In July, Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies (GL&SCS) ran a special report on the 100 Great Supply Chain Partners, which included an overview of what customers want from their partners. According to the special report, based on its fifth annual 100 Great Supply Chain Partners Awards, the 10 most common qualities that buyers looked for in their vendors are as follows:

1) Reliability
Supplier reliability and high-quality output are crucial to any organization operating in a competitive environment. A buyer's customers will not accept excuses for service failures, so neither should the buyer.

2) Repeatable Excellence
Good, better, best — while good, consistent performance is expected, vendors who go beyond the required efforts are those getting the accolades … and repeat business. Once customers experience exceeded expectations, they expect excellent service consistently. And rightly so.

3) Value and Cost Savings
"The key motivation these days for any new technology or outsourced service is cost savings," Sourcing Innovation notes of the GL&SCS findings. [And] the most important financial measure is value in terms of increased sales, production or other revenue-related metrics."

4) Expertise and Knowledge Base
Never stop assessing your vendor's level of expertise. Sometimes a poorly managed company will replace the most knowledgeable employees with less analytical and creative thinkers. Vendors that have industry-specific best-practices expertise quickly become trusted advisers.

5) Problem-Solving Ability
Supply chain problems arise extremely fast these days, and technologies change just as quickly. A vendor/supplier able to adapt to unexpected events, offering solutions for specific problems as they take place, will earn gratitude and loyalty. Partners should be selected based on demonstrated problem-solving abilities.

6) Continuous Improvement
Long-term thinking may be sorely lacking across businesses today, but as GL&SCS points out, "companies want to see a plan for product development, so they know their needs will be met in the years ahead."

7) Support
"Rampant industry downsizing means that most companies must rely on their vendors to implement, train, maintain and support the technologies and services provided," says Sourcing Innovation. Be sure to focus on support as much as you do on the technology itself.

8) Positive Culture
Companies want to do business with vendors that are positive about what they can accomplish. You want to hear "can do" far more often than "no." On the other hand, realize that "yes" can often mean far greater costs. This is especially true for big-breakthrough research and development (R&D) projects.

9) Global Capabilities
Companies of all sizes are seeking services and technologies that help them operate with trading partners across the globe. As one IMT reader recently put it: "The world is flat, and global sourcing is a trend for the successful company. As time goes by, the world is more like an earth village; we must have a holistic view to optimize global resources efficiently in order to pursue better competitive advantages."

10) Strong Management
"Nothing can damage a relationship between a company and its partners faster than an erosion of commitment from the partner's management," writes Thomas A. Foster of GL&SCS. Indeed, you'll find the commitment reduction manifests itself in signs like delayed or unreturned calls, slow deliveries and lack of significant progress in reaching goals agreed upon between the buyer and supplier.

Earlier: How to Make the Relationship Work

Resources

Special Report: 100 Great Supply Chain Partners
by Thomas A. Foster
Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies, July 24, 2007

100 Great Supply Chain Partners Awards 2007
Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies, 2007

Great Supply Chain Partners Have What Customers Want
by Michael Lamoureux
Sourcing Innovation, Sept. 18, 2007

Supply Relationship Management - Purchase and Supply
by Roy Ayliffe
The Finance Director, May 16, 2007

Developing Devoted Customers
by William Seidman and Michael McCauley
Cerebyte, 2003

ABC: An Introduction to Supply Chain Management
by Ben Worthen
CIO, June 2000