Comments on: The high cost of doing business with Wal-Mart http://smallbusiness.blogs.cnnmoney.cnn.com/2008/06/12/walmart/ Editors from FSB magazine answer your pressing small-business questions. Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:52:55 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Mike Holland, Atlanta, GA http://smallbusiness.blogs.cnnmoney.cnn.com/2008/06/12/walmart/#comment-707 Mike Holland, Atlanta, GA Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:13:03 +0000 http://askfsb.wordpress.com/?p=333#comment-707 Before any advice is given, I think a statement of CONGRATULATIONS needs to be made first to you. Getting your product into a chain like Wal-Mart is very impressive in my opinion. Next, I believe your worries about the startup capital required for you to do business with Wal-Mart needs to be put aside for a moment. Instead you need to concentrate on the relationship you are about to make with one of the largest retailers on the face of the earth. Education about your customer will be key to growing that relationship. I agree with I couldn't agree more with the statements of Charles Fishman – research and contact other owners/managers of small suppliers to Wal-Mart. Learn from their mistakes and profit from them! My advice – take the phone call one step further – if you can try to set up a face-to-face meeting where you are taking the person to lunch or dinner so that you can get their full attention on your questions. Have your list of questions prepared before you meet, and go over as many as possible. Put them in order according to importance. After you have all of the research complete, then you can build the plan of how you are going to supply your product to Wal-Mart. The first steps providing locally, should not be too difficult to plan out, you know your business – how you manufacture the product and you know what the requirements are from the store – bar code system, etc. Take advantage of this planning by going four more points of growth. First - what would it take for you to supply to all the Wal-Mart stores in a 100 mile radius? Second – what would it take for you to supply all the Wal-Mart stores in your state? Third – What would it take for you to supply all the Wal-Mart stores in a Geographic region of the US (Mid-west, Northern US, Southern US, etc)? Finally – What would it take for you to supply all the Wal-Marts in the US? While the last question of planning is a little out there, you should run the total projections for all these points of growth. You need to know what your projected sales growths will be for any of the three stages, what your projected revenues vs expenses will be, etc. All the core foundations of a good business plan should be in place. If you are now going, but I don’t have an MBA or a degree in Business Administration, I get lost in all of the numbers and such - you need not panic here. First, there are free services out there like SCORE. SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Their website is www.score.org and there is a ton of useful information there. Secondly, Small Business Association, www.sba.gov is also a great resource for helpful tools and possible financial planning strategies. Finally, there are business consultants like myself that can assist in growing your company whether it be in regards to planning, growth strategies, marketing strategies, or IT infrastructure strategies. Again, congratulations! You have achieved more than you think, don’t be scared by the challenges that lay ahead, thrive with the opportunity that is facing you! Regards Mike Holland Managing Partner Net-Flow Solutions www.net-flowsolutions.com http://netflowsolutions.blogspot.com/ Before any advice is given, I think a statement of CONGRATULATIONS needs to be made first to you. Getting your product into a chain like Wal-Mart is very impressive in my opinion. Next, I believe your worries about the startup capital required for you to do business with Wal-Mart needs to be put aside for a moment. Instead you need to concentrate on the relationship you are about to make with one of the largest retailers on the face of the earth.
Education about your customer will be key to growing that relationship. I agree with I couldn't agree more with the statements of Charles Fishman – research and contact other owners/managers of small suppliers to Wal-Mart. Learn from their mistakes and profit from them! My advice – take the phone call one step further – if you can try to set up a face-to-face meeting where you are taking the person to lunch or dinner so that you can get their full attention on your questions. Have your list of questions prepared before you meet, and go over as many as possible. Put them in order according to importance.
After you have all of the research complete, then you can build the plan of how you are going to supply your product to Wal-Mart. The first steps providing locally, should not be too difficult to plan out, you know your business – how you manufacture the product and you know what the requirements are from the store – bar code system, etc. Take advantage of this planning by going four more points of growth. First – what would it take for you to supply to all the Wal-Mart stores in a 100 mile radius? Second – what would it take for you to supply all the Wal-Mart stores in your state? Third – What would it take for you to supply all the Wal-Mart stores in a Geographic region of the US (Mid-west, Northern US, Southern US, etc)? Finally – What would it take for you to supply all the Wal-Marts in the US?
While the last question of planning is a little out there, you should run the total projections for all these points of growth. You need to know what your projected sales growths will be for any of the three stages, what your projected revenues vs expenses will be, etc. All the core foundations of a good business plan should be in place.
If you are now going, but I don’t have an MBA or a degree in Business Administration, I get lost in all of the numbers and such – you need not panic here. First, there are free services out there like SCORE. SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Their website is http://www.score.org and there is a ton of useful information there. Secondly, Small Business Association, http://www.sba.gov is also a great resource for helpful tools and possible financial planning strategies. Finally, there are business consultants like myself that can assist in growing your company whether it be in regards to planning, growth strategies, marketing strategies, or IT infrastructure strategies.
Again, congratulations! You have achieved more than you think, don’t be scared by the challenges that lay ahead, thrive with the opportunity that is facing you!
Regards
Mike Holland
Managing Partner
Net-Flow Solutions
http://www.net-flowsolutions.com
http://netflowsolutions.blogspot.com/

]]> By: Ben Goldman http://smallbusiness.blogs.cnnmoney.cnn.com/2008/06/12/walmart/#comment-704 Ben Goldman Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:39:59 +0000 http://askfsb.wordpress.com/?p=333#comment-704 I'd stay away from Wal-Mart if I were you. It looks rosy now but they'll pull the rug out from under you like they do with so many small business suppliers and small towns that grow dependent upon them. Grab yourself a copy of "How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and The World and What You Can Do About It" by Bill Quinn, which is certainly alarmist but has facts worth reading as long as you keep them in perspective. Poke around the web just a little to see how this company's business practices are destabilizing neighborhoods and local economies. Seriously, do some reasearch on their business practices (not just reading their corporate website but competing opinons as well) before you make that committment. There's an old saying where I come from - "You can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding." A smart sense of perspective when you deal with a titan this size. I'd stay away from Wal-Mart if I were you. It looks rosy now but they'll pull the rug out from under you like they do with so many small business suppliers and small towns that grow dependent upon them.

Grab yourself a copy of "How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and The World and What You Can Do About It" by Bill Quinn, which is certainly alarmist but has facts worth reading as long as you keep them in perspective. Poke around the web just a little to see how this company's business practices are destabilizing neighborhoods and local economies.

Seriously, do some reasearch on their business practices (not just reading their corporate website but competing opinons as well) before you make that committment.

There's an old saying where I come from – "You can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding." A smart sense of perspective when you deal with a titan this size.

]]> By: Murali, Trivandrum, India http://smallbusiness.blogs.cnnmoney.cnn.com/2008/06/12/walmart/#comment-698 Murali, Trivandrum, India Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:41:09 +0000 http://askfsb.wordpress.com/?p=333#comment-698 Dear Carolyn, All most all the small Entrepreneur's are facing this type of problem.In my personnel opinion you please discuss this matter with <i>Wal-Mart</i> Management, and if possible ask them to help you in this matter.This will also help you for long run. Dear Carolyn,

All most all the small Entrepreneur's are facing this type of problem.In my personnel opinion you please discuss this matter with Wal-Mart Management, and if possible ask them to help you in this matter.This will also help you for long run.

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