Wake up call (for ALL of us in the B2B space)!
- Matthew Joe Fisher
- Jul 29, 2016
- 2 min read
[Originally posted July 28, 2016 on LinkedIn here]
A Gallup poll was just released (along with two articles from the Gallup Journal) that all of us in the B2B space should read:
My humble three cents.
1) To B2B Suppliers...
I'd encourage you to say "holy s**t" at these poll findings and get scared/angry/pumped/inspired/something.
Immediately look for ways to provide more value to your customers. Do more than the minimum. Give/Offer additional services. Suggest to your customers to start a new chapter in the relationship based on increased transparency and more trust. Something. ANYTHING. Just don't take that 12-36 month contract for granted and/or focus on doing as little as possible while selling as much as possible.
Trust me, with almost 20 years in supplier enablement, I KNOW how hard this all is. But it's obvious you/we need to do something different.
2) To eProcurement/P2P Buyers...
If you're one of these guys that are "indifferent" to your suppliers/vendors, I'd encourage you to look INWARD.
What can YOU do to get inspired about your suppliers. What can YOU do to turn the page (rather than simply assuming the grass is greener on the other side and switching vendors). Ask yourself if you've been a bully at times (and be honest with yourselves), which may have led to your suppliers doing the minimum, for not going out of their way to add more value for you, and resulting in your current indifference. Don't focus on just trying to get the dollar amount on that sourcing event dashboard as low as possible or force suppliers to always do YOUR bidding, regardless of their recommendation.
Here's the biggest untapped secret in B2B eProcurement for you... suppliers/vendors on your front lines LOOOOOVE awesome customers, where "awesome" doesn't mean big spenders. It means being reasonable, professional, honest, understanding, trusting. Be awesome to them and see what happens (and tell me about it).
3) To eProcurement/P2P Vendors...
What a HUGE opportunity we have! We get to (re)inspire hundreds, thousands, even millions of people.
We have a unique position in all this as we're right smack in the middle of both buyers and suppliers. They're all using our solutions every (business) day of their lives. Let's continue to do our best to inspire both customers and suppliers with kick-ass solutions that are enjoyable to use. Let's continuously look for ways to add value, to enrich their lives. To eliminate indifference.
Guys, we're all in this together. One vendor's innovation raises the bar for everybody till they become table stakes, and then someone else innovates and raises the bar again. All good.
And when we see/sense indifference by either buyers or suppliers, let's not dismiss it as not our problem.
F**K indifference. Let's ALL get inspired. B2B rocks! :)
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