One of my colleagues once said to me that no single member of our team could ever know everything we needed to know to be successful, but if we all worked together, there was nothing we couldn’t achieve. He was right, and over many years in retail tech I realised just how right he was.
In 2001, Retail Assist won a support contract in competition with a much larger, and more established supplier: we were obviously delighted; it was a massive win for us and provided a significant boost in terms of business growth. I asked our new client afterwards why they’d gone with us. Was it our superior technical skills? Our significant retail knowledge? Maybe our very comprehensive service offering, or maybe we were just ‘more cost effective’. The answer was none of the usual afore mentioned ‘supplier selection criteria’; I was told that the difference was that they liked us and could see us fitting in with their culture. After all the evidence we’d offered up in the sales pitch to support our bid, this was the one thing that we didn’t shout about. It was ‘just us and the way we are’ but it obviously struck a chord and made the difference. This is the power of people.
From that day on I started to see our skills, knowledge and experience as things our clients and prospects should be able to take for granted. After all, if we were going to be looking after their business-critical technology, or we were re-inventing their supply chain systems, then the fact that we could do it must be a given. However, whilst our services and technology were comparable to our competitors, how we worked as a team was our secret sauce; this was unique to us.
All retailers looking to engage services or deploy solutions must ask themselves whether they are going to be happy working with the supplier in the long term. They need to look beyond the ‘A Team’ that they meet in the sales process and delve into how the relationship might work if things aren’t going so well, or if an unexpected event occurs that means changes to the terms of the initial engagement are needed. Despite everyone’s good intentions and best efforts, things don’t always run to plan and it’s how people react in times of adversity that can make or break a relationship. It’s not just the “what happens when things go wrong” questions that are important either, it is important to know what happens when things go well; how will success be sustained? Changing suppliers or swapping out systems is no longer a point-to-point exercise. Given the degree and frequency or change that affects retail, both the client and the supplier must be prepared for the journey they are embarking on together. The road to transformation is long, winding and not always clearly signposted. Good working relationships have to deliver consistently and reliably despite the prevailing conditions.
The word ‘partnership‘ must be used for more than pre-sales sloganeering. If the relationship between a client and a supplier is to become a partnership, then it’s important to:
- Set clear expectations about what needs to be achieved, how, by whom, and by when. Work on these points together. Be wary of suppliers who always say ‘yes’.
- Always be honest and transparent when discussing the tasks in hand, and the progress that is being made. Not sharing information is not a corner stone for a long-term relationship.
- Embrace each other’s strengths and weaknesses and work as though you are one team.
- Allow the partnership to grow.
- There are some that believe hard commercial negotiations with suppliers is the right approach to get the best deal: that’s not always the case. It is important for the client and the supplier to be open about the benefits they want to derive from the partnership. These aren’t always financial but respecting each other’s commercial position is very important.
When I first started working with Martin Schofield and Retail247, I was struck by how well aligned the team were to serve the retail industry. I’m not just referring to their ability to provide appropriate services or their solutions obvious functional fit: I noted how the team thinks, performs and adds value across the company’s expanding client base. Martin’s previous roles in well-known retail brands and larger technology suppliers means he has the experience to appreciate what it takes to create a business that offers the best of both worlds. Retail247 are proving that they are an ideal long-term partner for retailers that need to get the most out of their technology investment.