Building Strong Vendor Relationships

The Buyer's Seat. Post# 3. Vendors, here's the truth about why you're losing deals. It's not your pricing. It's not your competitors. It's the gap between what you PROMISE and what you DELIVER. And that gap? It's getting harder to hide. I've watched too many vendor relationships go from "strategic partner" to "we're exploring alternatives" in under a year. Not because the product broke. But because trust eroded, one missed commitment at a time. 👉 So if you want to stay relevant, here's what needs to change: 1. Stop hiding behind discounts. ↳ When you inflate pricing just to offer a "special deal," we see it. We don't buy discounts. We buy outcomes. Be transparent from the start. 2. Ship impact, not effort. ↳ You built a feature for us? Great. But if no one's using it, it didn't land. Low adoption isn’t on us; it means you solved the wrong problem. 3. Own what you missed. ↳ When things aren’t working, the worst move is blaming us. The best vendors pause, listen, and ask: “What did we get wrong?” 4. Evolve or get left behind. ↳ Markets have moved. AI, automation, real-time action, this is the new standard. If your roadmap is still focused on UI tweaks while others are building systems that act and adapt, you’re not keeping up. 5. Keep your promises. ↳ You sold us a vision. We bought in. Then came delays, slipped timelines, and awkward cleanups by your CSM. When roadmap promises keep sliding, trust doesn’t bend; it breaks. 6. Stay hungry. ↳ A 2020 product can't compete in 2025. If your platform still looks and feels the same, it tells us you’ve stopped innovating. 7. Be clear, not clever. ↳ Messaging that tries to be everything to everyone resonates with no one. We don't need grand visions. We need to know exactly how you solve our specific problem. Be relevant or be ignored. 8. Show real ROI, not fantasy math. ↳ "15 minutes saved per day = $1M in value." Really? That's not a business case. That's wishful thinking. Show us measurable outcomes, or don't show up at all. 9. Talk to the people using your product. ↳ When PMs and engineers never hear from actual users, it shows. Priorities drift. Assumptions pile up. You can't build what we need if you never ask us what's broken. 10. Own the answers. ↳ Support sends us to product. Product sends us to the CSM. Everyone's "checking" and no one knows. When no one owns the answer, we assume no one owns the roadmap either. 👉 Here's what I need from you: • Get closer to your users. • Deliver what you promised. • Own what you missed. You don't have to be perfect. But if you want to stay in the conversation, you do have to be accountable. Because the vendors who win long-term aren't the ones with the best pitch. They're the ones who show up, listen, adapt, and deliver. Every single time. ⁉️ So ask yourself: If your customers were asked today, "Would you vouch for this vendor?" what would they say? That answer is your real competitive advantage.

What if your biggest competitive advantage is hiding in plain sight in your competitors' customer complaints? While most B2B executives chase the latest growth tactics, strategic leaders are systematically mining competitor trust gaps to win enterprise deals. In today's procurement environment, trust isn't just a vendor evaluation criterion—it's become the decisive factor in contract decisions worth millions. The reality of enterprise buying is stark: procurement teams have stopped believing vendor promises. They demand transparency in pricing models, proof of service delivery capabilities, and verification of product claims. Most vendors fake this transparency with polished sales decks and case study theater. The winners convert their competitors' credibility deficits into contract wins. Here's how B2B growth leaders are operationalizing trust to capture enterprise market share: Audit Competitor Credibility Gaps. Deploy systematic analysis of competitor RFP losses, customer churn patterns, and service delivery failures. Every trust breakdown in their client base represents a qualified prospect for your pipeline. Engineer transparency into your sales process. Move beyond vendor presentations. Provide independent verification of ROI claims. Offer transparent pricing with no hidden implementation costs. Make radical honesty your competitive differentiation in the procurement process. Align revenue operations around building trust. Tie sales comp, customer success KPIs, and product delivery SLAs directly to trust-building behaviors. When trust becomes measurable in your CRM and tied to quota attainment, it becomes operationalized. Build enterprise trust intelligence. Create account-level dashboards tracking trust indicators across your target prospect base. Monitor competitor service failures, contract disputes, and client satisfaction scores to time your outreach perfectly. The enterprise opportunity is massive: procurement teams are actively seeking vendors they can trust with mission-critical initiatives. While competitors struggle with credibility issues, you capture their displaced enterprise accounts. Ready to transform competitor weaknesses into enterprise wins? Start with a systematic audit of trust vulnerabilities among your top 50 target accounts. The pipeline impact could be transformational. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eRV9sWAK __________ For more on growth and building trust, check out my previous posts. Join me on my journey, and let's build a more trustworthy world together. Christine Alemany #Fintech #Strategy #Growth

