For companies marketing dietary supplements and functional nutrition products, quality should be the foundation on which you build everything else; it’s the starting point, but it’s not the end of the story. 
 
An executive at a contact manufacturing organization told me recently that he turns business away if he doesn’t believe the potential partner is “doing things the right way.” This is how it should be. While cost is certainly an important factor in business, when it comes to developing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling ingestible health products for consumers, price shouldn’t be the only thing that matters. If that’s all that someone cares about, then throw the red flag. 
 
At the risk of sounding repetitive, or stating the obvious, quality needs to be the top priority for every company in this industry. And quality means more than just compliance. Abiding by cGMPs is the law; it’s the minimum standard for doing business. 
 
My wife teaches an AP Psychology class at a public high school, and she tells her students at the start of the course that they can expect to get out whatever they put into it. The same lesson can apply to the business world. In a competitive environment, doing the minimum—meeting basic cGMPs—can only get you so far. Commitment to transparency, sustainability, and fair trade, while delivering consistent, efficacious products can help you succeed where others may lag behind.
 
Want to demonstrate quality to your customers? Look beyond commodities and consider working with branded ingredient suppliers. Suzanne Shelton offers some great advice in her discussion about marketing advantages for branded ingredients and how they can help build trust and credibility. 
 
“Consumers have access to more information—at any time or location—than ever before. Consequently, more supplement brands are pulling back the curtain to reveal their testing practices, manufacturing facilities, company policies, and especially what their ingredients are and how they choose them. Suppliers with heavy investment in branded ingredients are making it easier for their customers to provide that information to consumers, and some of their stories will resonate deeply with supplement users.”
 
Commitment to quality, not just compliance, means collaborating with business partners who share your values. Working with the right people has never been more important.