Go direct: 3-week sourcing sprint

If you buy through an agent, a trading house or an intermediary, you are paying a margin to someone whose incentive is the opposite of yours. They are paid by the supplier, or on the value of what you buy. Neither of those makes you cheaper. Three weeks, five working sessions, and you come out the other side buying direct.

WEEK 1 - DIAGNOSIS. Session 1: what you buy, what you pay now, and where the invisible margin sits - unit price, payment terms, freight, duty classification, or QC you are charged for and not getting. Session 2: what the factory gate price should actually be for your volumes, benchmarked.

WEEK 2 - THE SHORTLIST. Session 3: identifying and qualifying manufacturers in China and Vietnam directly - who is real, who is a trading company pretending, and what to ask to tell them apart. Session 4: samples, specs and a QC protocol you can enforce from another continent.

WEEK 3 - THE MOVE. Session 5: incoterms, payment security, customs and the first direct purchase order. We sit on your side of the negotiation.

BETWEEN SESSIONS you get Priority DM. Send me the quote, the supplier reply, the spec sheet you are unsure about. Two-day reply.

WHY ME. I have negotiated over EUR 175,000 of goods directly with manufacturers in China and Vietnam. No agent, no trading company, no commission from the other side. I cut my own landed costs by around 35% doing exactly this, and I am based in Paris sourcing from Asia, so I have run it from both ends.

YOU LEAVE WITH a benchmarked cost breakdown, a qualified direct supplier shortlist, a QC protocol, and a first order placed direct.

IF IT IS NOT WORTH IT I WILL TELL YOU IN WEEK 1. If your volumes are small, an agent can genuinely be worth the margin, and I would rather say so than take three weeks of your money.

Bought separately these sessions cost $1,520.