What are the most effective ways to build relationships with vendors?

In my experience the main point is to have clarity in your mind. Not about what's the thing you want but about the problem you need to solve. Plus what's the main benefit you need to achieve

You may also consider leveraging your relationship with the vendor community - as in addition to thinking what's important to your library for this project, consider that the vendor and its staffs deal with dozens or hundreds of libraries, and often internationally. What trends does the vendor see in regards to your project? What else may they offer to complement the existing focus? What other libraries may they consult with that have a similar project - or need? What other integrations are possible with the platform or service? There are many solid individuals and companies in the library vendor space - and they too (generally) are more than willing to help, even if their product or service doesn't fit.

Identifying needs, objectives of parent organisation, usability, timelines, phase plans and financial terms clarity as per rules is essential for a healthy professional relationship with the vendors community.

Depending on the level of complexity of the potential product or service, libraries may also ask for a trial period - or to experiment with a demo environment at no cost. This isn't possible for a new ILS, but is for a plethora of other products and services. Additionally, a site visit or web call with references can be very enlightening. What do they like? What was expected? Any bonus features or service the vendor provided? How did patrons feel/experience the new service? Did they fall short? How? Why? Does the library take any/joint responsibility for a not-so-good-reference? And if there is a bad reference, it's worth asking the vendor point-blank on what their side of the story is. As we all know, two sides to every coin!

Research in selecting the vendors from available forums for selective and specific or routine services is very important. First of all, from reference sources and available resources where competitive selection is available ,may be explored. Then feedback from websites and professionals already engaged with such vendors may be evaluated. Ratings may be referred to . Sample RFP may be sought as per objectives provided to vendors and merit selection may be made.

Being in the vendor community for 30+ years, a common trait is for librarians or procurement staff to NOT provide feedback or a debrief on why a vendor DID NOT earn the library's business. Too often, the bid is awarded to another vendor and while it's announced, I'd strongly encourage someone to share why the award went to a particular vendor, what they did well, where they fell short, and any suggestions for improvement for the next bid opportunity, or for other library customers. Establishing a relationship with a library - and various levels of staff, the bidding process, online or on-site demonstrations are time consuming and expensive. The least that can be done is a short debrief, which is VERY WELL rec'd by the individual and company

Agreed. I have always been so grateful for the libraries that have accepted my invitation to debrief when we lost a bid or if they changed to another vendor. There is always so much that we learn from each other and what can be improved as well as what we did right.

Keeping track of progresses is key for the achievement of your objective. I'm a great fan of agile and scrum and therefore this is what I'd really suggest to use even in "non software business"

Agreed. Regular communication with the central team, officiating team and project manager is an essential norm for smooth progress of the vendor project. In any project, challenges come and only with regular two way communication and feedback mechanisms, work flow will get momentum.,

When negotiating for vendor value added services, don't hesitate to ask a vendor to sharpen their pencil, and revise pricing after you receive the first quote for services. Also, pay attention to pricing for vendor-provided supplies compared to what the library pays for those supplies at bulk pricing. The vendor may match the bulk purchase pricing, in order to avoid receiving and stocking library-provided supplies.

To aid the vendor(s), please share the most recent Strategic Plan - or top upcoming initiatives for the following year(s) and/or articulate WHY their product or service may be of value (if vendor hasn't done their homework). Understanding how a product or service "fits" going forwards can be of tremendous value - especially when it comes to implementing it. This helps eliminate naysayers and keeps the implementation, training, roll-out and marketing on point. Don't be afraid to ask for/negotiate a multi-year deal w/discount. Preparing bids and negotiating contracts is time consuming for all parties. And lastly, be AWARE of the annual increase for subscription services. the CPI rate (or lower) should be in play - so ask if it's not!

With mutual respect, healthy communication, frequent meetings with vendors team and stake holders teams will produce accurate data sets etc.

There is one thing that is very often not really well understood: problem solving. While many people think they're good at it, very few know exactly what a problem solving process is. For that reason, I would definitely suggest to explain basic techniques like the 5 whys or the Ishigawa Diagram and act based on the results.

Penso que a chave é manter uma comunica??o aberta e honesta, sempre definindo expectativas claras desde o início. Invista tempo em conhecer os fornecedores, valorize suas contribui??es e resolva qualquer problema de forma colaborativa.

Does that vendor's company values align with your library's or community's values? For example, if your library values DEI, have conversations with your vendors about how they support DEI within their organization and within the communities where their facilities are based. You'll learn more about their efforts, and inspire them to do better.