Sourcing and supply chain, pointers from years of practical experience... 🧵 At The Pant Project we come from a family background of ~50 years of experience in textile manufacturing. As a brand, we work with vendors across India to procure the highest quality materials for our product. What have we learnt in this time about how to manage supply chains? 1. Trust is everything. If your vendors trust you to lift goods, make payments, and honour your commitments, then you are golden. If they don’t trust you, then no amount of legal documentation or paperwork can make the relationship work. Trust is built over time, with consistently honouring your commitments. Trust takes a lot of time to build up, and just a few bad experiences to lose forever. 2. Processes > people. At scale, if you are person dependent, things are bound to break. You need to have set standard operating procedures (SOPs) for everything from raw material inward to pre production processes, mid-line inspection, final quality control, packing and dispatch, else you have no way to control irregularities in quality. You also need a kaizen mindset to continuously make micro-improvements. 3. Cost is just one factor in deciding which vendor to partner with. While it’s important to optimise for the right purchase price, there are a host of other things to consider when choosing a manufacturing partner. Speed of delivery, flexibility on minimum order quantities, and quality of the product matter a lot. So it’s a vendor scorecard of all of the above that determine who wins the right to produce what & how much for your brand. 4. Diversify your supply chain, but not too much. While it’s important to have multiple partners for each critical component or SKU to minimise single party dependency risk, it is also important to give meaningful volumes to select partners so you are a relevant part of their annual operating plan and get the priority service that your brand needs. We see too many brands making the mistake of splitting volumes across too many factories before hitting meaningful scale, and they have no control anywhere. Like with any investment portfolio, while diversification protects against the downside, if you know what you are doing, some level of concentration into high conviction bets (factories) leads to outsized returns. 5. Invest in product R&D, it’s worth it in the long run. Becoming a pure commodity player is a race to the bottom. There are real innovations to be made at a yarn level, fabric technology level and garment design & engineering level, and you have to invest the $$$ upfront to reap the long term benefits. So invest in R&D to stay ahead of the curve, and co-create, collaborating closely with your supply chain partners, or run the risk of becoming irrelevant over time. The strength of your supply chain is the backbone of your brand.

Early in my purchase career, I noticed a pattern. Our team would negotiate hard, close contracts, and move on. On paper—it looked perfect. 📉 Costs were reduced 📊 Reports were clean But something was missing. Suppliers didn’t feel like partners. They were just “vendors.” One day, a critical shipment got delayed. Instead of excuses, the supplier personally called and said: “Don’t worry, I’ll prioritize your delivery. You’ve always treated us fairly.” That moment changed how I saw procurement. It isn’t just about transactions. It’s about trust. Since then, my approach has been: ✅ Build long-term supplier relationships ✅ Focus on transparency, not just negotiation ✅ Treat every purchase as a partnership, not a bargain hunt And the results proved it: ✔️ Faster resolutions during crises ✔️ Better quality without micromanagement ✔️ A resilient supply chain built on mutual respect Management Lesson: In procurement, numbers matter. But people matter more. #Procurement #SupplyChain #Leadership #BusinessRelationships

