Rogue Services and Solutions » Blog Archive » The Three Ways Vendors Prove their Worth

We are in an interesting position as a small business who caters mostly to small businesses, with several non-profits and state agencies in the mix. We have vendors, and we are a vendor. This duality imbues me with lots of opinions about how we prove our worth to clients and what really cheeses me off as a customer.

For info from people who know a lot of good stuff and manage to avoid cliches, metaphor, and over-share, check out what Gartner has to say about choosing vendors, and if you are a vendor, check out what Hubspot has to say about sales (we are huge fans of Hubspot. We feel like they make us less dumb with every blog post).

Here are the three ways we believe vendors can rock their customers’ worlds.

1. They understand what you need and are honest with you about what they [can and can’t, will and won’t, should and shouldn’t] do.

This sounds so simple, but–well, apparently it’s not. On one hand, you have the sales-focused adage, “The customer is always right.” On the other, there is some presumption of expertise when you solicit a vendor, so you may have heard or gotten the sense that “You don’t know enough to know what you need.” These two perspective are mutually exclusive, so how does all that shake out?

A vendor should never pretend to know your business better than you do. Sure, they know the specific widget they represent inside and out, but you know your business. You know your pain points. You know your bottle-necks and down-stream impacts. You know your market, your competition, your strengths and weaknesses. A vendor should respect your wisdom and will not make it all about his or her experience. Watch out for a bunch of “I…” statements. A good vendor will listen actively, ask clarifying questions, request examples for context, and if they are like my partner Cody Gros, they will get their whiteboard on with the gusto. It is only then that they can understand the problem enough to offer you a credible solution.

A vendor should not try to fit a square peg into a round hole just because they sell square pegs. There are many ways to look at sales. Rogue believes in needs-based consulting–you tell us what you need, and we give you recommendations that we believe will work for you. Sales quotas be damned, a good vendor will tell you if their product is not going to solve your problem.

A vendor should not assume you will buy something from them out of loyalty. Look, this is a touchy subject, but I’m just going to say the thing: No one really owes anyone anything, especially in business. You buy something from me, that’s cool, I really hope you dig it, and I hope you come back and buy more stuff and dig all of that too. And it’s not a secret: I hope that you check with me first every time you need something that I offer. But the reality is, a good vendor will give you a recommendation and expect or encourage you (I KNOW!! CRAZY!) to check with the competition on pricing and availability. A good vendor does not make you feel beholden to them. It’s a free market. We should all take advantage of that. We are not best friends (I mean, unless we are. Hi, BFFs!), this isn’t an invitation to Grandma’s for Sunday supper, and we are not neighborly pet-sitters. Obligation has no place in a corporate budget. As a vendor, it is my job to prove to you why I deserve your business every.single.time I have the opportunity to earn it.

2. They respect your budget.

Ay-yi-yi, money. Money is a dream crusher for many a deal. As a consumer, my desire is always to get bang for my buck; I want to spend a little, get a lot. As a vendor, I have to bring in revenue and want fair-market value for my services. Now what?

A vendor should never ask you to stretch your budget. The biggest customer-facing mistake Rogue made super early on was we did not have the hard conversations about money in meetings. We did some SUV-sized brainstorming for scooter-sized projects. This led to disappointment on all sides. What we learned is: a good vendor always asks the hard money questions and then respects those limitations. It doesn’t even have to be that awkward: You tell me how much you’re going to spend, then it’s my job to tell you what I can do for you with that money. You should get exactly what you are willing to pay for. And when a client isn’t sure of their budget? Well, they aren’t ready to buy. And that’s OK too. It’s better to know and set expectations accordingly.

3. They deliver on time.

This is maybe the least caveat-ed item on the list. As a project manager, I am keen on schedules. I speak Microsoft Project as a second language (sarcasm is my first). I have asked team members to work weekends, to stay late the night before Thanksgiving, and to come in early because of project commitments. And it’s not because I’m a jerk. It’s because I believe people should do what they say they are going to do. A vendor should deliver on time, as promised. Changes to a schedule should never be a surprise. A good vendor tracks progress and risk and lets the customer know if a milestone is about to blow up.

So that’s it. A vendor should never over-promise and under-deliver. It’s a gross combination, and it makes us all look bad. Pretty basic, right?

Rogue banded together in March, so we’re still the new guy on Vendor Block. We’re learning every day how to do all the things better: relationship management, requirements, expectations, quality delivery. I’m sure four months further down the road, I will crank out another novella on three more ways vendors can prove their worth and lots of other anecdotes about how they tick me off.

Thanks for reading!