It’s Important Your Business Partners with Diverse Suppliers. Here’s Why.

If you’re looking for new ways to grow your business, supplier diversity may be a fruitful option. Working with diverse suppliers is a great way to connect to the community your business serves, and it gives you a competitive advantage in demographic areas where many industries haven’t thought to reach out to yet. If you want your business to grow and thrive through the next few decades, it’s important to open yourself up to a more diverse network.

At its core, supplier diversity is a special business program that prioritizes the use of supplier companies that are minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, LGBT-owned, a historically underutilized business, and/or SBA-defined small businesses.

When establishing who your “diverse” suppliers will be, the kinds of businesses that fall under that title depends on your industry and the type of company you run. In some establishments, there are legal requirements or other criteria that outline the types of diverse suppliers you need to work with and how to facilitate those relationships. But it is not always so clear-cut for the rest of the business world. At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide how you will incorporate diversity when it comes to your business partners.

There are plenty of reasons why you should work with a diverse supplier. Your business can benefit from these experienced groups in a variety of ways:

1. Diverse Suppliers are More Innovative

The majority of diverse suppliers are small businesses, and these groups have the creative ideas of any startup plus the unique insights of their specific group or culture. In fact, a study by CHI Research determined that small businesses generate 13 times more patents per employee than large firms. Additionally, working with diverse suppliers means working with  people with different backgrounds and life experiences, which ultimately means a different perspective and perhaps a fresh take on things. If you stick to the traditional corporate model when it comes to your suppliers, you can quickly fall behind your competitors simply because you lack new, innovative ideas.

2. Opening Up Multiple Channels Saves You Money

If you choose to work with multiple diverse suppliers, you can save on overall costs for goods and services. When you have multiple channels for the same source, you get more wiggle room when it comes to negotiating prices, location, and range of goods, allowing you to compare your options until you find the best one that works for you. Additionally, the business relationships you form with your wide range of diverse suppliers will grant you access to the alliances and connections of these groups. By expanding your business model in this way, you can become much stronger and deeper sourced compared to your competitors.

3. Diverse Suppliers Will Work Hard to Earn and Maintain Your Business

As mentioned previously, many diverse suppliers are small business owners. Not only does this mean that they are usually more flexible, are less restricted by policies and bureaucratic red tape, and are able to offer lower cost structures, but it also means they’re usually more customer-focused and pride themselves on delivering exceptional customer service and value that goes beyond the costs for their goods and services.

Think about it, a $1 million deal for a huge corporation with revenue in the tens or hundreds of millions per year would not be nearly as impactful as for a small business with a couple million in revenue. It’s more than likely that the attention and customer service you would receive from the smaller company for years to come in order to grow your relationship and maintain your business would be far greater.

4. Working with Diverse Supplies Helps Your Community Grow

Because many diverse suppliers are small businesses, they are usually locally-based. When you work with diverse suppliers in your area, you are promoting economic growth in your community by opening up job opportunities on a local scale. When your business is part of a tight-knit community, your foundation becomes stronger. You will also gain more loyal customers if you work with diverse suppliers, because these consumers appreciate your willingness to branch out and support smaller communities.

5. Partnering with Diverse Suppliers Can Help Your Business Grow

Your customers and clients are made up of a diverse group, so why shouldn’t your suppliers as well? As consumers become more informed and are willing to hold corporations accountable, it’s more important than ever to support diverse suppliers. Consumers respect and want to do business with companies with diversity programs and initiatives; partnering with diverse suppliers can definitely give your business a competitive advantage when it comes to growing your business and navigating changing customer demographics. But you can’t just talk the talk – you’ve got to back it up with action. As your customers become more focused on where what they consume comes from, partnerships with diverse suppliers will demonstrate your company’s commitment to corporate responsibility and inclusion.

If you are an office manager or own a business of your own, chances are you use office technology on a daily basis, such as printers and multifunction devices, presentation and interactive displays, laptops, desktop computers, and more. When you need a diverse supplier for your office technology, Parmetech is here to help. As a woman-owned and minority-owned small business, we are a leader in providing top-rated office equipment and office technology to organizations across all industries, including SMB, Finance, Healthcare, K-12 Education, Higher Education, Retail, and more. Our industry expertise, paired with our experience as a diverse company, gives us the ability to work with businesses like yours and provide customized solutions that suit your needs.

If you want to learn more about how you can get Parmetech as your diverse supplier for office equipment, contact us today: +1(800) 727-6383.