For the newsletter and blogs, our topic for this month is “The Supply Chain Crisis.” Within the last few years, instability resulting from the pandemic and elsewhere has caused a severe upset in supply chains. This instability has resulted in various states of scarcity and excesses with different products in the supply chain, affecting markets worldwide.
In the last blog, we discussed perception versus reality of scarcities, and how you as a business should conduct your own research regarding scarcities and act accordingly. But on the other side of the coin, consumers will react to news of scarcity based on whatever information they receive. They may or may not conduct their own research, and instead just go right along believing what the media is saying.
You As an Information Source
For your prospects and customers, one source of information is going to be your company. What are you going to say to them? As we spoke of in the last article, you could take advantage of the situation and forward the “news” that particular shortages are affecting your supply chain. You might then charge premium prices based on those shortages.
Realize, however, that your customers are eventually going to know that you took advantage of them. Remember the real-life example we gave in the first blog this month about the company charging outrageous prices to one of our clients for fabric because of a shortage? As soon as the crisis has passed to some degree, our client will be cutting that vendor loose and won’t be going back. You don’t want your customers to have that perception of you, and to treat you that way.
The other example we gave was that of toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic. If you’ll recall, rumors spread that there was a toilet paper shortage, and indeed toilet paper disappeared from many stores. While this "shortage" was happening, customers would pay whatever price was charged to avoid running out of toilet paper in their homes. As it turns out, it was a wholly created shortage, as within a few months the store shelves were full of toilet tissue once again and have remained so since.
In the long run, it’s better to “take the high road.” Provide your customer base with accurate, reliable information, no matter what the media is saying. Be a trustworthy source of data for your industry. Follow that up with honest pricing and business practices, and you’ll be in business for a long time to come.
The Word Spreads
The word that you are trustworthy will spread. When that happens, others will pick up on the fact that your company is a reliable source of information, and that they can count on what you say. They’ll be able to see that you’re not taking advantage of them.
Remember, information today can be anything but solid—and many people realize that. While some will take the news put forth by the media at face value, many more will be skeptical, whether they show it or not. When they realize that someone is providing information they can really trust and use, they’ll not only stick by you but they’ll also forward your information to others, too.
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