As a healthcare organization, you rely on vendors to perform many of your most important functions. The recent supply chain woes regarding PPE demonstrate the importance of vendors to healthcare operations. As such, vendor relationship management must be at the top of your priorities. Below are five steps to building trust and improving vendor relations. Each of these steps will help you create a successful vendor relationship: Strategic relationship A strategic relationship with your vendors can be beneficial for your business in several ways. Not only does it improve communication, but it can also improve overall results. The best way to ensure a healthy vendor relationship is to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and a roadmap to success. Setting these KPIs can help you achieve your goals, while demonstrating your importance to the vendor. Whether your relationships are on the small or large scale, you can benefit from vendor relationship management. In order to maintain a good relationship with your vendors, you must first understand their business. By identifying and understanding their business and needs, you can work together to develop mutually beneficial relationships. A strategic relationship with your vendors will also help you develop effective relationships with them. To achieve this, consider hiring and training vendors. This will create a culture of trust and preference for your organization. Involve your vendors in key decisions. This way, you can gain their trust and improve your vendor relations. As a customer, you must understand that your vendors depend on your business to survive. To earn your business, they need to deliver a high-quality product at an excellent price. This is a competitive relationship that can be mutually beneficial. A vendor who embraces this approach will create long-term customer relationships, and customers will turn to them for all of their needs. It's all about listening to your customers. If you can do that, your vendors will have a strategic relationship with your customers. Transactional approach Organizations with an effective process for vendor relations will have a detailed system for measuring vendor performance. These systems typically include scorecards and vendor ratings. They will also have carefully crafted vendor contracts, which reduce uncertainty and share risks. Most importantly, an effective process forvendor relations relies on trust. A buyer who builds trust in a vendor quickly is likely to achieve lasting vendor loyalty. This process should be implemented in a collaborative manner across all business units and stakeholders. While a transactional approach may be acceptable for a supermarket, drug store, or even home repair, many organizations purchase mission-critical tasks from vendors. These tasks include hardware for data centers, applications for desktop work, and telecommunications and consulting services. While this approach is convenient and cost-effective, it does not set the stage for long-term success. Instead, organizations should develop a strategic approach to vendor relations. Taking a strategic approach to vendor relations requires a strong understanding of the roles of both parties. Most healthcare organizations think of vendors as buyers and sellers - they provide goods and services, and you pay them. However, a strong working relationship between the two organizations is key to achieving business objectives. When vendors are working with healthcare organizations, they must be sensitive to the needs of the patient, and they should be aware of their needs and expectations. Monitoring and managing risk Vendor risk assessment is critical for monitoring and managing vendors. It helps identify strategic information, such as trends and seasonality. It also identifies opportunities for innovation and growth. Using data analytics, you can gain complete visibility and flexibility in your contingency planning. Furthermore, you can protect your company's sensitive data, including customer information, intellectual property and trade secrets. Managing vendor risk effectively will ensure that you're protecting your business and your customers. To start, you must list all vendors in your organization and prioritize them based on their risks. Remember that your vendors may have access to internal data, which can have a profound impact on the way your organization operates. Consider what types of data your vendors have and how they may use it. Assign risk levels to each vendor by analyzing the impact, probability and impact of events that can happen to your business. You can even automate processes such as auto-flagged risks, risk owners, and reassessments. After identifying your vendors' risks, you must evaluate their compliance. A thorough vendor risk management program requires periodic assessments. This is particularly true in industries that are highly regulated. Finance and healthcare are prime examples of industries that require regular assessments of their vendors. VRM solutions automate risk assessment processes and questionnaire workflows. Once you've implemented a vendor risk management program, you must make sure to sustain it. Don't let it be "set and forget," as it's crucial to continuously monitor third-party attack surfaces. Building trust The key to successful vendor relations is building trust with your vendors. As you do business with them, it is essential to understand their procedures, standard operating procedures, and contract formalities. Your vendor must adhere to all of these requirements, and it should also provide you with timely feedback about their products and services. This way, you'll establish a foundation for healthy communication. If you are experiencing any issues or concerns, you should discuss them with your vendor and resolve them quickly. Good vendor relations have a number of benefits for both parties. A good vendor relationship helps a company create a long-term relationship that enhances both customer service and product quality. It also enables business managers to develop strategies to gain market share and ensure high-quality goods. The benefits of good vendor relationships are numerous. While there is always room for improvement, a long-term relationship will lead to mutual benefits. In addition, it will make achieving a company's goals easier and more successful. While the benefits of good vendor relationships are clear, it's important to establish an ongoing dialogue to build trust. An open, transparent relationship between buyer and supplier prevents cynicism about each other's intentions and judgment about potential risks. As risks continue to increase in supply chains, buyers are turning transactional relationships into long-term partnerships. By developing trust in your vendors, you can help them reduce risks, improve product quality, and create a sustainable supply chain. Keeping up-to-date records Successful vendor relations require collaboration, visibility, and consistency. Without this, businesses are unable to make the best decisions about renewals, consolidation, and remedial actions. Keeping up-to-date records will enable businesses to make these decisions based on a consistent data-set. To avoid this problem, businesses should adopt a routine for keeping track of their vendors. It is critical to stay on top of the performance of each vendor to ensure they are working to their highest level of quality and reliability. Maintaining an accurate and up-to-date vendor master can be a tedious process. According to one study, 30 percent of duplicate payments were traced back to poor vendor master database management. Furthermore, unvalidated vendor master records could lead to fraud and leave a company open to costly losses and heavy fines for dealing with unsanctioned vendors. Not only that, but out-of-date vendor master records also compromise the accuracy of your reports, which is essential to keep up-to-date. The quality of your vendor relationship can greatly affect the longevity of the contract. A positive vendor relationship could ensure that you receive a consistent stream of orders. It will also increase your chances of achieving a successful collaboration. Good vendor relationships can also improve customer service, enhance the quality of products, and make processes more efficient. In addition, a positive relationship with a vendor will allow you to craft goals that benefit both parties. Keeping vendors in the loop Keeping vendors in the loop is vital to ensuring the success of your product, service, or initiative. You can increase the chances of quality responses from vendors by engaging them early in the procurement process. Ask them for feedback as you develop your procurement documents. By doing so, you will ensure that you communicate clearly and efficiently, and will ensure that your requirements are understood by all parties involved. In addition, by understanding their perspectives, you can ensure that you receive the highest number of bids.