Recently, I started working with a new supplier in the talent acquisition area. Our company needed a partner to help us with roles in demand that are not easy to find on the market. At the initial meeting I took with me, the department manager in these roles was supposed to be positioned. He “fell in love” with the potential supplier representative who said the same; this manager has always wanted to hear and promised everything to happen fast and with quality beyond expectations and at a reasonable price.
So, we signed the contract and started working with this supplier. At first, everything was perfect – they gave our manager enough potential candidates, most in line with our expectations and having needed qualifications. Excited by the process and interaction, the manager decided they wanted to be involved directly in communication with the supplier representative and that they could move most of the other projects started for different roles to this particular supplier. We heard the promises, and professionals from the supplier part were brought to our meetings to present themselves, establish a connection with the hiring manager, and build trust. After all, at least on paper, everything was fine and working smoothly. We moved a bit further in time ahead, and some discrepancies started happening. Some of them were minor, while others had the potential to disturb the work in the department seriously. The number of people fell dramatically, the number of candidates, and the quality started eroding.
From excitement, the feeling turned to disappointment. With every conversation with the supplier representative, our department manager started losing patience and trust until one day. He said he did not want to work anymore with this supplier because they treated him like a small kid. He felt that they were not honest with him. He even insisted on cutting the connection with the supplier as soon as possible, which wasn’t the best decision because this supplier had already hired twenty percent of the employees in the manager’s department and owned them as lease employees.
After the first moment of frustration, I had to intervene in the relationship with the supplier and build a pipeline of possible solutions to keep both the company processes, productivity, and morale in the team high and not destroy the relationship with the supplier, which actions in other areas were more than satisfying.
This experience taught me and the department manager valuable lessons about business relationships and the need for a working solution (at least one) for each situation. Here are some of them.
Chose your supplier not by name but as an industry participant
Now, it is always easier to get to the big names. Many people want to work with the “Big 4” auditing companies; others trust widely known agencies for recruitment. There is also a high level of trust in companies offering international know-how (often built in several large countries) in the training area. It is the same when we choose technical devices. A Gartner study from 2023 showed that nearly sixty percent of people make decisions based only on brand positioning and ignore other elements in the process. What mostly happens is that in seventy-one percent of the cases of choosing by brand, people either live with the decision not happy or turn down the trust toward the brand and move to what they know, like, or will be in the best interest of their needs. That is why when choosing a supplier, organizations need to move forward not with those who have built the name but with those who have built the expertise. Suppose you decide, for example, to choose a search agency to help you find the best talents, and you work in the FMCG. Will you select the best-advertised search agency that has built its reputation and expertise, mainly helping companies in the Software development industry, or will you trust someone with plenty of experience with salespeople and projects? However, they can’t advertise themselves in all the areas of expertise they have built.
Check the expertise and validate carefully.
While advertising is made to attract customers, trusting the bombastic numbers of a supplier in a stagnating market may be unwise. Before choosing a supplier, get to people who have worked with them instead of reading what they have written on their public channels and ask for sincere feedback. Did these people experience joy or frustration working with that supplier? What did they like, and what made them insecure when working with this supplier? What were the breakpoints, if any, that made the relationship look invaluable? The more profound organizations dive into their future project or business partner expertise, and as many elements they can validate, the more balanced the relationship will be and the more trustful the result.
Experiment with something small
There is no proof that what has worked for one organization may work for yours. After all, organizations are different, values, needs, processes, and reactions are different, and there is one element that no one can predict – people’s behavior. Starting from that, the organization needs to be sure that the partnership will be beneficial in every aspect. To ensure that, “starting small” may be a good strategy. For example, if you want to turn a new supplier into your leading supplier, start with small projects to check the productivity and efficiency of the relationship. Increasing the load to this new supplier may happen slower, but if you have all the pieces of evidence that you can fully trust them, when the moment with the most significant load and push pops up, you will have the comfort that the challenge will be handled with care and responsibility and will bring out the best results, instead of generating mediocrity.
Test the supplier to see if they deeply understand your needs.
I have seen many employees who hire a new supplier and start explaining all the details about a project to “save time.” And that is so wrong. The primary skill that a good supplier has to have is understanding and formulating clients’ needs. In a discussion with the supplier, the client should feel understood and comfortable enough to trust that the supplier will help them solve challenges. No matter the challenge type, a good supplier creates certainty and security around the needs exposed.
Seek long-term relationship
This one mostly comes from the supplier side, but clients should do the same. Searching for a partner that has the potential to help in the long run is vital for ensuring sustainable change. Imagine you have a three-level sales team and need a supplier to help you train all three levels synchronously. Would you choose three different suppliers or try to find a balanced solution even if it is not the top-notch decision now? What many seekers miss is that suppliers evolve with the needs of their clients. If you don’t give a chance to a long-term prospective supplier, you risk building a non-connected environment with mediocre results. The longer the client can trust the supplier, the better the output of this relationship can become. If a supplier can offer only a short-term solution or one-time winning activity, you better re-think the relationship. Think of the learning platforms that have evolved during the last decade. Those who started as specialized resources and suppliers remained almost the same state as in their starting years, growing databases only with newcomers from the same or close field. Conversely, those who managed to offer different categories of resources and materials across several industries have evolved into the giants in the online learning we see today. So, the longer the relationship you can build, the better the output will be.
Seek a supplier who is open to support from your side.
Now, no matter who you are – the behavior you show to others defines your future positioning. I have had the opportunity to see long-term consultancies and suppliers who came to me with some arrogance and an “I know it all” approach. I have nothing against them, but those are not my suppliers. Their approach is harming not only them but also the clients they serve. Although many suppliers offer an opportunity to send feedback, they do not follow up on that feedback. In fact, according to a Gartner study from 2022, some forty-seven percent of suppliers think they never did anything based on the feedback from their clients, selling the same product and approaching new clients. The more confident the supplier is, the less the level of acceptance of feedback is. Those who don’t accept the paradigm of servant behavior toward their clients stay limited to great opportunities. The client who chooses suppliers admits their strengths, limitations, and willingness to upgrade and is at the winning pace in their search. All the other options are compromises that both sides make with each other, often at a very high price.
IN CONCLUSION:
Choosing a trustful supplier is critical for every business. The higher the level of trust, the better the relationship outcome for both parties. The growth of the proper relationship is crucial not only for the growth of the business now but also for the development and upgrade in the future. The closer the client feels to a supplier, the greater the results of this relationship are. The only question every person should start with is, “Does my current supplier help me change, or do I need a change?”
The Human place - a path from you to yourself 