Vendor Communication Principles
Some of the most critical elements of a businesses’ operations are often the most stressful. However, without them, operating a business would be impossible. Those elements are the employees, customers and vendors that organizations work alongside day in and day out. While they may cause a significant amount of stress, they are integral in a businesses’ success. Though it’s impossible to resolve all of an organization’s operational issues in one fell swoop, the accompanying resource provides a great foundation of ideas to resolving these issues over time. No matter the size or scope of your organization, the resource can provide you with the information necessary to build better relationships with each of the critical elements of your business, but most importantly: your vendors.
Ensuring the success of your business starts with a stronger vendor base. The further your vendor base extends, the more potential benefits. Pricing deals, priority maintenance schedules, more sincere treatment, and most importantly, priority for new product innovations. All of these benefits come from a well-established vendor base but extend all the way to your customers. Being able to provide customers with the newest and most advanced products can lead to an increase in long-term profits while simultaneously improving customer loyalty and trust.
It’s rare that the relationship between vendor and organization ever reach these levels, though. Meaning the benefits mentioned above are rarely ever fully realized. In order to foster relationships with your vendors that will truly last and be mutually beneficial, follow these tips. First and foremost, avoid smothering vendors in any capacity. Communication is key, but too much communication can ruin any good thing. Clearly address issues or concerns in a way that avoids any sort of conflict. Within that same vein, negotiation is also just as important. Negotiating too harshly for a deal more in your organization’s favor can ruin a vendor relationship on the spot. However, allowing vendors to walk all over your organization and take all of the profits doesn’t contribute to any meaningful competitive advantage either. Find the most optimal middle ground and work towards that.
Certain industries will require more attention to detail than others with regards to these relationships. In certain instances, more specific solutions might be required in order to facilitate the relationship. For example, industries that have strict compliance regulations often require more patience and will have delays that other industries would not have to face. In these situations, organizations should look to offering vendors compliance management systems meant to simplify the relationship. These systems allow vendors to get a more detailed look into these requirements, in addition to understanding the ways in which they’ll have to adapt to serve your organization the best they can.
Every organization’s needs are different, which is why it’s so imperative to have such a deep vendor base. Crafting these relationships in a way that benefits both parties can be difficult, but a fully realized vendor relationship is a huge benefit to have in any industry. For additional information on how to avoid tarnishing any vendor relationships, be sure to check out the infographic accompanying this post. Courtesy of Smyyth.
