Question and Answer about jobbers and availability of merchandise

I am actually taking the time to put this one in the blog because I think it is important. I get a question like this from time to time and I think, in the future, I can point people to the guide because even though the specifics are different, the general premise of the emails are the same.

People are looking for what's hot and they are looking for it right now. And the general premise of merchandise availability and relationships with jobbers is always lost on people. ONCE MORE, I need to make this clear:

What is available now may not be available tomorrow and what was available yesterday may not be available for a few months.

When someone is looking for a brand and I tell you which jobber gets that brand, just because they don't have it right now does not mean that jobber is a dead end.

NEXT

You will never know what people have when you pass someone up because their website is marginal. And always going for slick websites will get you nowhere.

And again:

For the most part, when jobbers make a deal with a manufacturer for their merchandise, they cannot, in any way, advertise that brand. And putting it on their website IS advertising.

Now, on to the question:

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QUESTION

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hello I sent you an email a few days ago and have not heard back from
you yet. It is very important that I am able to get your response to
my inquiries/problems. First off I purchased your guide about a month
ago. I read it and really liked it. I was very excited that I had
found you. then the time came to make a contact (I had already gotten
a loan and was super excited to place my first oder) Well the first
jobber I tried to contact failed due to a disconnected phone. I am
refering to jobber #28. Not a good sign. You had mentioned you listed
two "buyers" in your guide and recommended that would be a good place
to start. Neither one of them were usable. And #28 was the one that
had the brands I really wanted. And some of the websites I checked out
I was very disappointed in too. The clothes were basically stuff that
no one wants. I want to sell some of the things that are hot right now
and will sell well. And I don't mean I want to hand select every item
or expect to get my hands on sold out to die for pieces. Also you had
said brand a, b, c, d, e ,f and so on would be included and they were
not. Do you have the status on jobber 28 and 29? I am really upset
about all this so far. I was so excited, ya know? I thought I'd be
able to make some decent money. Please respond to my email. I do hope
you get this. And I value you taking the time to respond. Thank
you

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ANSWER

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[the first part was just updating old telephone numbers]

As far as websites go, I don't know whose site you visited, but as mentioned in my guide, you cannot judge a company by its website because many companies are prohibited from advertising the brands they carry per the contract they have with the manufacturer.

While I can understand your frustration, there is plenty in the guide to work with, even without those two buyers, because they have to get their merchandise from somewhere and some of THEIR suppliers are in that guide. So if those two alone makes the guide unusable for you, you just aren't doing enough legwork to contact the other companies in the guide, or are turning away from them based on a superficial impression.

While I enjoy corresponding with my customers and helping them with situations, I get the feeling that you just jumped in and tried to find brand a, b, c, d and e and did not find it and just threw your hands up in the air. I get the feeling that everything else that was written in the guide, especially the parts about the availability of merchandise and how things come and go and are available tomorrow but not next week, was all lost.

I cannot help you with that. Time and time again, I try to impress upon my customers that this business is about relationships. It's not the same as calling Wal Mart and asking if blue widgets are in stock and moving on to another store when they are not. That jobber may not have brand x this week, but may have it next week. The thing is, at the time you call, they may not even know they will have it next week.

So with that, I am giving you all the help I will give. And I mean that sincerely. Because even if you are able to contact the two buyers in my guide, if you asked tomorrow for a list of brands, they might not have that right now. And then you would not get what you wanted, and you would probably blame me and my guide. And the people who hang in there, and develop the relationship, get the telephone call next week, or next month when those brands do come in.

That's what this business is all about. But no one wants to listen, they want what's hot and they want it now. But so does everybody else. So maybe you missed the boat. Because last week a jobber got a really hot brand of something people were dying for (literally, because I know the jobber and I know what they got), but I am sure you passed them over because their website was marginal and only mentioned run of the mill brands (because I know what their website looks like).

Posted by theclothingbroker.com