…and your allergen statement?

      …and your non-GMO statement?

             …and your USDA organic seal?

Customers are annoying. They ask a lot of questions and they want a lot of documentation. When I worked for a raw material supplier and built a custom formula with 40+ ingredients, the information my customer required felt endless. You can imagine what it was like tracking down paperwork from all of my vendors, across time zones and language barriers. It’s not fun and it’s not easy, but it is absolutely a mandatory part of doing business. At the end of the day, if you want the business, the easier you make it for companies to deal with you, the more they’re going to want to deal with you.

In my recently completed the LaunchNaturalRAW course, we spent a lot of time talking about your corporate infrastructure and the ease of doing business with you. Gone are the days when you just gave someone your product list and waited for the order. With the advent of GMP’s — even before then really — customers need a lot more information than they used to and they are demanding it up front, and easily accessible to them.

So do what you can to make it easy for them. Here are three quick ways to make your customers’ lives easier:

1. •Update your website to make it easier to navigate and to offer more of what the customer is looking for (technical information, spec sheets, usage/dosage information, application suggestions). If you’re worried about the competition getting their hands on all this great info, make it password-protected. You’ll have the added bonus of capturing customer contact info and starting to build a great list.
   

2. •Teach your customer service people the answers to the most frequently asked questions. Empower them — they’ll be happier and more satisfied in their work — and you’ll make your customers happier at the same time.
   

3. •Start a company newsletter. We talked a lot about this type of customer outreach in my course too, and I continue to believe it’s one of the best, most cost-effective ways to keep in touch with customers on a regular basis. This way, when they’re ready to formulate a new product, hopefully your company is top of mind when they start sourcing those ingredients.
   

When you can answer annoying customer questions easily, and in a timely fashion, you will be on your way to building a more effective supply relationship and a stronger organization.