Dear Supplier. You are sacked.

You are sacked. Effective immediately.

I’m so sorry to have to do this, but it is for our joint well-being.  You can now work with other customers and we can do more with the budget that we have.

If you did not see this coming, let me remind you of some of the factors which caused this to happen.

1. You did not listen to what I was asking for.
2. You took ages to respond to requests for information.
3. You put the price up without having the courtesy to talk to me about it first.
4. When I needed your help during a challenging time, you forced me to pay extra.
5. You changed the specification on the product without telling me.   
6. Then you proceeded to provide an inferior product.
7. When I challenged you about that, you offered me a more expensive solution, when, frankly, there are lots of inexpensive options available.  You just did not bother to offer them.
8. Your product does not work as you said it would.  Your product is an important part of how we go to market.  Due to the product’s failure, we have had customer complaints, and which adds up to extra work that we have to do.  Just because of your failure to deliver.
9. And the worst part of all of this?  We have been asking for a meeting to workout process improvements, for a good while now, but you have been ignoring us in that area as well.
   
   
10. The net effect is this.
    • Your performance is worse that average.
    • Your customer service is missing in action.
    • And then you charge us far too much for non-existent performance.
      
      
11. When we started, you offered an easy, simple and cost-effective solution. We have ended up at the point where it is not easy, not simple, and very expensive to deal with you.
12. Putting money aside, the worst part is that you have turned a great relationship into a miserable one.
13. For these reasons.  You are sacked.  Please don’t ask for a reference.
14. This is a made-up example.  But the sentiment is real.

Suppliers behave badly.  They promised the world and deliver significantly less.  Then they leave us feeling, used, abused and considerably out of pocket.

As a business leader, do you want your firm to behave in this way?
If not, then what do you plan to do?

This is a made-up example.  But the sentiment is real.

Suppliers behave badly.  They promised the world and deliver significantly less.  Then they leave us feeling, used, abused and considerably out of pocket.

As a business leader, do you want your firm to behave in this way?

If not, then what do you plan to do?

Some ideas to consider:

1. Listen to your customers.  Do it regularly.  Act on what they tell you.
2. Walk the talk.  If you are the leader, what you say and do is mirrored through the organization.  Demonstrate good behaviour.
3. Find ways of rewarding those who also replicate the good behaviours.
   This has is a huge multiplier effect.

Happy customer.  Happy life.

Best regards

Steve

About the Author:

Steve Wood is a management consultant who helps business owners to achieve their own roaring success.  > Read full profile