A lot of my job involves managing vendors. Like many parts of my day at work, it's often drudgery. This is a lot like poker, where you must work through the same situation over and over again, looking for something unusual.
I ask the same questions of every vendor. "Are you profitable? Cash flow positive? Who are your investors?"
But I do it because I am invested in my vendors. They form a piece of the infrastructure of my company. And I think you get better results when you treat your vendors well. When they do me a big favor, I send them a box of chocolates. I call them and tell them what they're doing right, so they don't only hear from me when something's going wrong. I visit them (some people never do this) and take them out to eat. And I communicate problems through disappointment, not anger, since the productive arc of a conversation without anger gets me so much better results.
One time I remember I was reporting a serious problem with a vendor's billing system. It had the potential to make all our bills to our clients inaccurate. I carefully measured my tone of voice through the conversation, which I know my vendor noticed, and then I hit her with the hammer, "You understand that inside I'm freaking out, but that by not screaming, I'm hoping you are the epitome of speed and customer service in solving this problem." Of course she understood, and I've always gotten excellent customer service from her ever since.
It's good to be a vendor of Mindshare. However becoming one is sometimes a challenge, especially if you don't do your homework. Over time my ego has shrunk and I've developed a finely tuned radar for people that are pitching me. "Why are they pitching me?" I wonder. How did they decide I'm special? Telling me my company has an impressive track record isn't good enough, what about our track record impressed you? Tell me facts, not platitudes.
And so it was that a prospective vendor called me the other day with an otherwise reasonable pitch poorly executed...
