ARTICLE

Why a Conversation with Your Clients or Suppliers Can Be a Great Thing During This Pandemic

At Both Client End and Supplier/Vendor End

The pandemic has changed the business aspects overall. Most of the businesses are looking forward to their current obstacles, and future business struggles to shape their operations.

Because of the unpredictable scenario, most of the businesses are looking forward to either of these three:

1. Reduction in unnecessary business operations due to less vibrancy, hence cost-reduction, lay-off, etc.

2. Transformation of business structure, operations, and way-of-work to meet the changing and future demand (aka, survival for tomorrow).

3. Growth opportunity in the new scenario. Not all the businesses are negatively impacted; some of the companies have flourished; also, other companies are finding out the ways to make either growth or opening up a new business channel to cater to the uncatered market demand).

Businesses require to be updated to the new opportunities that are coming, need to know how their connected vendors or suppliers are approaching or transforming. And that’s where it is vital to connect with all your vendors or suppliers during this critical time.

Check-in and follow-up, two standard terms used for connecting with the vendors or suppliers. And, if you are in charge of purchasing or supply/facilities coordination or vendor-relationship, you might have received 100s or 100s of calls, emails from your connected organizations. And, probably you are thinking,

‘Nah! Just a damn call from the supplier. Better ignore it, and do my work!’ (Even if you have the time)

I understand you are receiving 100s of calls/emails from different vendors, stating how they are concerned about your operations, and they would like to help. And, you know that those are just the sentences to get your attraction, right!

Wrong.

Why?

Everybody (well, many) is struggling to keep their bread and butter, and because of the transformative nature, everyone is trying to be better in terms of proving their worth. It might be either to remain in the organization or to have growth or simply because of incremental cost (for supporting relatives or friends during this vulnerable time, or just for saving money for the dire future).

And, for that reason, most of the people are genuinely trying to help their vendors or suppliers, because if they can attain or retain or even get new business, that will ensure more stability for them and their organization.

Even if they are sneezy, you might consider listening to them to know what they are talking about. I mean, if you don’t like it, you always have the option to drop the call. If you don’t like the email, unsubscribe (definitely, at first, email communicator should have the permission to email you, right).

Enough said!

The following are the reasons for just a conversation with your clients or suppliers can be a great thing during this pandemic.

Understanding the client’s scenario helps to deliver the promise or deliverable within this time. As the situations changed, the priorities and action items have changed too. And that requires an adjustable time-frame to deliver.

If the business scenario changed dramatically, it helps to understand the commitment or helps to do a scenario analysis at both ends. Scenario analysis at both ends helps to revise the future priorities or expectations.

Pandemic has created a problematic scenario for businesses, so ‘check-in’ with the clients helps vendors to identify the situation and offer the connected organization a suitable solution, that either will resolve the issue or reduce the cost overall.

At the client/organization end, the check-in provides them the opportunity to ask for concessions/ lease or finance restructuring option, which might lower their payment burden. I have helped numerous organizations in this regard during this pandemic time, so — Trust me! It works.

Frequent check-ins create emergency contact points at both ends, so in case of urgency, it helps both ends.

Communication regarding bills/invoices are another avenue that requires immediate connections. During this time, many organizations are struggling in this arena, either failing to pay or forget to update the invoice payment procedure. So, a reminder might help to avoid late payments or for getting a direction in this regard.

Sometimes, a generic connect helps organizations/businesses to understand the transformation of the industry. It is important because, based on the scenario, the client will understand what impacts are coming in the future and how to respond in that scenario.

New business opportunities are popping up, and a conversation with the vendors/suppliers can enlighten the path towards identifying the opportunity.

Challenging time brings changed priorities and changed business requirements, which might not be achievable with the current set-up. So a discussion with the vendors helps the organization to understand whether there is any way-forward within the current vendor set-up or to change the vendor relationship to achieve its future business objectives.

Lastly, speaking with the connected organization can open up opportunities for your ground too. A more meaningful connection means more viability to reach out.

Now, there are lots of reasons not to take a call or connect through email. But among those 100s of calls/email from your vendors/suppliers, there is probably 2 or 3 calls that might have benefited your organization to stabilize its financial condition. Of course, avoid the scam calls/emails — which are not subject matter for this article. So, please be careful while opening up any email from an unknown source.

I hope this article could highlight the importance of taking the calls, at least for courtesy purposes.

And, you never know — it might win you a business transformation opportunity for a lifetime.

I wish all of you the best in your endeavors.

©️Suntonu Bhadra, 2020. Rights reserved.