May 01, 2008
Getting More With Honey Than Vinegar
I recently had a chance to spend time with Tony Romano, the former Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Distribution at Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., who is well known in the marketplace for his superior management skills. I have had the chance to work with Tony and a number of his colleagues over the past few years, and I can attest to his consensus-building approach to management. He is a pretty good coach and has done a good job over the years of giving people direction, then autonomy in the projects they are assigned to. What was heartening to hear from Tony was that he wasn't always this kind of manager -- years back he had something of a temper, which he learned to attenuate over time. It is great to know that one can learn to be a good manager provided that you work on it and do enough self-reflection.
We got to talking about the procurement process in general -- negotiating contracts for anything from paper to printing to technology services. Tony's strategy has always been to work with a vendor to try to come to consensus, to solve problems together as opposed to taking an adversarial approach.
Recently my company has been involved with helping several customers with their procurement and RFP processes for technology acquisition. I have noticed that those customers who have an adversarial approach to procurement may initially get a better price, but the vendors tend to feel cheated and thus tend to follow everything 'by the book' later on in the procurement and implementation process. Conversely, I have a few customers -- like Tony -- that have been masterful not only in getting the competitive price that they need but also in establishing strong interpersonal relationships with vendors that hold them in good stead when problems arise that need to be addressed.
I am reminded of my beloved grandmother, who really knew how to treat people kindly wherever she went. When I was a kid, she would take me shopping at a fruit and vegetable market in her neighborhood in Queens. When we walked in the door, as my grandmother inspected the fruit on display, the owner would come out and say, "Mrs. Katz, these aren't for you. Come in the back, we just got a new delivery." He would save the best for his favored customers!
As we enter a time when the procurement process is more about cutting costs as deeply as possible at the expense of human relationships, we may be losing two important aspects of business -- quality and value. Customers should always try to get the best price, but can they do so without the adversarial relationship? My sense is that whenever I've personally taken an adversarial relationship with a vendor, it has hurt me in the long run since that vendor is less likely to go the extra mile when I need it most. Conversely, when I've started a relationship emphasizing quality and value -- not only in the products and services I'm acquiring but also in the interactions with the vendor -- I have almost always gotten much more than I ever expected out of the arrangement.
There is a certain effervescence to positive human interactions that produces delightful results when we allow them to happen. As we continue forward with machine-to-machine interactions via Semantic Web and other automated ways to acquire goods and services that we or our businesses need, we should always remember at this juncture in history that business is, and always will be, fundamentally about human interactions. The way in which we interact says a great deal about us as people, and while none of us is perfect in those interactions, we can strive to improve with every new opportunity to do so.
Posted at 10:59 am by Joseph Bachana
More Blogs From Author:
< Addendum to my Keywording BLOG from the other day
Digital Asset Management Trends -- keynote at Henry Stewart Symposium >
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When I deal with vendors, I
If we work together, I get my project approved and gain an opportunity to shine while the vendor (I prefer to call them partners) gets the job plus the benefit of being one of the first people I call in the future.
It isn't always about price. I have argued for a proposal that I thought was the best for the company even though it wasn't the cheapest. I also tend to view projects from both a long- and a short-term perspective. Thinking only in terms of cost is very short term.
People lke Tony...