Be Nice to Vendor Day

I’m an entrepreneur who provides a service for corporations- which officially labels me a “vendor.”  I am not an employee of any other company,  I own my company, I am a consultant who is contracted as the “expert” to provide services for my clients.  As an entrepreneur, I am a business owner who wears many hats when it comes to managing the various aspects of my company. I am in HR when I recruit for new help, I am in Sales when I prospect for new business, I am in Marketing when I send out a newsletter, I am in PR when I send a press release, I am in Customer Service when I respond to inbound requests from my web site, I am in Tech Support when my internet connection isn’t happening, I am in Financi when I call about outstanding invoices which require payment, I am the President/Oner when I have to stand in at the Tax Collector getting my address changed on my business license.

Get the picture? Perhaps after 15 years of doing business, I just expect everyone to understand how consultants work and believe prospective clients have experienced working with a vendor before but I may be wrong. Perhaps there are many vendors out there that have abused their privileges and that gives customers a reason to treat vendors poorly or disgard them as useless- just like people who hate salespeople, there are some that hate vendors. That is unfortunate for the ones who are dedicated and committed to making a difference.

I’ve been getting the strangest pre-sales requests lately. The reason I say pre-sales is because I have not been officially been contracted to work with the prospect or client. They approach me in their diligent research and evaluation along with approaching dozens more and they request information, references, recommendations and expect you to jump in your car, get on their phones and make sales for their teams or at least invite a few hundred to their upcoming webinars. All this before providing them with an official proposal.

Once the proposal has been submited, they usually have more questions and more people have more questions and more data creates more questions that they want answers for before doing any business with you.

When you finally get the contract, there are new terms they impose and decide to spice it up by adding a few hundred more things just as the contract is being signed and reviewed.

Once you are on contract with them, you are exposed to their frantic, confusing, disconnected pace where you watch from the sidelines- standing room only.

Today is “Be Nice to Vendor Day” which means it’s time to think about them as people who are just making a living and trying to make a difference in this world. Treat them better and here are some care instructions:

1. Have a good idea of what you need and be willing to let someone else do it. If you think you can do it better, faster, cheaper, then don’t hire a consultant.
2. Remember the consultant is there to help you- not work against you. They can help you look good if you help them help you. If you decide to throw them under the bus, it only makes you look worst than them.
3. Payment terms should be 30 days or less. Why do large Fortune 500 companies decide to take 2% out of a vendors pay if they pay within their normal time or otherwise, take 90 days to pay? I just don’t get it.
4. Any more questions? There is a limit to the number of questions you can ask a vendor/ consultant before you start eating away at their billable hours. Be mindful and respectful of that.   
5. Check them out- prior to engaging with a vendor, review their site, their network and find out how plugged in they are.  Don’t call important references unless you are going to spend money because those “important references” are there to do the consultant a favor and don’t appreciate when this is abused.
6. First Impressions- when introducing your new vendor to your department or team, explain what they have been brought on board to do or not do. Since fear is so prevalent in organizations, there may be a lot of misunderstandings on what the main goal of the vendor is.
7. Endorse this vendor and their work- when you communicate your approval to your team- that will help with buy-in and set the stage about how much you want to learn and grow from them.