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Finding Your Best Broker
(This is a contributed post)
If you’re a crop grower then you’ll know the challenges of keeping your product free of disease and insects. After all the hard work of producing top quality grain to sell, the last thing you need is to be ripped off by low-grade brokers.
Even if you’re not in crops, but instead trade in another commodity, how do you go about choosing a broker that has your best interests at heart? There’s so much choice, thanks to the internet, that separating the wheat from the chaff can be a long and frustrating search. That’s why we’ve put together a short guide to finding a broker who really gets you and wants you to succeed as much as he or she wants to turnover a profit.
Word Of Mouth Reputation
Simply, ask around colleagues, on forums or friends. An online reputation can be manufactured and manipulated but talking to sellers who have dealt first-hand with a broker or their company, might tell you a different story.
If you’re treated well, you’re going to make a return visit. That’s how companies find themselves known as Australia’s leading national Grain Broker.
Treated poorly and you’ll not only avoid them in future but you’ll tell your friends and family as well.
A bad reputation carries faster than a good one, so pay attention to what the grapevine’s saying.
Identify Your Bottom Line
Not just about price but also in the way you expect the process to be handled and the timeframe. If your broker promises the earth but delivers nothing within the limits you set, then alarm bells are going to start ringing. Unfortunately for some sellers this is all too late and fresh produce will start looking decidedly old by this point.
Plan well in advance who you’re dealing with and agree your bottom lines long before you plan on selling.
Check Licensing
We shouldn’t have to do this but business experts strongly advise you check that your broker has all their licenses in place before you start dealing with them. There are unscrupulous types out there who, while good at what they do, are not licensed which gives you no recourse in case of any problems.
Check out their fee structure, if it looks overly complicated or too good to be true this can often mean the broker is not legitimate.
Whatever you produce, from IT equipment through to grown produce choosing someone to sell on your stock can be a long and involved process. There’s no doubt that you don’t have to stick with a broker, there’s plenty of opportunity to shop around but if you find a firm that you can trust, year on year, then that relationship is already worth its weight in gold.
Don’t commit yourself to the first company you talk to. Do the research and choose someone you know will look out for your best interests now and into the future, then get on with the job of doing what you do best – producing your quality goods.
