Life as a copywriter gets a whole lot easier if you have a team of suppliers around you to help you when things go wrong. If you can, choose local suppliers. Why?
Firstly, it’s much easier to build a relationship with someone you can meet for a coffee in person. Nothing builds rapport faster than meeting face-to-face.
Second, if you’re using a graphic designer, sometimes it’s just easier and quicker to meet in person and map out a design on a paper napkin or a sheet of paper. I have spent hours marking up a PDF with corrections when I could have done it face-to-face in under 10 minutes.
Thirdly, some suppliers need to be close to you – like an IT person – so it makes sense that they are local or else they’ll charge you a fortune for any home visits. Even having the printer down the road makes a drop-off easier, quicker and cheaper, compared to having them on the other side of town.
Lastly, if they owe you money, you can ‘pop over’ to collect it. Just kidding. Sort of.
Besides all that, proximity is power so when you can meet up with your supplier, you’re building your relationship and that means they are more likely to refer you to others.
To be clear – you don’t HAVE to use local suppliers but for some services, if you can, it’s worth doing so.
Action: Make a list of the top three suppliers you’d like to make contact with and make a date to meet them for a coffee at your local café.
