Does your business perform require procurement, shipping, and logistics? If so, you may be missing out by not hiring an experienced procurement consulting agent. A procurement consulting agent can work with your business to determine the most cost-effective, convenient way for you to acquire the products that you need.

Procurement consulting agents are talented specialists who have highly developed networks, and who are able to save your organization a substantial amount of money by working out logistics on your behalf. Here are just a few reasons why your business may want to work with a procurement consulting partner—and why a procurement agent will often saved you money long-term.

1. An agent will know what products you need.

Procurement agents know a lot about the industries they work in and are often able to advise on the products your business is going to need. Retail, for instance, may need to know what is going to be popular next month and which items are currently on trend. Agents spend all their time determining the products that will make your business successful because your company's success is directly related to their report card of success stories.

2. An agent will be able to find products quickly.

Rather than having to conduct your own research, you can ask your procurement consulting agent to find you the products that you need. They will be able to source them quickly, so you can focus on other aspects of managing your business. Agents already have dense databases of information regarding the products available to them and know where to look for specific items.

3. An agent has already established relationships with vendors.

By establishing relationships with vendors, agents can get you favorable terms, rates, and shipping costs. These are relationships that they've spent their entire career building, and relationships that your business may not otherwise be able to develop on its own. Better relationships with vendors mean that you will be able to get products both faster and cheaper, and you may even be able to secure products that are rare or not otherwise available to your competitors.

4. An agent is able to reduce your costs by removing middle men.

Agents work directly with manufacturers rather than a long chain of suppliers. When your product has to go through middlemen, the cost of the product increases each time. One way a procurement consulting agent is able to reduce your costs is by cutting out those middlemen and sourcing straight from the initial manufacturer or distributor.

But that doesn't just improve upon cost. It also means that you'll be able to work closely with the manufacturer in the event that you have issues with shipments, need to negotiate on your delivery or scale up your demand quickly. Working with middlemen means that you may not always be able to secure the products that you need since they're working through other suppliers.

5. An agent can get you higher quality products.

When you attempt to manage procurement on your own, you can't always be certain of the quality of the product. This is increasingly true in a globalized world, where manufacturing often happens in another country entirely. Procurement specialists work to find reputable businesses that are always going to produce reliable, high-quality products, such as the ELEVATE Marketplace.

If you want to make sure that the products you have maintain quality standards, working with a procurement agent makes the most sense. Procurement agents will already know who is trustworthy in terms of manufacturing and distribution, and they can save you money without sacrificing the quality of the end product. When it comes to something as critical as procurement, a consultant will easily pay for themselves with the expertise that they bring to the table.