D&B Credit File
Did you know the marketplace for government and corporate supplier programs is over $350 billion a year?
In fact, 93% of Fortune 100 companies have supplier programs that are set up to support contracts with small business owners just like you.
Major corporations and government programs focus on working with a diversity of businesses, such as veteran-owned, woman-owned and minority-owned small businesses.
What is supplier diversity?
It’s a business strategy that ensures a diverse supplier base is used to acquire products and services for businesses or organizations. Some of the reasons diversity in supply chains work are it drives competition between existing and potential vendors, it promotes innovation, and provides multiple sources to acquire products and services.
Imagine what impact it would have if you tapped into a large commercial supply chain and became a supplier to a big company. It can literally be a game-changer. Studies show that landing a contract with a large company may increase revenues as much as 250%.
In today’s post we will be covering the importance of your D&B business credit profile and how it plays an essential role in your business getting into these programs and becoming a diverse supplier. We’re also going to provide you a comprehensive list of Fortune 100 and 500 supplier programs that are available.
What is a diverse supplier?
There are many categories used to identify a diverse business such as a Small Business Enterprise (SBE), Women Business Enterprise (WBE), and Minority Owned Business Enterprise (MBE). Getting your business certified is a key step because it authenticates that your company is qualified as a diverse group. Organizations such as the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council offer third-party certification services.
Here’s what you need to know.
Your D&B credit ratings can make all the difference between your company getting into a supplier diversity program or experiencing a long drawn out approval process or even worse getting an automatic rejection of your application. So what is it that you need to do to ensure that you put your business in the best position to be approved?
Here are five steps prior to taking advantage of available opportunities to become a supplier:
1) Obtain Your D-U-N-S® Number – Before you can bid on government contracts and participate in many supplier programs you need to obtain a Dun & Bradstreet number. You can get a D-U-N-S® Number in as little as 5 days with DUNSFile™ service. It’s also important to note as a government contractor or grantee you can get a D-U-N-S® Number free.
2) Build Your Business Credit File and Scores – Adding good trade references to your business credit file may positively impact your scores and ratings. If your business doesn’t have any existing trade references then start establishing net 30 trade accounts and obtain several business credit cards that report to the business credit agencies.
3) Update information in your D&B® report – Manage the information on your company with Dun & Bradstreet by registering with iUpdate. Remember, you’ll need to get a DUNS Number prior to registering. As a registered user you can view, print, and submit updates to your report. Keep the information current and complete so you can improve your business’s credibility with banks, suppliers, and other companies that do business with you.
4) Review your business credit scores and ratings – The fact is many supplier programs use D&B credit scores like the Supplier Evaluation Rating (SER Score) to assess if a business is credible enough to be brought into their program. Scores of 1-4 are ideal, scores of 5-6 are acceptable, but if a company has a SER Score in the 7-9 range than most likely it won’t qualify.
5) Register on Sam.gov for government projects – SAM.gov is an online, government-wide application that collects, verifies, stores, and gives out business data about the federal government’s trading partners in support of the contract awards, grants, and the electronic payment processes. If you are interested in registering or updating your company, you must first create a user account in SAM.
After you completed these five steps check out our list of supplier programs. In this document you’ll find the contact pages for those Fortune 100 and 500 supplier programs. This list includes 93 Fortune 100 companies that you can look into.
CLICK HERE to Download Supplier Programs List
As a final thought, the use of diversity suppliers is a win-win situation for both the supplier and the companies they do business with. As a diversity supplier you win by establishing a relationship with a big business that may result in an increase in growth and revenues.
The company wins by meeting its diversity goals, opening up new opportunities with suppliers and connecting with customers.
Ready to build your D&B credit file? Become a member of my Business Credit Insiders Circle and gain access to a proven step-by-step business credit building system. A system that provides you access to vendor lines of credit, fleet cards, business credit cards with and without a PG, funding sources and lenders that report to all the major business credit bureaus. Submit your name and email below for details and receive a free business credit building audio seminar ($597 value) =>
To Your Success In Business and in Life!
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About the author
Marco Carbajo is a business credit expert, author, speaker, and founder of the Business Credit Insiders Circle. He is a business credit blogger for Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp, the SBA.gov Community, About.com and All Business.com. His articles and blog; Business Credit Blogger.com, have been featured in ‘Fox Small Business’,’American Express Small Business’, ‘Business Week’, ‘The Washington Post’, ‘The New York Times’, ‘The San Francisco Tribune’,‘Alltop’, and ‘Entrepreneur Connect’.