Building a relationship with your supplier

The single most underrated move in how Everspring works in practice is building a personal relationship with the suppliers you're actively working with. Once that relationship is in place, everything else gets easier — priority during peak, flex on a custom request, honest input on what's realistic, fast resolution when something goes wrong, joint content and shoots down the line. Without it, you're running your shop at arm's length from the people whose product you're selling. This article is about how that relationship gets built.

Why this matters — and the mistake to avoid

One pattern worth calling out, because it comes up more than it should: a reseller has genuinely serious plans around a supplier's product — a collection, a campaign, a growth push — and starts spending heavily on advertising without ever having spoken to the supplier they're building on. The first time the supplier hears about it is when the order volume spikes or a support question appears.

That's the version where things get avoidably hard. Without a personal relationship in place, a supplier can't actively help you — they can't prioritise your orders during peak, flag assortment changes early, flex on a custom run, or jump in fast when something goes wrong. And you're spending marketing budget on a foundation you haven't confirmed with the person behind it.

The fix is simple: before you scale anything, make contact. A conversation first, then a meeting.

What building the relationship actually means

A supplier relationship isn't one introduction and a handshake. It's a handful of things done consistently:

• Open the conversation early. Send a first message through the platform as soon as you know a supplier's product is going to play a real role in your shop. Introduce yourself, your shop, what you're building, and ask how they'd prefer to engage.

• Meet in person when you can. Depending on the supplier, that's a site visit, an open day, or meeting them at a trade fair. Different suppliers prefer different formats — more on that below.

• Show up at a serious level. Arrive with a commercial plan, a volume picture, specifics about what you're asking for, and real curiosity about how the supplier actually runs. A good first meeting is as much about understanding their operation, capacity, and roadmap as it is about presenting yours.

• Stay in touch. A relationship isn't built in one meeting. Update the supplier when you launch something around their product. Share results. Flag upcoming campaigns before they go live. Keep the loop closed.

• Handle the basics well. Pay on time, keep claims fair and specific, communicate clearly when something needs attention. The everyday texture of the relationship is what earns the bigger asks later.

Handled that way, suppliers start actively looking for ways to help you grow — and that's the real return on this piece of work.

Three good ways to meet in person

You don't always need a private site visit to build a relationship. There are three established routes, and a short platform message tells you which works best for that particular supplier.

Open days

A number of growers and suppliers organize open days — scheduled events where resellers can walk through the facility, see the range, and meet the team. If a supplier runs one, attending it is often the easiest first meeting you'll have. Ask in your intro message whether there's one on the calendar.

Trade fairs

A lot of suppliers attend industry trade fairs — FlowerTrials, Royal FloraHolland events, IPM Essen, and several sector-specific shows each year. A fair stand gives you concentrated time with the supplier in a setting built for exactly this kind of conversation. If you can reach a fair they're attending, it's often the single best meeting you'll have with them all year.

Direct visits

Suppliers are generally happy to host resellers who are actively building something with them. A direct visit works best when it's:

• Arranged in advance. Send a message, agree the date, give the supplier time to plan around it.

• Tied to a reason. Assortment discussion, launch preparation, a larger order you're scoping, a quality review — something concrete that benefits both sides.

• Flexible on timing. Suppliers work around their crop and production cycle. The best visit lands at a moment that's good for them too.

• Proportional in crew. One or two people is an easy conversation. A bigger group — or a photographer, camera operator, drone, or film crew — is a different conversation, worth flagging upfront so the supplier can prepare.

What opens up once the relationship is there

This is the payoff part, and the reason all of the above is worth the effort. Once you and the supplier actually know each other, a number of things become possible that aren't really on the table cold:

• Priority during peak season on stock and fulfilment.

• Early access to new cultivars, collections, or models.

• Custom runs — branded packaging, custom pots, printed inserts — at realistic volumes, where the supplier supports it.

• Joint content and shoots. Higher-resolution originals, a facility visit with a photographer for a launch, joint campaigns where both sides benefit from the visibility. These are natural follow-ups once the supplier knows you and what you're building — not something to open a cold conversation with.

• Input and flexibility on pricing, volumes, timelines, and problem-solving when something goes wrong.

None of these are things you ask for in a first cold message. They're things that become available as the relationship matures — and they're genuinely valuable.

A few practical notes

• Always confirm a visit in advance — no spontaneous drop-ins.

• If you want to bring a camera, drone, or production crew to a visit, mention it upfront so the supplier can prepare the right kind of access.

• Treat visit availability as something to align on together, not as a given.

The short version

If you're planning to put marketing budget behind a supplier's product, make contact first. The personal relationship is the foundation — everything else (custom runs, priority, joint content, growing together) builds on top of it. Open the conversation, meet in person when you can, show up at a serious level, and stay in touch. That's what turns a catalog listing into a real partnership.