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| Your
Suppliers are Your Partners |
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As customer-centric as your business may
be, this will all amount to nought unless you are able to align
your suppliers philosophies with your vision. Invariably supply
chain inefficiency is the weak link in being customer-centric,
and it takes proactive management of this chain to yield efficiency
gains. Unfortunately, unless you manage your suppliers, it is
your reputation and brand that suffers. Suppliers are generally
inflexible, product focussed and poor communicators. If you
truly value your suppliers as partners then the challenge is
to manage your suppliers for efficiency.
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The
dialoguemarketing
application is premised on communication. An effective
approach to supplier management is to engage your suppliers
from the outset. Prompt your suppliers for feedback, provide
reminders of key dates and deadlines, offer timely opportunities
to report delays and accelerate ignored requests up the
managerial hierarchy. Integrate this information into
your customer care initiatives, to ensure your customers
receive a truly valuable experience. These communications
can be established automatically, and can prompt for supplier
input. Once this input is received, it can be communicated
to your customer care representatives. |
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The benefit of engaging your suppliers
is that you are placed in a proactive position, and your suppliers
receive the benefit of ongoing account management. You are completely
aware of the status of your outstanding orders at all times,
which means you are in a better decision-making position, and
less likely to be caught unawares. |
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| Manage
Your Suppliers for Efficiency |
Imagine
a system so flexible that it allows you to build your
own supplier management system. Well you can. The system
will accommodate as many variables as you want, to effectively
segment your suppliers for different types of management.
Poor supplier management leads to poor adherence to deadlines,
which means poor word-of-mouth and ultimately lost customers.
The crucial issue is to manage your suppliers for efficiency,
and this is achieved through regular, timely communications
to ensure they remain within their own declared deadlines. |
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The dialoguemarketing application
engages the supplier throughout, from the time the order is placed,
to receipt of the order for despatch. Automatic prompts for feedback
ensure orders remain on schedule, and any deviation is reported
in a timely manner. These efficiency gains provide a competitive
advantage over competitors who do not overtly manage their supplier
relationships, but rather leave order processing to random supplier
behaviour. |
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Your
Suppliers are Your Partners
