Supplier Reference Letter Template: Fill & Download for Free

Pricing - What pricing are you willing to goIt’s standard to sell wholesale items at 2.5X your manufacturing costs. This wholesale price is usually about half of what the end customer pays, as it’s generally a safe assumption that the retailer will mark up their cost by 2X when pricing your product for customers.It’s also common to offer a “suggested retail price,” so you can be sure you’re offering a price that makes sense for you, the retailer and the customer.2. Setting up Minimum Order Value for RetailersYou should always define the minimum order value for your retailers. My suggestion would be to keep it in between $300 to $600. Of course, depending on the individual products you have to keep the minimum order value number.For example:For first time customers of Laurence the minimum order value is $600. New customers will be placed on Proforma until such time that total orders invoiced is over $3000. Once customers have reached the $3000 expenditure they will be placed automatically on 30 day net account providing they have completed a credit application form and have been approved by Laurence.3. Create wholesalers terms and conditions agreement for retailers.Here’s a quick guide on how to create one. Wholesale Terms and Conditions Template - Download Editable Document4. How to get Retailers.This is the toughest part while you are going for wholesale.A. Reaching out to retailers in person - find the retailers who sell similar goods and reach out to them in person, or phone call or via email.B. Explore B2B marketplaces: Internet is expanding rapidly and many retailers are ordering products online via b2b marketplaces.Sign up for the trending marketplaces and show case your products.Some good b2b marketplaces would beIndia mart - http://indiamart.comAlibaba - Find quality Manufacturers, Suppliers, Exporters, Importers, Buyers, Wholesalers, Products and Trade Leads from our award-winning International Trade Site. Import & Export on alibaba.comTrade India - Indian Exporters, Manufacturers, Suppliers Directory, B2B Business DirectoryOnline B2B Marketplace - TradeFord.comFew links which can be handy to youBest B2B Marketplaces in India That Can Help You Grow Your BusinessBest B2B Marketplaces in China | China B2B MarketplaceC. Have your own B2B eCommerce platform: Where retailers can come and sign up with you guys.5. Competitor ResearchYou got to find what other competitors are doing.Knowing your enemy is important in any war, and the same goes for a business environment.A trading and distribution company is not a unique one by any definition of the term. You WILL have competition, and good companies acknowledge that and learn to thrive in such an environment.Here are some things you can do (ethically) to understand your opponent:A. Google AlertsB. Buying and Sampling their ProductsC. Find your Niche6. Stay up to dated with industry trends by subscribing few good news letters etcGood articles for reference:How to Start A Distribution Business 101 for Millennials (in 2017)Wholesale Business - How to Sell Wholesale to RetailersA guide to successfully selling your products wholesale to retailers

Debt recovery procedureUse the following steps – from friendly reminder through to letter of demand and bad debt collection – as an escalation process to contact your customers about an outstanding payment.1. Contact with a friendly payment reminderWhen payment first becomes overdue, give your customer a courtesy reminder by phoning, emailing or sending them a letter.Contacting them may be enough to get the invoice paid – they might've forgotten about the bill, paid the money into the wrong bank account, or there could be another minor issue that's easily and quickly resolved.Include payment options, banking details and contact information in the reminder to make it easier for the customer to pay you quickly.2. Contact with an overdue payment reminderIf the payment remains outstanding – and the customer has missed the next agreed payment date, or there's been no contact at all – give the customer another call, or send another email or letter reminder of the money owing, and request payment.Use our overdue email template below as a resource or reference:Overdue email template (DOCX 28.56 KB)3. Contact your customer with a final noticeWhen the customer hasn't paid as per the terms of payment – and has missed any extended payment dates again – call or email them to discuss the outstanding invoice and request payment.Use our final notice email template below as a resource or reference:Final notice email template (DOCX 28.69 KB)4. Try to make direct contact with your customerIf there's still no payment or response, consider visiting the customer in person – or phoning them if previous contact has been via email – to ask for payment.This could help facilitate a personal relationship with the customer that could be useful for future payments.Use our follow up contact script template below as a resource or reference:Follow up contact script (DOCX 28.54 KB)5. Send a formal letter of demandIf all your attempts to contact them and receive payment have failed – consider sending a letter of demand. Keep in mind this procedure should only be done as a last resort – it has the potential to damage the business relationship established with the customer.Use our letter of demand template below as a resource or reference:Letter of demand template (DOCX 28.48 KB)6. Consider using a debt collecting agency as a last resortIf you still haven't been paid – consider using a debt collecting agency to collect the outstanding money from your customer.Ways to avoid bad debt occurringTo reduce the possibility of customer bad debt in your business, you can:perform a thorough background check on a business before offering creditset safe customer credit limitsonly release goods when payment has clearedwait for direct deposit payment to clear before shipping any goodssend invoices out as soon as a job is complete, or on a regular dateclearly state all payment options and information on your invoices or contracts to make it easier for customers to pay youkeep regular contact with your customersoffer a small percentage discount for early payment of billsregister and conduct property searches – if you're a supplier – on the Personal Property Security Register External link (opens in same window) (PPSR) to recover goods that haven't been paid for.It's always good practice to clearly outline at the beginning of a customer relationship your expected terms of trade and payment.courtesy and link;Debt collection guidelines and recovery

