Your suppliers are a vital link in your supply chain. So it makes sense that by having strong supplier relationships, this can help strengthen your supply chain.
In procurement, it’s common for buyers to get wrapped up in winning new suppliers over, often at the expense of relationships with older suppliers. Showing your loyal, long-standing suppliers some attention is important too. Here’s 3 ways to put the spark back into your supplier relationships:
Stay In Touch
Often, as a contract matures the amount of time spent communicating with the supplier lessens. Everything is running smoothly and there seems no need to contact them, right? Wrong.
It’s equally as important to be in regular contact with long-standing suppliers as it is to be communicating with suppliers on a new contract. Even if it’s more of a ‘catch up’ or social communication, staying in touch keeps supplier relationships fresh.
Some companies arrange social events such as dinners and lunches for their long term suppliers and buying staff on a regular basis, to allow the people doing the deal-making to stay friendly. If there is a positive feeling towards one another, the supplier is much more likely to be more helpful/giving in times of need or when it comes to negotiations.
Review Contract Management AND Supplier Performance Regularly
Many people review supplier performance but don’t often review contract management processes. In many cases, the issue with performance can actually be caused by a problem with the way the contract is managed.
Don’t go in all guns blazing and blame the supplier for their underperformance before you have first checked that you are doing everything you can on your end.
If it turns out the fault is with the supplier, then it’s best to take a constructive approach. Don’t just highlight all the negatives. Give them credit for the areas where their work has been great and then highlight some areas that you would like to improve on. Ask if there is anything you can do to support them in this area, such as devising structured delivery strategies that can be signed off on and followed to eliminate further issues.
Celebrate The Positives and Recognise Efforts
Supplier companies are all made up of people and people like to have the good work they do recognised.
Communication doesn’t have to be limited to times when improvements need to be made. You could also regularly appraise them and highlight the great work they are doing. Showing you appreciate the work they do for your company on a regular basis is a great way to strengthen supplier relationships and make it easier to address issues when they occur.
Wrap Up
Maintaining a good relationship with your suppliers is not only beneficial to you, but also to suppliers themselves. It is a vital part of supply chain management and strong relationships lead to the continued commitment and continuous high-quality performance from the supplier.
If you want to find out about how to manage supplier relationships, why not study for a CIPS Diploma in Procurement and Supply. For more information about the procurement courses from The Oxford College of Procurement and Supply, get in touch with one of our course advisors and find out about our two-week free trial.