Bad Practice In The Supply Chain

Having just returned refreshed and re-energised from a fabulous holiday with family and friends in the beautiful town of Kalkan, Turkey, it got me thinking about my #experiences of bad practices in the #supplychain.

Why, you may ask?

Well firstly I have had time to reflect, which is always a great place to start. I also encountered so many wonderful people; kind, caring, hardworking and dedicated to their country's visitors.

Their attention to me, my family and friends was impeccable throughout my 11 days, and there was nothing that was too much trouble for the wonderful people of Kalkan.

We dined out in several of the breath-taking rooftop restaurants and my favourite quote from one restaurant owner was "when you visit our country we do not see you as just tourists. We welcome you as one of our family. If you are happy then I am happy." Now that's a way to make someone feel special and welcome - real charisma, charm and warmth.

"When you visit our country we do not see you as just tourists. We welcome you as one of our family. If you are happy then I am happy."

We also made good use of the home takeaway service to our villa one evening from one of a number of local restaurants - all delivered to our door freshly cooked in under an hour via a local delivery man on a moped! Sound familiar? Perhaps this was the early version of #deliveroo - broadening the market beyond the busy local cobbled streets of Kalkan Old Town.

So when it comes to?good?practice these are just a couple of recent examples that stood out for me and got me thinking.

Now imagine you are a service lead business (hard to think of many that wouldn't be in 2022 to be honest). You are no doubt fully committed to delivering outstanding customer service to your clients right?

Perhaps you have agreed sales or performance targets with your customers? Perhaps you even have contractual obligations around lead times and service standards and risk penalties for failing to achieve them?

Now think about your own supply chain. Do you have the same in place with your #vendors or #suppliers? Do you have clear business plans, agreed targets and objectives? If so, are they regularly reviewed, measured and challenged to ensure they remain fit for purpose and relevant? Do you have signed contracts that set out those agreed standards? What about a service level agreement and a sales forecast to ensure there are no surprises and that your mission to deliver outstanding service to your customers is always at the top of it's game?

You might be surprised at how many businesses I talk to that can't answer "yes" to the above questions (which for me is a bit like trying to swim up tide with one arm tied behind your back) yet these businesses are being held to account by their customers.?

I have always believed in the phrase "what get's measured get's done" and also that in business, no-one likes surprises. My advice is to take a step back, have a long hard look at your service expectations, and get to work on anything that looks ambiguous, ill defined or at best, left to chance or interpretation.

"what get's measured get's done"

When it comes to being the best and looking after your #customers, the fabulous people of Kalkan have definitely got this right, but what about you and your business?

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