I'm seeing a fundamental shift that's making some procurement professionals uncomfortable—and others extremely successful. The old playbook said: "Build long-term partnerships. Nurture relationships. Loyalty creates value." The new data tells a different story. Here's the uncomfortable truth: While companies with diversified supplier ecosystems recovered 73% faster during recent disruptions, those clinging to "strategic partnerships" got stuck with prolonged vulnerabilities and zero options when things went sideways. What the winners are actually doing: Organizations practicing dynamic sourcing achieve 12-18% better cost outcomes than those locked into traditional partnership models. But it's not just about savings—it's about not being held hostage. Consider how market leaders really operate: Netflix didn't build streaming dominance through studio loyalty. They said "thanks, but we'll own our content now" and crushed the competition. Amazon didn't create supply chain resilience through exclusive relationships. They built supplier ecosystems that let them pivot instantly when conditions change. Apple doesn't reward suppliers for tenure. They maintain brutal performance standards and it shows in their margins. 67% of procurement leaders report AI-enhanced supplier selection beats relationship-based decisions (PwC) Peer networks now influence 84% of B2B purchase decisions vs. 31% for analyst reports (TrustRadius) Ecosystem approaches show 23% higher procurement ROI But here's the reality: Your boss might still be old-school. Your organization might resist change. So start small. Run pilot programs. Test ecosystem approaches on non-critical categories. When you deliver measurable outcomes, the conversation shifts from "why change?" to "how do we scale this?" The most dangerous phrase in procurement? "But we've always worked with them." The most successful procurement teams ask: Are we optimizing for comfort or outcomes? Does our supplier strategy create resilience or dependency? Own your outcomes. Lead with data. Show, don't tell. The future belongs to procurement professionals who act like owners, not vendor relationship managers. Drop a 🔥 if you've been burned by "trusted partners" or comment "ecosystem" if you're ready to flip the script.

Can’t solve a problem? Just downplay it. Unfortunately, this mindset is still far too common in the cybersecurity product world. When a vendor can’t address a specific threat, scale issue, or product gap, the default response is often to "minimize its importance". - That’s an edge case. - It’s not part of our core use case. - Must be a customer misconfiguration. - It’s on the roadmap. (That never seems to arrive.) Why? Because in a market where perception drives sales, admitting limitations is seen as weakness. But here’s the truth: security professionals know when they’re being spun. Downplaying issues doesn’t make them go away. It erodes trust. And in this field, trust is everything. The most credible vendors are the ones who say: - Yes, this is a limitation, and here’s what we’re doing to fix it and here is an ETA. Humility. Transparency. Accountability. These aren’t buzzwords, they are what differentiate real security partners from the rest. Let’s do better. Choose better #CyberSecurity #Trust #Transparency #ProductIntegrity #SecurityLeadership

One bad conversation can stall a deal.  (Let's fix that.) Here's the trap even the best can fall into: ✅ You said, “Can I get 15 minutes?” ❌ They heard, “You’re just a name on my calendar.” ✅ You said, “Here’s our pricing page.” ❌ They heard, “You’d better be ready to commit.” ✅ You said, “Do you have any questions?” ❌ They heard, “I’m done talking, it's your turn to buy.” In client development, tone is strategy. And the difference between pressure and partnership? Just a few words. Because the real challenge isn’t getting time  with a client. It’s making that time count. Here are 12 proven phrases to build trust  (without sounding like a sales rep): 1. “How have things been going with [X]?” → Feels personal, not transactional. 2. “What’s your thinking around [this topic] these days?” → Opens a door, not a pitch. 3. “What would success look like if everything went right?” → Focuses on their goals, not gaps. 4. “What’s one thing you’d love to improve in 90 days?” → Specific, hopeful, and actionable. 5. “What feels risky or fuzzy about this?” → Makes doubt safe to share. 6. “Want to sketch some options together?” → Co-creates instead of prescribes. 7. “Want me to mock up a few paths forward?” → Shows flexibility, not a fixed pitch. 8. “Want to hear how others tackled this?” → Adds value, zero pressure. 9. “What would need to shift to make this a priority?” → Respects their timeline, invites partnership. 10. “Would a custom version be more helpful?” → Tailors the next step to them. 11. “Great point, can we unpack that together?” → Builds trust through collaboration. 12. “What’s the best way I can support you right now?” → Puts their needs first, signals partnership. These phrases do more than sound better. They feel better. Because they reflect how great BD actually works: 👉 With empathy 👉 With curiosity 👉 With clients, not at them Try one this week. It could turn a stalled deal into a deep conversation. Which one will you lead with? 📌Follow Mo Bunnell for client-growth strategies  that don’t feel like selling.

