Dealing with Vendors

Most organizations (such as our noble clients) are pretty darned good in their dealings with vendors.

Others are less so. In the latter case, if your vendors could speak frankly, they would say:

• Please don’t engage in mission creep, where a bunch of additional work is packed into an already agreed-upon project and price. If there is an additional project, ask us for a proposal. We’ll be glad to give one. We don’t expect to get paid for nothing and you shouldn’t expect work for nothing.
• Please don’t ask us to submit a proposal if you aren’t seriously going to consider it. It is the equivalent of stealing from us.
• Saying “Thank you” and giving credit where credit is due is always appreciated. Telling others how much you like us is treasured.
• If anything goes wrong, contact us as soon as possible and give us the chance to make it right. Please don’t nurse a grievance and then unload it on us twelve months later.
• Recognize that although we may pretend like you are our only client, there are others and that last minute rush project that you dumped on us involved a lot of schedule shifting. We don’t expect any big kudos for our coming through, but it’d be nice if such surprises don’t become a habit.
• Please treat everyone who works for us with respect. We don’t have a caste system and the person who sets up meetings is as worthy of respect as the head of the firm.
• It helps if you let us in on any office political problems that may affect our project. Don’t lead us into a lion’s den and then sit back as we are jumped and clawed.
• Please don’t withhold vital information for six weeks, then give it to us three days before the deadline and expect the original deadline to be met.