You do it too without knowing
I challenge you to take a look at buyer-supplier relationships, but this time loot at it like we do at equipment management.
Play with me here before you judge.
None of this contradict the basic principle that behind any supplier relationship and e-mail signature there is PERSON and your relationship is beyond functions and company signatures. This may give a more simplistic yet pragmatic way of looking at why supplier relationship management makes such a difference.
Here a few strategies that may sound familiar to the technical world but the years of experience have taught me that are not applicable just there :
1. Do nothing => “worry later “ if you have to! there is a good change you don’t need to, at least that is the hope of the buyer looking at an item and thinking “ not today, just not today…” sometimes it works sometimes it does not.
2. Be reactive => fix it when it breaks or the principle known as “ run to die” you do noting until all goes wrong and you hope it will not take too much time to fix…in most cases it will take more time, than you actually have, to fix it.
3. Plan preventive => “schedule maintenance ” all those times you decide to get in touch with your good suppliers even when there’s nothing wrong, you do not need anything, just because you know that you will need something and his collaboration will be vital. Highly recommended with all your strategic suppliers even if you are “the customer” .
4. Think predictive => “fix it before it breaks” because if you are long enough in this profession you know it will break. All the risk management of the world will not stop critical situations from happening, unplanned and If possible on Friday afternoon or 2 days before Christmas. That is when your relationship will dictate the timing for the resolution just a tiny bit more than all the have to’s you can think of.
5. Live Proactive => continuous improvement aims to fix the risk before it becomes a risk, just like in marriage you don’t want to buy her flowers when she is in the door asking why you are late... you want to make sure you are not late or send the flowers home, before you arrive. Keeping an open, constructive and collaborative communication with your supply base will give you the heads up of “catching “ the risk before it actually gets on your table . If this is done with a strategic key supplier then you got yourself a winning team.
PS: are you using the same strategies to monitor your own and your supplier’s performance? just think of it and let me know what you find.
Always open for a Buyer brainstorm !
