Are you getting the best value from your supplier or vendor relationships?
The reality is, you probably don’t know, but if any of the following resonate, then I would argue that possibly you are not…
- You’re busy juggling a multitude of vendors, all with different initiatives and offerings
- You’re in danger of a reactive relationship because of time restraints and resource, therefore, are at risk of the competition becoming preferred vendor partners
- You have marketing resource, but they don’t have the time to drive multiple vendor relationships because they’re too busy doing your marketing
- You’re probably losing out on precious wallet share that could be funding your GTM campaigns
Strengthen those relationships, ensuring you are forefront of mind
Know your goals and requirements
It sounds obvious doesn’t it, but how often have you mapped out what you want to achieve from each vendor relationship? You may have specific challenges but are you clear on which initiatives and value-add services will address those challenges? Also, looking toward your business objectives and key priorities, how can those relationships help address those challenges through value-add?
Having clarity on those desired outcomes from each relationship will help you communicate expectations and put you in a position of strength as a partner that goes way beyond a transactional relationship.
Build strong relationships
Left unmanaged, vendor relationships can very quickly become dormant so establishing and building collaborative relationships is key and will help elevate your position within the vendor ecosystem. The more engrained you can become in the vendors products, solutions and future developments, the more authority it can give you and the easier it becomes to build trust within your community.
Partner first value-add
It’s not uncommon these days for vendors to have a variety of platforms and solutions enabling communications both ‘through’ and ‘to’ their partner communities. As I’m sure you’ve experienced, many vendors will provide access to on-line training resources, such as technical learning, employee upskilling, marketing assets and tools to drive uptake and campaign delivery.
From a marketing perspective, there’s a key role reversal that’s been taking shape over the last few years, shifting from a vendor to a partner first model where partners are demanding a more personalised experience from their marketing. This not only relates to the types of communications you receive from your vendors but also the types of marketing campaigns and assets you can access that are directly relatable and relevant to your ideal customer profile (ICP) giving them a truly bespoke user journey.
And whilst we’re about that bespoke marketing experience, are you taking advantage of your vendors partner marketing teams and their concierge services to help you go to market more effectively? Do you know if they even exist? Plus, are you creatively utilising MDF funding from the vendor in-line with a clear campaign plan or do you forget you even have it available? Staggeringly, a huge 60% of vendor MDF goes unspent every year because many don’t have the skills, resources or time to turn these funds into sales qualified leads.
Dedicated Resource
Just as you are juggling a multitude of suppliers or vendors (sometimes as many as 20), likewise, they are servicing thousands of partners of all shapes and sizes and will have programs in place to manage that demand. Herein lies another issue- many will ask you to sign up to dedicated portals for billing, porting etc and probably another for marketing materials, campaigns and MDF. Times that by twenty and that’s a lot to get to grips with and manage effectively without a dedicated resource managing those relationships.
Elevate your value
I have vast experience of developing and managing award winning partner programs and can help you get the best from those vendor relationships.
