Four Reasons Face-to-Face Meetings Are Needed for Strategic Sourcing & What To Do If Your Travel Budget Has Been Cut

Terry Kippley President CPDA

Terry Kippley, President of the Council of Producers and Distributors of Agrotechnology (CPDA) said when he worked in sourcing, he’d spend two to four weeks each year in China building relationships with strategic suppliers.

The reason for this face-to-face time was to “develop human relationships in terms of trust. You need to be able to trust them, and they need to trust you. If you have that type of access with the owner of the factory or the senior management team, that human a component of any business relationship is very important,” says Kippley.

Here are four points as to why face-to-face meetings are important for building strategic partnerships.

1. Defining Your Business Relationship: Are you really a strategic partner? Or at the end of day, are you really only a virtual meeting transactional purchaser? “When things are going well, virtual works,” says Kippley. “When things go bad, that’s not enough for a relationship.”
2. Stable Supply: Once Kippley had a situation where his company was competing with a major multinational, whose plant went down. “I was able to represent the most stable supply of that pesticide that year because of the relationships that were built with my supplier,” says Kippley. “That is what creates a competitive advantage when times are tough.”
3. Differentiating Your Company: Good business is about trust and being able to deliver. Without these two factors, a business relationship will not last. There is also going above and beyond the industry standard, and to achieve that, you need sourcing partnerships that can adjust to rush requests and other complications. “There are many other companies that can provide market access, products, and certainly trust and credibility,” says Kippley. “If you want to differentiate yourself, there is also speed, being nimble, and offering customer-centric service, all this helps in building a competitive relationship in a competitive market.”
4. Market Intel: Getting market intelligence can help you make important strategic decisions that are going to benefit your company. “I think that market intelligence also helps you to understand what’s next. What’s around the corner? The industry is slowly getting out of overstocking and trying to figure out what the price level is. Market intel will help figure out when it’s going to rise. When to make that strategic purchase. Market intel is really key to good business,” says Kippley.

What If Your Travel Budget Has Been Cut?

If your travel budgets have been decreased, consider events.

Kippley says events provide, “exposure to several different people and companies to build relationships in days. That’s a less expensive way to have face-to-face meetings.”

Events, such as the two-day AgriBusiness Global℠ Southeast Asia Conference provide access to 300 attendees and 40 exhibiting companies from Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. In-person meetings can be set up with industry leaders, manufacturers, formulators, and distributors of agrochemicals, crop nutrition, biological products, agricultural technology to advance your knowledge and connections in the Southeast Asia market.

Instead of creating multiple trips each year, select prime events where you know you can do business with multiple exhibitors and attendees to advance your company’s goals. It’s a great way to get intel, build solid relationships, and expand your business.  •

Terry Kippley – CPDA