Preferred Suppliers

[Gretel]

Just noticed this. I think this will be great.

When this is up and running, what will the credentials be? Will we have any input on this? Will we see more than just the name and address?

Thanks,
Gabriele

[DTS]

???

Gabriele,

What is a "preferred supplier"? What are you referring to?

Dennis

[Bird Legs]

? ?

I wanted to ask that same question but I did not want to make myself sound dumb, which
I am any way. Maybe I should have said dumber.

[skhyatt]

upper right under the "contact us" link is the link for "preferred suppliers". This is a good idea. When will it kick in?

[DTS]

???

Talk about dumb! I saw this the other night when I was exploring this site and stared at those words today wondering where I had seen them.

Thanks for reminding me.
Dennis

[S T]

Preferred Suppliers

This would be a really nice feature and one that I am looking forward to, maybe Image One and CFS?? or some other source that is better! We can always use the service and discounts!

Sandy

[Bees Knees]

A clue could be something that has been on the web site for some time now. Under links, there is a category for “Preferred CPE Providers.”

So far Jennings Seminars is the only one listed.

It is interesting to note that Bob Jennings was one of the more popular Gear Up Speakers prior to that company being acquired by PPC. Bob left and started his own company when Gear Up was acquired. TheTaxBook authors have a similar history.

There are still a number of tax products and services out there that have not been gobbled up by the big conglomerates. Many of these companies offer superior products and services. We all know that small business must remain competitive by out performing the competition, as they do not have the financial resources to match their big company counterparts advertising blitzkriegs.

We also know that there are numerous tax products and services for tax professionals that do not directly compete with each other. TheTaxBook is a publishing company. Other companies provide tax software. Still others provide tax season supplies. Others provide CPE through seminars. Small business generally knows how to do one thing well. Big companies have the advantage of huge acquisition budgets, allowing them to create there own monopolies, providing a wide range of products and services. It has been mentioned on this board that the minute your favorite software company does a good job, it gets eaten up by the big guys. But then, what happens to the quality and customer support after the gobble up?

Not all small business has the goal of inventing something new with the intention of attracting a big company to buy them out. Many small businesses are multi generational, meaning they intend to stick around for awhile providing a steady income stream for younger members of their families.

A counter to the big company monopolies is when non-competing Small Businesses come together and promote each other, maybe through discounts or other incentives. A publishing company promoting a Seminar Speaker, for example, or a Seminar Speaker promoting a tax software provider. The same industry, but non-competing products, produced by companies that have no mutual ownership ties. Trade associations do this when they offer their members discounts on products that are produced by “preferred suppliers.” It could be an answer to the trend these days where two giant conglomerates seem to be competing with each other to see who can rule the world. They can’t do that when the small guys keep kicking out superior products.