What advice do you have for marketing leaders dealing with particularly challenging vendors?
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VP of Marketing in IT Servicesa year ago
It depends on how they are being challenging but from my experience, my team works very closely with all of our vendors. They are almost an extension of our team. We work on the same collaboration tools/platforms and keep weekly meetings to stay aligned. When I have had vendors that are not performing to the level required in their contract, I usually try to have a one-on-one with the owner/senior manager/account owner to give them my honest feedback, and advice on how they could improve and give them the opportunity to make it right. If they still continue to have performance issues then it may be time to cut ties and find an alternative option. CMOa year ago
Always best to be open and honest with any partner - vendor, client, peer. I think communication solves for 90% of issues. Set appropriate expectations and refer back to those for challenging partnerships and ask why? Performance, output, timing, pricing issues usually point right back to expectations and not be clear about those in the beginning or both parties not understanding. After accessing and trying to solve via communications unsuccessfully, then moving to Plan B should be done professionally but quickly.