service agreement or supply contract - basic template and structureheading/titledescription/purpose/the service (basically the product/service description)parties (supplier and client - including addresses)dateterritory/geographical coveragedefinitions - essential glossary 'root' of frequently occurring items in the documentterm - period of agreementpricing (refer if appropriate to attached schedule)pricing adjustment (for example annual increases linked to suitable index)responsibilities of provider - include or append details of services and SLA's (service level agreements)responsibilities of clientpayment termsconfidentialitydispute and arbitration processtermination and force majeurerenegotiation/renewalprevailing lawssignatures and witnessesWhere necessary append to the contract any detailed schedules (which be can changed over time, subject to the agreement as a whole), for example SLA's (service level agreements). SLA's are basically detailed standards of performance for individual service aspects, e.g., response times, reporting and monitoring, liaison with other suppliers, and specific detailed deliverables. Large complex agreements might have many pages of complicated SLA's appended, which would be referenced in the service description section and responsibilities of the provider. Such an agreement would also need to state the terms governing the alteration of SLA's, which is where the whole thing can potentially disappear up its own backside if you fail to keep a clear head, and a tight rein on the lawyers.In any event a decent corporate solicitor will help (and is usually sensible to consult anyway for anything beyond relatively small business supply situations) to draft the final document, and will probably have all sorts of sample templates and contract examples, although do not engage a solicitor to work too early in the process of drafting the contract: you should first consider and write down the basic supply arrangements before asking a solicitor to get involved in the detail; the solicitor is responsible for the legal wording, not for the operational aspects of the supply arrangements or the basic business proposition (unless the proposition is such that it requires legal input and approval anyway).Remember:The solicitor is responsible for wording and legal structure of contracts. You are responsible for deciding your terms of trading.Certain supply arrangements can involve a supplementary contract or agreement, notably in the case of leasing or financing where another party provides funding, in which case the main service or supply contract must make appropriate reference to the supplementary agreement, and must integrate relevant terms with it, and not conflict with anything contained within it.As already indicated, for small supply arrangements, which carry minimal liabilities, especially where a small provider is supplying a larger corporation, it is perfectly acceptable to administer the contract documentation in the shape of a simple 'exchange of letters'. In this process, one party, normally the supplier, simply writes to the prospective customer, stating the terms and details of the supply. The structured list of headings above can be used as a basis for an exchange of letters or as a check-list in creating a letter. The prospective customer is then able to suggest amendments to the letter, and so this process continues until agreement is reached, which is finally reflected in a simple exchange of two identical letters, each signed by both parties. This contractual process is a lot less formal, and generally a lot less expensive and time-consuming than involving solicitors, which many small providers usually prefer to avoid if they can.Small providers can commonly save a lot of time and effort by asking large prospective customers if they already have a standard supply agreement, which many do and are happy to extend to new suppliers for adaptation.Finally, when and if you use a solicitor or lawyer to help draft a service contract or agreement, you will save a huge amount of time and expense if you first think about and write down the essential workings and expectations of the supply arrangement.The solicitor's job is to formulate an effective legal document - not to design the supply arrangement. You must therefore involve the solicitor after you have thought through and written down the supply arrangement.The more work you can do in completing the section headings shown in this guide, then the less you will end up paying your solicitor, and the quicker your solicitor will be able to produce a final version.