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By Merrill Lehrer

or your business will suffer. On-time delivery needs to be clearly spelled out to suppliers. Vendors need to be told precisely when the goods are required: before the date, exactly on that day, or within a window of days afterwards.

Although on-time delivery is basic and obvious, you should periodically review that everyone involved understands these specifications.

3. Competitive prices. We live in a competitive world, and someone is always undercutting the market's prices. Competifive prices don't mean that vendors are always giving you the lowest price (although that would be nice), but they are reasonable. More experienced purchasers understand that price isn't the only determining factor. Cheap is cheap, and quality doesn't come at the lowest price.

4. Co--,,ttication. You need suppliers that communicate with you. If you require parts or products, and have very specific needs, you need a supplier that can understand that.

So many problems in the world today are tied to bad communication. We're all sending out signals, like FM radio stations, expecting others to have the proper equipment to receive our messages. However. sometimes we utilize unclear language or the message gets garbled along the way. There's lots of static in the air. Communication is critical to your success with suppliers.

5. N"*, cutting edge products. The best suppliers are energizing and reinventing their goods on a regular basis. If you're dealing with a supplier whose goods that are becoming stale, how long before you'll want to end that relationship? Great suppliers reinvent themselves and their products frequently, letting you know that they are always supplying you goods that are the best design and most current in the marketplace.

Suppliers that are the industry's experts are constantly researching their customer's needs and adapting their products to meet these needs. Buying goods from the best suppliers helps to make your business stronger.

6. Profitability. If you can't make a decent profit because your suppliers are overcharging you, obviously you won't be buying from them forever (unless you want to go out of business). Challenge your vendors to help you stay profitable. The best suppliers have an appreciation for their accounts and negotiate winning deals to keep the business.

Profitability goes both ways, however. If you hammer your suppliers into the ground, demanding lower prices, ultimately they won't be profitable either. Who are we going to buy merchandise from if we kill all our suppliers?

7. Integrity. Yes, that's a crirical component, too. Integrity is a wholesome word, implying honesty, honor, truthfulness, and reliability. If you're buying merchandise from a supplier that provides quality goods at reasonable prices; delivers them when you want them; provides quality service; knows how to communicate with you, and creates innovative, new products-that is great. If they do all that and they have integrity, that is outstanding. Then, you have picked a fine business partner.

Hopefully, all seven basics are focal points of your businesses. Yet, there's another factor that creeps into this discussion: reality. We may all understand the basics, but it often requires a superhuman effort to enact them. In the real world, each of us is faced with intense workloads and priorities that shift on a daily, or hourly, basis. However, the best organizations never lose site of the basicsthey're imprinted on their walls, engraved in their minds, and reinforced during every company-wide meeting.