Our advice: make everyone’s day by working with mature and trustworthy suppliers who know what they are supposed to do and don’t need to be micromanaged or controlled.
How to manage vendors
Last year I joined a webinar titled ‘How to manage suppliers’. To be honest, I felt like I was listening to adults discussing how to control teenagers. That’s why I couldn’t resist asking if the panellists ever had a vendor who didn’t have to be managed, who just did their job independently. Luckily, one of our clients was on the panel and she happily confirmed that, indeed, some vendors don’t need to be managed.
As independently as possible
Sometimes, for administrative reasons, our corporate clients ask us to cooperate with a ‘middleman’. If that’s the case we kindly request to work as independently as possible. We are fine with receiving initiations via an RMC, and that they deal with some other administrative tasks, but it’s really not a good idea to let them manage us as it doesn’t add value.
Expect the unexpected
Working for partners in 140 countries, representing nearly 100 nationalities, people of all backgrounds, in various stages of their lives doesn’t match a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Our consultants never know what to expect and that’s why they love their work. Referring to Little Britain, our computer truly ‘never says no’.
Quality beats process
As experts in our field we know how to handle our cases. We realise processes are important, but as every partner’s situation is unique, quality of service (obviously within the scope of the corporate client’s partner support program) is our main goal. So we don’t tick boxes just because they are supposed to be ticked.
Know your strengths
Our cooperation with Harmony for Inter IKEA proves it’s absolutely possible to work with independent vendors. The basis of our cooperation is respect and trust, empowering each other’s strengths, saving significant costs for our corporate client.
Expat partner satisfaction
Last but definitely not least: thanks to this approach our processes aren’t paralysed due to unnecessary middlemen or box-ticking, resulting in an extraordinarily high level of satisfaction for our services. And that, after all, is our goal: helping expat partners to find a fulfilling occupation abroad – whatever that might be.
