| Maintaining a good relationship with your vendors is | | | | 6) Avoid the Blame Game: |
| crucial to your business. Some ways to maintain good | | | | If the vendor has made a poor decision that resulted |
| vendor relationships are described below: | | | | in a business loss, or loss of clients, you should not |
| 1) Dedicated Manager: | | | | jump to conclusions. The key to maintaining good |
| A dedicated team leader or product manager will help | | | | vendor relationships is trust. You need to avoid |
| maintain good vendor relationships by keeping track | | | | confrontation, ego problems and the blame game |
| of the progress of each team or vendor. He or she | | | | when dealing with vendors. |
| helps keep all channels of communication open and | | | | 7) Training: |
| this avoids miscommunication of any kind. | | | | If you think your business will profit by training |
| 2) Progress Report: | | | | vendors, then you should not hesitate simply because |
| Insist on getting detailed progress reports from | | | | it requires additional funds. Proper training will help the |
| vendors periodically. This helps you solves glitches and | | | | vendors market your products better, leading to |
| problems of any kind and gives you an insight into | | | | business growth. |
| how the business is growing. | | | | 8) Put It Down In Writing: |
| 3) Plan in Advance: | | | | Put down everything in writing- responsibilities, |
| When dealing with vendors, you cannot afford delays | | | | expected sales volume, payment, mode of payment |
| and extensive alterations. Especially if you are dealing | | | | etc. Anything you think may cause misunderstanding |
| with software vendors, you must keep in mind that | | | | and strained vendor relationships later must be put |
| a small delay or mistake can substantially affect their | | | | down in writing beforehand. |
| profit margin. This may strain the relationship | | | | Vendors represent your business to customers in |
| between the vendor and you. | | | | various regions. Therefore, it is important that you |
| 4) Loyalty: | | | | maintain a good relationship with them. More than |
| If you do a lot of business with a particular vendor, | | | | that, a good vendor relationship will see you through |
| he or she will reward you for your loyalty by offering | | | | in a bad situation. The goodwill the vendor has for |
| discounts and incentives to you. They will even go | | | | you will translate to business growth, as the vendor |
| out of their way to help you by speeding up the | | | | will work hard to attain your business goals. If you |
| shipment process if you need to quickly ship some | | | | need to know more about how to maintain good |
| orders, for example, or receive a back order. | | | | vendor relationships, you can approach a small |
| 5) Explain Your Business Goals: | | | | business consultant who will answer all your questions |
| A vendor who knows exactly what you wish to | | | | and help you attain a good relationship with your |
| achieve through your business will be able to help you | | | | vendors. |
| by making decisions in your favor. | | | | |