Strengthen Your Business Relationships
In 2008, an average of 1.3 million barrels of bitumen per day were produced in Alberta’s oilsands – a decrease of 1% from 2007. When production decreases, it may hurt the bottom line of the producer. But the bigger loser is the supplier, who has little control, and often less warning, over how much their orders will fall. In times of financial stress, your relationships with two key partners are likely to slip: your suppliers and your customers. Here’s how to mitigate the damage so they’ll still be there when it’s time to ramp up.
Think collaboratively
If you and a supplier are experiencing friction – maybe their deliveries are late, or product quality is low, or they’re unhappy because you recently forced them to compete in a bidding war for the privilege of working with you – don’t pull a Donald Trump. “We tend to think in terms of our company and their company,” says Jean Loitz, president of the Alberta Institute Purchasing Management Association of Canada and Inmotion Management Inc. “But if you talk with your suppliers, they often have great ideas to help your own internal operations, particularly regarding delivery aspects and product quality.” Loitz admits this is not possible with every supplier, but it’s particularly important with your critical suppliers to develop an action plan.
Don’t Repeat A Mistake
If your gaffes have been the result of oversight, there is software to help. An Edmonton company called Smibs Inc. has developed one option. Called Doorbell (see getdoorbell.com), it keeps all your client data in one place so that anyone in the company can access it. It also functions as a sophisticated to-do list and organizes your tasks and leads to remind you to make that follow up call or deadline. Just don’t forget to put it in the system.
When you’ve jilted a supplier
Maybe you’ve been in the habit of placing large orders. Then the downturn happened and you no longer had a need for that product or service. “In these cases, I try to be as open and up-front as possible,” Loitz says. “If you’re seeing a downturn in production, generally you can see it far enough out that you can indicate that to your suppliers and tell them what the potential impact will be on their organization so they can take steps to mitigate the risk they are going to be exposed to.” Of course, any supplier will be more likely to take the news gracefully if the relationship is strong to start with. (See above.)
When you’ve jilted a customer
First, you must offer an apology. “Once you have apologized, ask the customer what they would like in compensation. Fixing the original problem may not be enough to fix the issue,” says Dasa Chadwick, who teaches a seminar at the University of Calgary on customer service. She also cautions against tossing out random ideas. In the end, you aren’t inside the customer’s head and have little idea what they want. Finally, make sure you follow through with the correction. Customers don’t want to deal with the same issue multiple times.
Make it easy
“Managers often jump to the conclusion that if customer service is lacking, it’s because people don’t know how to do it and they jump to training,” says Chadwick. In fact, the organization’s processes may be the problem. If you require your employees to go through a lot of red tape – fill out complicated forms, for example, or deal with a server that is consistently down – customer service will suffer. Bottom line: good relationships aren’t built while fighting uphill battles.
Next month: For 2010, Action Plan switches gears, highlighting strategies to take advantage of the economic recovery. In January: changing the corporate mentality from defence to offence.
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