How do you maintain promising relationships?

”Good supplier performance equals good buyer performance . So that you can reach Purchasing performances to which you aspire, you must also prioritize positive and productive relationships with suppliers. When relationships with them deteriorate, your performance as a buyer suffers. Let's look at the various reasons that affect supplier relationships in order to maintain and improve your results.

Uncertain expectations — Supplier relationship

Sometimes, the performance expected by the buyer differs from what the supplier believes is necessary. As a result, the purchaser feels that the supplier is incompetent, and the supplier in turn believes that the purchaser is overly demanding. To avoid this situation, clearly explain your expectations, write them down in black and white, and discuss them with the supplier. Explain to him what good performance consists of (for example, 99% of deliveries made by the date specified on the purchase orders) as well as poor performance (for example, not calling back within four hours).

Opportunistic behavior

The purchaser/supplier relationship implies a certain degree of trust in their collaboration. When one party seeks to take advantage of the other's problems (for example, a supplier charging exorbitant shipping costs due to an emergency, or a buyer asking for a discount for every slight defect found on the product), trust is broken. The parties will lose interest in collaborating and supporting each other in order to succeed, and will not make every effort necessary. Also, be especially careful to maintain strategic relationships that can promote your Purchasing performance for years to come, and represent a competitive advantage for your business.

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Procurement methodology to be reviewed

Sometimes, supplier performance is simply incompatible with your business requirements. It is useless to pass the ball to each other by blaming the supplier for all the evils. You have to take responsibility and accept that qualification work was not done well enough. Many cases of poor performance could have been avoided if a fair and calibrated qualification methodology had been used. In the future, find the right ways to make your supplier selection process more reliable. If you're buying goods and services based solely on price, it's high time to change before relationships with your key suppliers get too bad.