Finding the Right Production Partner For Your Business

This is a guest post by Meredith Keller. Meredith co-founded apparel label Ex-Boyfriend with partner Matt Snow. The company has been working with a manufacturing partner for 2 years, and in that time has shipped products to over 1,000 cities around the world. The company's products have been featured by media outlets such as Animal Planet, Bust, Nickelodeon, iVillage, Gizmodo, MSNBC, The Baltimore Sun and many others. You can read more about Meredith's experiences running a business at Smaller Box. Smaller Box covers topics of interest to creative entrepreneurs including marketing, publicity, branding, social media and much more.

This post is a continuation of yesterdays post: Give Your Manufacturing a Productivity Boost With a Production Partner.

If you're thinking about bringing a production partner into your business, below are some tips to finding the right match and creating a positive working relationship.

Take a long hard look at your pricing

When people are new to making products, they often under-price them. They don't pay for their own labor that goes into making the finished product. This won't fly if you plan to outsource production. Your prices need to be high enough that you can pay your manufacturer for their labor/materials, pay yourself for your labor (you will still be working doing design, marketing, etc.) and still see a profit after everyone is paid. Think about where your prices need to be, before you look at paying someone to make your products and adjust accordingly.

Do your research

Manufacturers are just that, they make stuff. That means they may be really terrible at marketing, and that means they may be hard to find. They may not have a website. They may not have great search engine optimization. They may not advertise. You're going to have to do some detective work to find out who's out there.

Do not expect to ask other brands who does their manufacturing. This is usually a well-guarded secret. Finding a manufacturer usually takes a lot of work, and having a good one enables a growing brand to thrive. Those brands are not going to turn over their hard-won secret resources to help out a competitor, so don't expect them to. Having a good manufacturer can be a real competitive advantage. Once you find your own partner, you probably won't want to share them either.

Luckily, there is a lot of information on the web. If you do a thorough search, you'll probably find some leads. Check industry message boards, directories, and blogs for hints. Also make sure you're searching using the keywords the manufacturers and other industry professionals might use to describe what you are looking for.

Select your manufacturer with care

The people making your finished products have the ability to turbo power your business or sink it,so choose wisely. An incompetent maker can ruin thousands of dollars worth of supplies or produce inferior products you can't sell to customers. To avoid these problems, make sure you see samples of the maker's work. See samples for every production method you want them to use for your products. See samples of every product they are going to produce before they produce a large quantity.

You also want to get and check references and try to assess the kind of culture that exists in your manufacturer's shop. Does your maker have a good work ethic? Are they committed to the success of their clients? Will they fix a problem at their expense if they've made a mistake? Is quality workmanship emphasized with this manufacturer?

You may find makers that are cheaper, but not necessarily good. Avoid letting price control who you work with. A cheap but incompetent production partner is going to cost you a lot more later.

Also, make sure the manufacturer is the right size business for you to work with. If you're a small fry and they are huge and used to dealing with big chain stores, you may get treated like the least important customer. If they are newbies and you've got an established business, you may not want to risk your business on their learning curve. Finding the right fit is important.

Set the terms of the relationship

Before you begin work with a production partner, make sure you have all the details ironed out. You need pricing, volume discounts, finishing fees, etc. You want to set delivery expectations, whether it's to you or your customers. You want to discuss how payment will be made and when payment will be due.

When you work with a partner, be as prompt with them as possible. Pay your bills promptly. Answer emails and calls promptly. You don't want them to be flaky and you can't be either. Be a professional.

Be prepared for challenges

Any time you bring a partner or supplier into your business, you are going to run into some things that aren't perfect. If you want to continue working with your manufacturer, it's important to preserve the relationship and work through things that are going wrong. We've definitely had our share of production issues with our printer.

When we identify a problem, we present it to our printer, propose ways to fix the problem and hear out their ideas on how to move forward. Don't deal with them when you are angry, take the time to calm down and formulate a plan of action to move forward and resolve problems.

Image Credits :: Meredith Keller

Share your tips on how to nurture great relationships with your production partners, in the comments!