68% of enterprise buyers trust founders more when they share specific failures instead of polished success stories. 1. Founders who shared detailed breakdowns of specific failures saw more sales conversations. 2. Posts about "product pivot failures" outperformed "success story" content. 3. Enterprise buyers spent much longer time engaging with failure analysis content. 4. Follow-up response rates jumped 287% when outreach referenced specific founder learnings. 5. Deal velocity increased to nearly double when failures were openly discussed during sales process. IT'S CRYSTAL CLEAR. But most founders are still stuck in the "we must look perfect" trap, unknowingly destroying trust with their ideal customers. Here's the reality nobody talks about: Enterprise buyers don't trust polished success stories anymore. They've been burned too many times by vendors who oversold and under-delivered. What they desperately want is proof that you understand the real challenges because you've lived them yourself. But there's a specific framework for turning failures into trust-building content that actually drives pipeline: 1. Focus on one specific failure (not general "lessons learned"). 2. Share exact numbers and metrics. 3. Break down the false assumptions that led to the failure. 4. Detail the specific changes made afterward. 5. Show clear before/after results. The founders who master this framework consistently outperform their competitors in: - Pipeline generation - Sales conversation quality - Deal close rates - Customer retention Because they're building real authority through authenticity, not manufactured "thought leadership."

Some people might find this strange but I "helped" a competitor get an upsell last week. I was on an outbound demo with a prospect that was very happy with their current vendor but ended up taking the call because they wanted one specific piece of functionality that we had. Knowing that the other vendor had this exact functionality I had two options: 1. Not mention it and go for the sale 2. Ask why they weren't using their current vendor for this "Hey Tom - based on our discussion so far, it sounds like you are quite happy with your current vendor. They also have this exact functionality that you are describing. Out of curiosity - is there a reason you aren't using it today?" "Ummm.... I had no idea they had that functionality" The prospect thanked me for my honesty and we ended the call shortly after. Look, here is how I think about sales and it's okay if some people disagree with me: If I'm talking to a prospect and I genuinely don't think that something is in their best interest, I'm not going to try and lie or sell them something. Think about it down the line in this exact scenario: Imagine we went further down into the sales cycle and they ended up telling their current vendor they were going to switch because of this one thing. The vendor would have likely told them that they have the exact functionality they were looking for and the deal probably would have fallen apart...wasting everyone's time. I also know that if anything changes in the future (or if that VP leaves their current role), that we left a positive imagine about our company in their mind. 3 lessons: 1. Have integrity in your sales cycles (it pays dividends) 2. Be genuinely curious and ask the question 3. Do what's best for your prospects and customers Thoughts? #sales

Ethical sales hacks I know now I wish I knew starting out: (Here's how to keep the ball in the air long enough to score) ➠ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁: Building trust isn't just good ethics, it's good business. Early in my career, I learned hard sales might bring quick wins, but trust wins the marathon. Here’s how: • Reputation • Consistency • Authenticity • Transparency ➠ 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: Listening more than talking is a game-changer. Stop thinking about what you’re going to say next. There is nothing more important than giving your full attention to the person in front of you. It's not about convincing; it's about understanding needs and providing solutions: • Active listening • Tailored solutions • Clarifying questions ➠ 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲: I used to think closing was everything. Now I know providing value upfront builds stronger, lasting relationships: • Build credibility • Share knowledge • Solve a small problem for free Prove you can help by actually helping. ➠ 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: In negotiations, honesty creates more than deals—it builds bridges. Overselling or hiding facts can backfire: • Be upfront about limits • Seek win-win outcomes • Don't promise what you can't deliver How you do one thing is how you do everything. ➠ 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ‘𝗡𝗼': Respecting a ‘no’ can be more powerful than pushing a yes. It shows respect and leaves the door open for future opportunities: • Long-term mindset • Respect boundaries • No means not now, not never Don’t ignore them though, there’s nothing wrong with reaching out in the future. There’s nothing better than circling back to share some new info and picking up a new client in the same stride. ➠ 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲: Education is the heart of ethical selling. Help clients make informed decisions, rather than pushing for a sale with: • Clear explanations • Informative content • Honesty about pros and cons And moreover, shine a light on new problems they’ll have to deal with after experiencing your product or service. That’s growth—solve one problem and unlock a new better one. Rinse and repeat. ➠ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Patience in sales was a tough lesson. Rushing clients can lead to resentment. Time can be a powerful tool in building desire and trust: • Don’t rush decisions • Follow-up, don’t push • Build relationships over time ➠ 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: Ethical sales is about constant learning and adapting. Reflect on your interactions, seek feedback, and always aim to improve with: • Self-reflection • Constructive feedback • Continuous improvement 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰; 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆. It’s about doing right by your clients and yourself, building a business that stands the test of time. What’s your take on ethical selling? 💬 (Tell me below) ↓