How do you communicate your expectations and feedback to your suppliers?
由人工智能和领英社区提供技术支持
在这篇协作文章中查找专家回答
由社区从 4 条内容中精选。了解更多
Communication is essential for building trust, alignment, and collaboration with your suppliers. It helps you to convey your goals, requirements, and standards, as well as to monitor and evaluate their performance and compliance. It also enables you to identify and resolve issues, provide recognition and support, and explore opportunities for improvement and innovation. By communicating clearly and frequently, you can foster a positive and productive relationship with your suppliers that benefits both parties.
-
One thing that I have found helpful for communicating expectations and providing feedback to suppliers is to establish regular check-in meetings or calls. Having a recurring cadence for touching base helps keep the lines of communication open and provides a natural opportunity to discuss progress, challenges, and areas for improvement. It's often easier to have candid conversations about issues when they are part of an ongoing dialogue rather than one-off complaints.
Setting expectations is the first step of communication with your suppliers. You need to define and document what you expect from them in terms of quality, quantity, delivery, cost, service, and sustainability. You also need to specify how you will measure and report on their performance, and what consequences or incentives will apply if they meet or fail to meet your expectations. You should communicate your expectations to your suppliers before you start working with them, and review and update them regularly as your needs and circumstances change.
-
One thing I have found helpful is to break down expectations into different categories or service level agreements (SLAs). For example, you may have separate expectations for quality, delivery, responsiveness, reporting, sustainability, etc. That way suppliers have clarity on exactly what is expected for each specific aspect of the relationship. Setting quantitative, measurable targets within those SLAs makes the expectations more concrete. Regularly reviewing performance against the SLAs provides opportunities to recalibrate as needed. A structured framework creates transparency and accountability on both sides.
Giving feedback is the second step of communication with your suppliers. You need to provide timely, accurate, and constructive feedback on their performance and behavior, based on the expectations and metrics you have agreed on. You should praise and reward them for their achievements and strengths, and address and correct them for their errors and weaknesses. You should also solicit and listen to their feedback on your performance and behavior, and act on it accordingly. You should give feedback to your suppliers in both formal and informal ways, such as through reports, meetings, calls, emails, and surveys.
Communicating issues is the third step of communication with your suppliers. You need to inform them of any problems or challenges that affect your relationship or operations, such as delays, defects, complaints, disputes, or changes. You should communicate issues to your suppliers as soon as possible, and explain the cause, impact, and solution of the issue. You should also involve them in finding and implementing the solution, and follow up with them until the issue is resolved. You should communicate issues to your suppliers in a respectful, professional, and solution-oriented manner, and avoid blaming or accusing them.
Communicating opportunities is the fourth step of communication with your suppliers. You need to share with them any ideas or suggestions that can enhance your relationship or operations, such as new products, services, processes, technologies, or markets. You should communicate opportunities to your suppliers in a collaborative and creative way, and invite them to contribute their input and expertise. You should also evaluate and implement the opportunities together, and monitor and measure their outcomes. You should communicate opportunities to your suppliers in a positive, enthusiastic, and visionary way, and celebrate their successes.
Communicating effectively is the final step of communication with your suppliers. You need to follow some general principles and practices that can improve the quality and impact of your communication. You should communicate with your suppliers in a clear, concise, and consistent way, using the appropriate channel, tone, and language. You should communicate with your suppliers in a respectful, honest, and transparent way, avoiding ambiguity, confusion, or deception. You should communicate with your suppliers in a responsive, attentive, and empathetic way, acknowledging their needs, concerns, and emotions. And you should communicate with your suppliers in a strategic, adaptive, and continuous way, aligning your communication with your goals, context, and feedback.
-
Use active listening skills during discussions to ensure mutual understanding. Ask clarifying questions, paraphrase key points, and invite suppliers to share their perspectives. Provide regular, constructive feedback rather than just criticism. Highlight what the supplier is doing well besides areas for improvement. Communicate changes that may impact the supplier early and clearly. Don't let important updates get lost in email chains. Establish preferred communication channels and cadences upfront. Agree on response time expectations. Documentation is key for alignment. Keep written records of conversations, agreements, requirements, etc. Schedule periodic business reviews to discuss the health of the relationship at a strategic level.
-
The keys are maintaining open, ongoing dialogue through multiple mediums, collaborating for mutual benefit, and continuously strengthening the relationship. Clear communication is the foundation. We hold quarterly supplier summits where we bring together our key strategic partners for two days of presentations, workshops, networking, and feedback sessions. It provides a valuable touchpoint for aligning our organizations and building relationships at multiple levels. I learned the power of face-to-face communication when I started visiting my offshore manufacturers annually. Being onsite allowed me to better understand their challenges, build rapport, and have more productive conversations about improvements.
更多相关阅读内容
-
Supplier SourcingWhat are the best practices for transitioning to a new supplier in Supplier Relationship Management?
-
Contract NegotiationHow can you measure the success of your supplier relationship management?
-
Contract ManagementHow can you strategically evaluate supplier performance to improve long-term relationships?
-
Category ManagementHow do you leverage supplier relationship management to optimize contract outcomes?