The Ledger No. 15: B2B Client Relationships

August 25, 2021 Sarah Dameron

business owner upholding b2b relationships with his client

Welcome to The Ledger where we sum up the latest finance and accounting news and trends for you. On this week’s entry, we’re diving into the topic of how to build and maintain business-to-business relationships with your clients, suppliers, and vendors. Read on to see how you can make better vendor selection choices, how to manage an effective supplier relationship, what mistakes to avoid when building stronger business (B2B) relationships with a client, and how to navigate your supplier management through uncertain times.

b2b client relationships Ledger

Steps To Making Better Vendor Selection Choices to Uphold (B2B) Client Relationships

Why do most technology-involved projects fail? Is it because of your company? Your team? According to Jarrod Gingras, Managing Diretor and Analyst at Real Story Group, most technology problems originate in the early stages of an initiative. Moreover, choosing the right vendor and technology for your project is vital to the success of your business. Here are 10 ways to do just that.

  • Build the right team

  • Define business success

  • Develop interactive requirements

  • Get the right shortlist of vendor options

  • Draft a real RFP

  • Remember: Seeing is (almost) believing

  • Doing is better

  • Lose the formulas

  • Negotiate early and often

  • Pilot quickly

To learn more about how selecting better-fitting technology can set your company up for victory, read the full article on MarTech.org.

How To Build Better Supplier Management Relationships

A healthy supplier management relationship leads to a strong supply chain and successful business. So how can you ensure that your relationships with your suppliers is a good one? Here are a few steps you can take to build a fruitful relationship.

  • Hold up your end of the contract – Purchase, receive, and pay for goods on time.

  • Foster collaboration – Effective communication allows the entire supply chain process to run efficiently.

  • Measure and analyze whether your supplier is doing the best work for your business – Make sure the supplier is meeting your standards.

  • Continue the relationship – Relationships are a two-way street. The best way to maintain a relationship is by keeping lines of communication open.

To explore how building an effective supplier relationship management can help your business run more effectively, head over to Business.org to read the full article.

Mistakes To Avoid When Building Strong Business (B2B) Client Relationships

The relationships you have – customers, employees, vendors, suppliers, etc. – determine the pace at which your company grows. So how can leaders build strong connections without making the same mistakes over and over again? Here three mistakes to avoid:

  • Treating the relationship as a convenience – When you treat someone as a transaction rather than focusing on them, you’re doing your business a disservice.

  • Letting fear keep you from moving forward – If you let fear override your decisions, you’ll never push your company forward.

  • Not putting effort into your relationship – Relationships require ongoing investment.

To learn more about how to thrive as a leader and propel your business forward, read the full article on Entrepreneur.com.

How To Navigate Your Supplier Management Through Uncertain Times

Thanks to COVID and a myriad of other issues, this past year has created the perfect storm for supply chains. Many companies are having to rethink their supplier relationships, starting with reducing the number of suppliers. However, if your business is difficult for suppliers to work with, it may be time to rethink your technology and systems you have created to manage suppliers. Furthermore, thinking like your supplier ensures that you understand the obstacles that suppliers are facing on a day-to-day basis. Taking it one step further, supplier management is no longer an unfortunate necessity to be done as cheaply as possible – it’s critical to the success of your company.

To explore – in-depth – how to maintain and improve supplier management relationships, read the full article on TechRepublic.com.

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