I’m sure everyone understands that suppliers are important, due to the simple fact that they provide the goods and services required to deliver your projects. However, suppliers can play an even more powerful role in relationships. Good working relationships with suppliers will not only drive down costs, they are the key to your project running smoothly, the key to knowledge sharing with your clients, and the key to a successful business.
As a reseller/system integrator, you are effectively the middleman between the client and the supplier, therefore if your business is not front and center of BOTH of these relationships, can you really say you are in control?
Knowing your suppliers’ key contacts, how to find influential escalators, and staying front of mind of your Account Manager opens up your ability to be able to effectively solve client problems by working with your supply chain on a level playing field. Only approaching your supplier when things go wrong, is definitely not a successful strategy to results driven projects.
If you aren’t spending time to get to know your key vendors, understand their offering, working together with them to uncover common goals, who do you think they will go to when things get interesting or a client asks for a recommendation? Certainly not you if you are sitting behind a laptop just looking at statistics, having never even spoken to key stakeholders in the business.
Manufacturers lead product development with end users. They will be the ones in the know of who truly wants innovation, and being at the forefront of this information not only builds trust with your supplier that you will effectively deliver, but also builds respect with your client that you are ahead of the game when it comes to product knowledge.
Understanding key deadlines for rising costs, EoL products and weakened lead times will ensure you can manage client expectations, retain profits, and ultimately keep your client happy.
Are you utilizing your secret weapon well enough?