In the minds of buyers, what is an excellent and usable supplier?

1. Professional supplier
The professionalism of course depends on the company’s scale, industry status, and experience. Buyers know the total cost of ownership (TCO). The hidden costs of cooperating with suppliers with low prices but unreliable quality, delivery, and service are very large. However, those sales who do not have a company background can still become the favored objects of procurement by virtue of their professionalism. For unfamiliar procurement projects, procurement needs to rely on suppliers to obtain industry, market, and technical information. Those suppliers who can give professional advice are definitely the first choice for procurement, and they must be trusted suppliers in the procurement mind.

2. In addition to professionalism, those suppliers who are sincere and objective
Those companies that have strong but are not strong, or companies that are weak but not humble or overbearing, often give people a sense of affinity. Many of them have a deep technical background or have many years of experience and an in-depth understanding of the industry. He will not say much that affects you, never give excessive guidance, just state the objective facts, and give you the space to make your own judgment. He respects your status as Party A and maintains proper boundaries between words. The dialogue between him and you is plain and frank as if you are not Party A and Party B, but friends who have no interest in entanglement.

3. Suppliers whose quotations have always been reasonable and realistic after several cooperations
There are many very powerful suppliers. They have many strong customers, but their price policies for small customers are also very gentle. Which supplier does not like this kind of purchase? Buyers like suppliers who have money to make money slowly and can consider long-term services; and the most unbearable ones are those who always hope to make excess profits.

4. Suppliers that follow business ethics, rules, and proportions
Compliance has become more and more emphasized by companies. The Code of Professional Ethics (CoC), anti-corruption and commercial bribery regulations (ABC), and gift policy (Gift Policy) are all the primary training that a purchaser gets as soon as it enters the company. The purchasing circle is also getting smaller and more transparent. Don’t expect to be able to buy purchases. Use rebates or small favors to get business. Few purchases can ignore their reputation in the circle because of temporary benefits.

5. Suppliers who can actively share the latest industry information
In fact, this also requires suppliers to keep pace with the times and continuously improve the quality of their company, products, and personnel. Suppliers often share some valuable information in the industry with procurement, rather than simply asking if there is a chance to cooperate recently.

6. Suppliers who show sincerity in contract negotiations
Although sometimes purchasing can appear aggressive, they all know that letting suppliers lose money is not long-term cooperation, so they will have enough psychological evidence to support a reasonable transaction. Perhaps the purchase encounters difficulties and challenges in price and requires the necessary cooperation from the supplier. When he sees your sincerity, you have actually moved him. Even if you have made some concessions in this transaction, in the long run, a purchase that is moved by sincerity will never make the supplier suffer. Concessions are mutual, and suppliers will benefit a lot from solving problems for procurement.

7. Suppliers with long-term cooperation
It is because these suppliers can help procurement to solve various problems in various situations, especially those urgent emergencies. Procurement will also encounter various problems, faced with many challenges from internal customers, and a lot of pressure from the company’s top management. There are not some trustworthy suppliers that can be topped in emergency situations. The work of procurement is really difficult to do. Those suppliers who do what they say but do not lose the chain, those who can overcome difficulties and complete tasks, naturally become the first choice for purchasing long-term suppliers.

8. Those suppliers who can look at problems from the perspective of customers and continue to bring greater value to customers,
They are willing to think about problems from the perspective of customers and help them solve problems creatively. Who is not willing to cooperate with such suppliers for a long time?

9. Flexible suppliers
In a company, procurement may only be a part of the supplier selection process. After the contract is signed, the supplier’s service target is the corresponding business department. Reliable small-scale companies are of course more flexible. They will closely cooperate with customers’ requirements and continue to grow in a win-win situation. However, in large companies, a good account manager will deal with problems cleverly and will not create contradictions, but will have a good source of lubrication for customers.