Why valuing your service providers and classing them as a client is important

(An observation from 32 years business experience in most areas: retail, manufacturing, sales and service.)

In business we tend to value our clients because they provide us with our cash flow and profit. Perceiving service providers as a valuable asset is not as common.
They are the people that take away the cash flow and profit in many minds of business owners.

It always astounds us - when everything goes right we treat our service providers with respect and cooperation. However when things go wrong all hell breaks loose!

It always astounds us - when everything goes right we treat our service providers with respect and cooperation. However when things go wrong all hell breaks loose!
Often the service provider is judged on one incident that has gone wrong and all the good times of the past are forgotten. Reactions to perceived “bad” service in the market place can range from withholding payment, angry and sometimes insulting emails or phone calls. Whilst it is understandable that this is created by frustration, it does nothing to solve the situation. The word “perceived” is interesting. In most disputes there are two different perceptions therefore two different realities. No one goes out of their way to give bad service and most people respond to a rational discussion to come to a healthy conclusion.

When discussing this phenomenon with a very successful businessman, he stated “I treat my services providers as I do my clients because without them I could not provide the service that I give to my clients.”

In business we all have our favorite clients – these are the people who get the best service. They are given first dibs at scarce product, are given leeway in payment terms when cash flow is tight and are generally contacted the most because it is a pleasant experience.  These clients are the ones who treat their service providers as they would their clients. They are the ones that realize service providers are an integral part in their business.  If a valued relationship exists, neither party is looking to assign blame when things go wrong but instead are focused on finding a workable solution.

Healthy service provider / client relationship scenario

Recently my IT service provider of 6 years emailed me with a special deal for replacing all of our computers with the latest software. He was very aware that we had planned to upgrade our software this year.  He had access to three packages of 8 of the latest computers with all of the new software plus a new laser printer. He selected our company to offer one package to first. The upgrade of our computers with the new software and a new printer has cost the same as it would have to upgrade just the software.

We treat our IT service providers as part of our company. They are our business partners and take part in all of our planning of new technology. We have next years replacements planned out this year. Sometimes things go wrong and tempers get short with the frustration of down time, but at the end of the day they see us right, it just takes time and patience.  We know if we had not had a good relationship with this service provider and they had not been aware of our planned software upgrade, we would not have been contacted with this package.
   
The secret to service provider/client relationships is communication. A good relationship with your service providers can be very beneficial if you value them.