A flexible supplier who reliably delivers quality work, on time, at a fair price is a great asset. Yet conventional wisdom focuses almost exclusively on winning and retaining customers and implies that suppliers should be happy just to be in the game. Rejecting this lazy attitude offers businesses an opportunity for real competitive advantage.
 

Selecting potential partners
 

Looking for a supplier is not how you want to spend your time. You are not working on business as usual, and the supplier cannot yet contribute to your own production. All the more reason not to rush it, because if you don’t get it right you’ll be back on the market before the sun has risen on a new day.
 
Start by looking beyond price, it’s an important consideration but a partner with champagne tastes does not automatically offer additional value, and a cheap partner that doesn’t deliver can cost you a lot more in lost business and reputation than you will ever save.
 
Clearly identify and prioritise your requirements, then determine meaningful ways to measure candidates against them. Some customers prefer smaller suppliers who they feel are more responsive and less likely to take them for granted; others seek large multinationals for their perceived stability and depth of resources. It is good to have a supplier with relevant industry experience, but if they get around your industry too much then your intellectual property may be compromised.
 

The courtship
 

Potential suppliers are often desperate to impress and until the contract is signed nothing is too much trouble. Their senior people are available at any time for lunch meetings, which of course they are keen to pay for, and your business is ‘very special to them’. Naturally you are keen to exchange details so that they can demonstrate their relevant capabilities, but if there is a formal tender process you need to be careful about perceived unfair advantage and conflict of interest.
 

Contractual Protection – don’t get into bed without it
 

You want your supplier to be flexible – so it’s ironic that even if both parties have honourable intentions tightly defining interactions is the best way to enable responsiveness.
 
After the warm glow of winning new business fades the supplier’s salespeople will be held accountable for the profit that they generate from you and will not want to give away anything without a fight. As soon as your plans change, whether you need something at the last minute or want to change your requirements, you will need to negotiate amended prices and schedules. At this point you are at a disadvantage because you are effectively tied to that supplier. You cannot afford to halt operations and go through the entire selection process again.
 
A thorough contract saves time because when change occurs you can skip the debate and get on with it. It also illuminates conflicting assumptions so that you know exactly what you’re paying for and whether or not ‘batteries are included’.
 
When negotiating the contract more than a few people view it as a game to sneak in advantages that will surprise and burn the other party. For example, you may ask a supplier for urgent work and then refuse to pay on a procedural technicality. They may not end the relationship but they will certainly not do any future urgent work without first rechecking the contract and ensuring sign-off at every level, which may critically delay your delivery. A clear, equitable contract reduces the chances that one party will ‘try it on’, enabling both to act on trust when required.
 

Living together
 

Contracts aside it’s all about respect and communication so keep your suppliers informed. You may have the right to suspend a project, restart it in three months, and still have staff made available within two working days, but you’ll be more likely to get the specific staff you want if you keep your supplier in the loop so that they can manage their availability.
 
You will potentially have saved them from calling people back from holiday or forcing them to work weekends to meet their workload. If you make it too difficult for them to service you they may even breach contract; even if they incur a penalty it is unlikely to benefit to you.
 
It is also the ethical thing to do. It is easy to take frustrations out on suppliers because unlike customers they are unlikely to fight back, but why make their lives unnecessarily difficult? I know of a leading organisation that stopped serving a particular market segment because that segment was known for its culture of treating suppliers with contempt. There will be disagreements and you should hold suppliers to the standards you require, but keep it constructive and professional.
 

Multiple partners – sharing the love
 

Finally, although the swinging sixties have long since passed, may I recommend multiple partners? If one supplier lets you down or cannot meet an extraordinary request then you are up Presentation Creek without your PowerPoint paddle if you don’t have another supplier lined up. By using more than one supplier you will already have the commercial arrangements in place, and have a backup whose quality and reliability is already known.