October, 2006

Your Vendor Service Partner

Good communication is the first step in improving your vendors’ service to you.

By Tom Fife

I joined an interesting and too familiar discussion after presenting a program to dealers on customer service. The question: “Aren’t we the customer of our vendors?” The resounding answer: “YES!” The talk quickly turned to how some vendors were causing extreme difficulty by providing little or no service, and the customer was being affected negatively.

The first complaint was of the vendors’ lack of adequate inventory to meet the demands of the company. The increased rate of backorders was next, followed by the drivers’ complaints of being treated quite “less than special” at the vendors’ location. Drivers related stories of every ilk—from taking too long to be waited on, to excessive loading time, to a real attitude problem displayed by the personnel waiting on them at the location.

What can be done?

If you’re having some challenging issues come up with some of your vendors, I strongly recommend that you begin the process of gathering information, including examples of problems you have been experiencing in your vendor relationship. Your vendor will appreciate the opportunity to make the improvements needed to keep you happy and consequently keep you as a valued customer.

Someone suggested: “Let’s threaten vendors with our purchasing power!” While it’s true that we have the clout, threats are not the ideal choices. If we can use honest communication to inform our vendors of our expectations, they are usually thrilled to have a chance to gain insight into their operation and get a clearer understanding of our

criteria for measuring their success.

Vendors should be partners in providing excellent customer service. Vendor discussion groups are one way of assuring that you are listened to and are heard. Be ready to discover a few procedures of your own that may not be working quite as well as you think, and that are adding to the perception of poor service from your vendors. Partnering with vendors gives you both the best chance to realize your service goals.

I recommend that you enlist all of your resources to evaluate the service concerns that exist between the two companies. That means involving the purchasing department to start. Drivers can give information pertaining to pick-ups at their location as well as the attitudes of those serving them. The sales force provides perhaps the best understanding of the order and lead-time situation, while the receiving personnel are the people who can shed the most light on the condition of goods upon arrival at your yards. Everyone should be involved in the analysis. Let your vendors know how they can better serve you and watch the improved service unfold.

How important is your relationship with your vendors to them? Considering that their goal is to have more of your purchasing dollars spent on their product, it’s EXTREMELY important! It’s important to share with your vendors the best days and times when you need them physically in your store. With any true partnering, mutual disclosure of better ways to provide service that grows both businesses is crucial.

Have regularly scheduled get-togethers with all your vendors so that the forum for discovery remains open. Allow your competitive providers to hear and share information about customer service concerns in real time. They can’t fix what they don’t know is wrong and you sometimes need good vendor feedback to monitor and improve your systems.

We are in this endeavor to be the best that we can be. Help yourselves and your vendor partner by synergistically developing new and creative ways to acquire and maintain the most important element in the success of any business: the customer.