Last night I had a long telephone conversation with one of my ex business partners and old friend. We tend to chat a few times a month using each other as sounding boards on business decisions. We know each others businesses inside out and we will tell each other if we feel there is something that can be improved.
Currently he has a growing business providing online fulfilment services for some household names in South Africa and his business is doing well. This is probably his 5th business in the 30 or so years I have known him. The previous businesses failed not due to the concept, but more so who he partnered with.
Last night we spoke about the packaging business and how difficult it was to crack into the top retail distribution accounts. I have tried multiple times with no luck and believe it is not down to price, but more about from being protected from within. A supplier has cut a deal with a buyer or an operations manager or both because we know the prices I have are that good.
One would need a different angle to get through the door bypassing the buyers and being invited by the buyers bosses. This could not be blocked and my idea would benefit the packaging company plus create a new business combining both.
There is a business idea which I call "The Top 10" that my friend knows about and he believes the time is right to launch this. The concept is you are invited into a business to study their top 10 spends each month and to find savings. If you do not find savings you do not earn any commission so the business has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Which business would honestly turn you away as you are there to help them? Businesses who have staff protecting suppliers would be highlighted and exposed via the Top 10 list.
We shall see how the development progresses over the coming months as this is next years project and is not going to be rushed. This I see as a business on it's own which will help my other business so this is a door opening tool. I would not be dealing with buyers, but those higher up in the exec positions in the bigger companies.
When you see headlines like above you know the time is now and from previous attempts dealing with both these companies I know things are not how they should be in the buying department. Millions of Rands are being lost each month through protected accounts.
The great thing about this concept is you have access to their purchase prices and once you have that information it is not difficult to find savings. There will be items on the top 10 list you are not going to influence like building rentals, fleet rentals, fuel spend or outsourced staff, but everything else should be fairly simple to find cheaper suppliers.
We are this week through his developer starting to develop simple program which will over time develop into a supplier database with current best prices. A similar concept to what Amazon has created with a database of factories around the world and the items each factory makes with pricing. This data has all been given to them by the Amazon online sellers and why they are eventually forced out by Amazon.
The Top 10 concept would benefit my packaging business as our prices would better current suppliers plus I earn a commission on the savings. The one thing I am really good at and I consider this my specialty is finding savings due to my strength with numbers. There are other ideas with regard to the data base and how it can be grown very quickly which I will not discuss here.
There are other business ideas that I have had for a good 6 or 7 years and they have been parked off for now and may or may not surface at some point. The Top 10 concept would be a fun business to be a part of and this would have me buzzing every day because this is a concept I really believe in due to helping businesses save money. This is another business which could be set up anywhere in the world without too much effort and needs to be ironed out properly as there is going to be a learning curve first before this is a finished product.