chances…

Until now:

Our sample concierge service helps you consolidate all your samples at our agent in Shenzhen.

This service pays for itself because you save so much time and money.

All you have to do is tell your suppliers, “send the samples to my China office” and CC us in the communication.

We’ll take delivery and advise you when your samples arrive.

Included in this is a 45-minute Skype consultation with you, once all the samples are in.

We’ll unwrap the products, show them to you, take nice photos, and give you a general look-and-feel assessment on which samples are good and which aren’t.

Once you’re satisfied, we can forward the samples you want to you.

For the next few weeks, we’re offering our sample concierge service at $149 (down from $199.)

That’s a $50 discount.

Click here to read more about the service.

Trademark registration:

We talk a lot about protecting your brand when sourcing from China.

It’s so easy (and very common) for companies to copy your products and designs.

If your ideas and products are good, there are numerous high-volume buyers who manufacturers can offer them to.

And you have little legal recourse unless you’ve protected yourself by registering your trademark.

If you’d like us to do this for you, we’ll take of all the necessary paperwork.

And for a limited time, we’re offering $100 off.

That’s $399 per product class (down from $499.)

Click here to read more about the service.

How to claim the special offers

Use coupon code PODCAST50 for the sample concierge service.

Use coupon code PODCAST100 for the trademark registration service.

The above coupon codes are valid for 2 weeks only and will expire on 28th November 2018.