Supplier references: 4 points to take away

When selecting a supplier, a good practice is to ask for their references and then call them.

But let's be honest: a supplier will never give you a reference that could give you a negative opinion on its service. Only contacts of known and satisfied customers, and who will certainly give you a positive opinion, will be provided to you.

However, there are a few questions you can ask that will help you objectively assess the provider, making the most of your calls to their references.

What is your relationship with the supplier?

You want to know if the reference has the same needs/requirements in terms of service levels as your business.

If a supplier is critical/critical to your business, but this is not the case for the reference provided, then the information you get will not necessarily be relevant to you.

How do you interact with the supplier?

Often, suppliers ask Purchasing Services to serve as a reference for them.

The problem is that Purchases are in charge of signing contracts, but generally do not participate in the operational and daily management of the account. As a result, they cannot have an exact vision of the service.

‍

In addition, you should ask to speak with someone in charge of this management in order to obtain the most relevant opinions on the quality of supplier service.

Describe a situation where the provider did not fulfill its service obligations and how the provider responded to restore the service requested.

Almost all suppliers face this type of situation in the life of the contract.

The real interest lies in evaluating the action plan put in place by the supplier:
How to solve problems is sometimes more important than how to operate when things are going well.

What are some things you want the supplier to do differently?

If the answer is to improve the quality, service, or delivery of the product, this is a red flag. You should then go deeper into these points with the reference to understand if you may encounter the same areas of concern in your business.

It should therefore be remembered that no supplier will give you a reference that can give a negative opinion on its service. It is the relevance of your questions that will allow you to form the most objective opinion possible.

A final tip: ask the supplier to let you talk to a former customer, and ask them why they are no longer working with the supplier. The return could be very different!

It is by sharing with operational staff and business leaders in France and Europe that the idea of offering a marketplace that is easy to use and exclusively dedicated to the expectations of professionals was born.