What do you do if vendors provide valuable feedback?

1 Why feedback matters

Feedback is a form of communication that helps you understand how your vendors perceive your performance, expectations, and relationship. It can be positive or negative, formal or informal, solicited or unsolicited. Regardless of the type, feedback can offer you insights into your strengths and weaknesses, your opportunities and threats, and your areas of improvement and innovation. Feedback can also help you align your goals and values with your vendors, and foster a culture of collaboration and mutual respect.

3 How to receive feedback

When vendors provide feedback, it's important to listen attentively and actively without interrupting, arguing, or dismissing. To receive feedback constructively, you should stay open and curious, not taking it personally. Ask clarifying questions and seek examples. Show that you are interested in understanding their feedback, and express your gratitude, agreement, and appreciation. If you disagree or have concerns, explain your reasoning and perspective without blaming or accusing. Focus on finding solutions rather than problems, be responsive and accountable by following up and acting on the feedback. Communicate your action plan, progress, and results to demonstrate your commitment to improvement. Lastly, seek feedback again and measure your impact and satisfaction.

4 How to give feedback

Giving feedback to your vendors is important for praising their work, requesting changes, or resolving disputes. To do this effectively, choose an appropriate time and channel. For example, email can be used for positive or routine feedback, but phone or video call for negative or urgent feedback. Additionally, be sure to be clear and specific with your feedback. Avoid vague or general statements such as "Good job" or "You need to do better". Instead, provide focused and relevant feedback that includes facts, data, and examples to support your comments. Lastly, be respectful and appreciative of your vendor's work and effort. Show that you value them by thanking them for their cooperation and collaboration, and acknowledging their strengths and achievements.

5 How to use feedback

Feedback is not only a form of communication, but also a source of information and inspiration. Therefore, to use feedback to your advantage, it’s important to analyze and evaluate it. Review and reflect on the feedback, and compare it with your own goals, standards, and expectations. Identify the key points, themes, and patterns of the feedback, and assess their validity, relevance, and importance. Determine what feedback is useful, actionable, and constructive, as well as what feedback is irrelevant, inaccurate, or unhelpful. Additionally, don’t waste or ignore feedback - use it to enhance your knowledge, skills, and performance. Apply the feedback to your current and future projects, tasks, and interactions. Experiment with new ideas, strategies, and methods. Monitor your progress and outcomes while adjusting your actions accordingly. Celebrate your successes and learn from your failures. Furthermore, don’t keep feedback to yourself; share it with your team, manager or organization. Use feedback to showcase your achievements, demonstrate your value, increase visibility - as well as identify opportunities, challenges, and needs. Leverage feedback to seek support, guidance and resources.

6 How to benefit from feedback

Feedback is not only a source of information and inspiration, but also a catalyst for growth and change. To benefit from feedback, you should build trust and rapport with your vendors. Doing so can help you communicate effectively, understand each other's needs and expectations, and resolve conflicts amicably. Additionally, feedback can help you develop your vendor negotiation skills, such as communication, persuasion, problem-solving, and decision-making. It can also help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, learn from your experiences, and achieve better outcomes. Finally, feedback can enhance your professional reputation by increasing your credibility, influence, and opportunities. It can also help you showcase your results, demonstrate your competence, build your network, expand your connections, and create more partnerships.