Vendors are People Too
By: Jon Santee
Tags: Leadership, Project Management, Relationship Building, Trust, Business

“That guy probably lost his job over the deal I made him take to get any of my business.”

“They lost money on me with that one!”

“There are a dozen other people who can get me the same product (or service) so if they don’t like it stop calling me.”

If you’ve been around the IT world for long you know vendors, cold calls, special one-time only!!! deals, etc etc are a common daily part of your job. You ultimately need them for products, you need them for services, you need them to correctly do you job.

The quotes above are all words I’ve heard from people at networking events. Wearing the fact they pushed (bullied?) a salesperson into what was likely a less than good deal for them as a badge of honor. These people openly boasted this as their approach to all vendor interactions.

That is simply a bad approach to vendor management, and often is indicative of that person’s approach to all interpersonal interactions.

Listen, I understand. Your job when you have budgets and projects under your umbrella is to get work done and done in a way that most responsibly utilizes the financial resources allocated to you. Simply put, get stuff done as cheaply as possible.

I ask that for a moment you think about that person on the other side of the table or phone call. They have a job as well. Their job is to earn business with as much margin (profit) as possible for their employers.

On the surface those two objectives would seem at direct odds with one another. They seem mutually exclusive. There is a factor that can, and should prevent this, one than can allow the customer and vendor relationship Venn diagram have an area of overlap. That factor?

Respect. Mutual respect.

The examples above show a keen lack of respect for people.

To be successful you must build business relationships. The department or division in which you reside in your company doesn’t change that, meaning it isn’t limited to just sales, marketing, etc. To be a successful technology leader you must build trusted business relationships with your vendors. Your vendors must also build relationships with you, both to maintain a sales pipeline reducing the need to constantly fill gaps with new business, and to understand your needs to provide ever better service. It is a two-way street that is only open both ways when all parties respect each other, their financial needs, and their jobs.

When you sit across from a vendor to work on purchase of any non-standard, non-commodity product, when scoping out any project requiring professional services, it is your job as the technology leader to know both what your budget is, and an idea of what things should cost. If you do not know those details, you are not ready to speak with vendors. It is the responsibility of your vendor to know the range of their delivery capabilities, product or service, and what margins they need. You then take that knowledge and apply it to what will make the project mutually successful.

Sure, lowballing and beating a vendor down may get you a one-time lower price, but at what long term cost? What will they do for you to help your purchase or project be successful? How much do you lose going over your business, your department, your infrastructure and products, again and again and again to new salespeople due to burned bridges?

I am fortunate enough to have a very good track record with my projects. A significant reason for that is I have taken the time to understand what my vendor needs for the deal to also be a positive for them. I understand they need margin and profit and within the scope of my budget I’m willing to give that to them. If they cannot provide the product or service within my budget, I respect them enough to say so up front and prevent anyone from wasting time.

The results?

I’ve had vendors overnight items to me via private courier, on a weekend, to prevent a project stall. At no extra cost to me. I’ve had a vendor send their company jet to get a part to me on the same day during a critical outage. I’ve had vendors voluntarily, before my asking, cut prices on one-off items when I’ve told them I was in a budget crunch due to an unexpected need. My vendor account reps respond quickly to all requests and are eager to earn the next piece of business from me. That is my badge of honor.

Do you think any of that happens without the time and respect to help them do their job, earn their commissions, keep their management happy? I’d venture no. My projects were successful in part because I gave them room and respect to operate as their business must.

Have I spent a dollar or two more than I could have? I’m sure. Were those extra dollars spent worth it? The results strongly suggest yes.

My challenge to you is remember, your vendors are people too. Give them the same respect you demand from them and watch how projects smooth for you and your trusted partnerships grow.