Supply · · 3 min read
Getting your first twenty suppliers
Supply is not a sales problem at this stage. It is a trust problem.
Early suppliers are not buying distribution — you have none yet. They are buying a relationship with you, so the pitch has to be worth their time on its own terms.
Go in person where you can
For community and rural supply, a visit beats fifty emails. Sit down, list the property or trip together, and leave with photographs you are allowed to use.
Ask for nothing exclusive
Exclusivity frightens small operators and signals that you expect to be their only channel. Non-exclusive, no-fee listing removes every reason to say no.
Do the listing work for them
Write the description, size the images, set up the calendar. The suppliers you most want are usually the least interested in admin.
Be honest about volume
Tell them you are new. Promise effort, not bookings. Operators talk to each other, and a founder who over-promised is remembered in a small niche.
Give them something before the first booking
A profile page that ranks, decent photography, a review widget, a referral. Early suppliers should get value even in a quiet month.
Use a no-code solution to get started quickly
Nothing earns a supplier's trust faster than showing them the real thing. A live site with their property or tour already on it — their photos, their calendar, a working booking button — turns a pitch about the future into a decision about today, and it signals that you are serious enough to have built something. Getting there does not require developers or months of work. A no-code marketplace builder such as Tashi lets you launch a branded, bookable travel marketplace quickly, so you can walk into your first supplier meetings with a site to show rather than a slide deck.
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