5 Tips for Effective Supplier Review Meetings

Whilst the following may seem obvious, we have all been to supplier review meetings that have had no structure or flow. The steps below, whilst seemingly obvious, can help ensure you have effective and proactive conversations:

Planning & Preparation?

The old adage “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” is particularly true for hosting supplier reviews. Give yourself time in advance of a scheduled meeting to review the relationship and remind yourself of any issues that need to be addressed. It’s always a good idea to talk to key internal stakeholders a couple of days beforehand just to recap and agree the key objectives ahead of the discussion with the supplier. Perhaps look to develop some sort of internal account plan or document the key ideas and concepts that you wish to achieve with the supplier that will help deliver and support your organisation’s strategic aims.?

Structure & Framework?

It’s also important to consider the logistics of the meeting - where it’s being held, is it a face to face or a conference call, has a meeting room been booked, what day and time is the meeting, who’s attending and who isn’t, what is the agenda. All these aspects must be considered fully and addressed well in advance either through establishing and agreeing a clear framework at the inaugural service review or ideally as part of the transition phase when onboarding a new supplier.?

Governance & Administration??

It might seem obvious, but it’s the little details that often get overlooked which are very often key to holding effective supplier review meetings. These being;?

• Ensure that the correct and appropriate key stakeholders are involved?
• A standard agenda is produced (e.g. introductions/apologies, review of minutes and actions from last meeting, etc.)?
• Meetings are minuted and that copies of all related documentation are distributed to meeting attendees in advance??
• A chairperson is appointed to make sure the meeting follows the agenda and runs to time?
• Facilitation (ensure all attendees get the opportunity to speak, recap on actions, check people’s understanding)?

Focus & Forward Look?

Supplier Review Meetings should be thought of as ‘check-in points’ for the buying organisation to monitor the supplier performance at periodic stages during the life of the contract.?

As such, there should be a clear focus and guiding principles as to how the service reviews are managed so that the end goals of the agreement are delivered. However, it is not enough to simply convene at regular intervals with the supplier and to review the past months KPI’s or quarterly performance reports as that soon becomes little more than a ‘box ticking’ exercise. Instead, it is much more desirable and productive for both parties to ensure that the conversations are more strategic, and long term in their aims and objectives as opposed to being merely reactive (i.e. what’s happened and why).??

Ultimately, effective review meetings are not about just aggressively pointing fingers when things go wrong and wielding a big stick against the supplier (although sometimes that can and does have its place in the discussion). Those kinds of scenarios must quickly be moved beyond and that rather than continue to apportion blame and take adversarial positions, it’s of much more mutual benefit for both parties to work together to identify and learn from the mistakes so that it doesn’t happen again. It’s not a case of being overly offensive or defensive, it’s about being able to listen to the other party and to focus on solutions in a positive manner.?

Suppliers will be much more engaged and willing to drive improvements if they believe that the buyer wants to work with them and they’ll also understand that there is a bigger prize at the end, e.g., a contract renewal or new business opportunities if they can meet this challenge?

Meeting Etiquette?

It goes without saying but as with any type of formal meeting, it’s important to set some ‘ground rules’ so that all participants understand and abide by and observe an appropriately high standard of professional behaviour.??

Obviously, the basics would include remind meeting attendees to switch off mobile phones or put them on silent. Also, in this new widespread era of virtual meetings, it would be a recommended default setting that everyone switches on their camera unless they have a good and acceptable reason not to.??

Unfortunately, examples of disrespect and a general lack of common courtesy does seem to be an increasing trend in meetings within the workplace, so it always helps for the meeting chairperson to call this out beforehand to avoid any potential embarrassing situations.??

For example, how many meetings have you been in where one person seems oblivious to the ongoing discussion and is just scrolling through their phone and/or texting? Or alternatively, someone repeatedly using profanities, expressing ‘off colour’ humour or worse displaying racist or sexist attitudes when speaking???

It doesn’t matter whether you’re the customer or the supplier in this scenario, the result will more than likely be that one party will go away with an unfavourable impression of the other should such behaviour go unchecked. Remember that you are acting as an ambassador for your organisation when attending a meeting – it doesn’t matter whether it involves an external party, or it is an internal meeting only. There is no excuse for unprofessional behaviour.

If you would like to know more, or for any procurement needs then don't hesitate to get in touch.

Philip Smith