To see ourselves as others see us...
It's a rare gift
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion…1
Hello again, my lovely👋🏻🤩
Today, we're diving into a topic that's often overlooked but can be a game-changer for your business: understanding your suppliers' perceptions of your current relationship and their plans for the future.
Buckle up, my sweet summer child, because this journey into the world of supplier insights is about to add some serious fuel to your strategic planning fire!
Why Supplier Perceptions Matter
Imagine you're on a first date. You're all dressed up, trying to make a good impression, but you have no idea what your date thinks of you.
Sooooo not true, right?
Well, that's essentially what you're doing if you're not tapping into your suppliers' perceptions of your business.
Understanding how your suppliers view you is like having a backstage pass to your own performance.
Are you the rockstar customer they can't wait to work with, or are you more like that one-hit-wonder they're considering dropping?
This knowledge is pure gold, my lovely, and here's why:
🎯 Relationship Strength: Knowing where you stand helps you nurture the relationships that matter most.
🎯 Negotiation Power: If you're their favorite customer, you might just score better deals. If not, well, it's time to turn on the charm!
🎯 Resource Allocation: You can focus your energy on improving those relationships that need work and capitalizing on the strong ones - or those that have the greatest long-term collaborative partnership potential.
Time for a true story…
The whole concept of what I call 360° Horizon Planning began in the mid-1990s, with a piece of consultancy I (and the team at Firn Crichton Roberts Ltd) worked on for one of Scotland’s largest printing businesses.
We’d just helped them go through a significant organisational restructure, and one of the topics that came up for discussion was how the business (and their team) were really viewed by their key suppliers, clients, and (most importantly) former clients.
So we went out and asked the questions – not just about the perceptions that these strategic partners had of the business, but what was happening in their world that might impact on our client.
The answers were interesting – to say the least2 - and you would be astounded at how much information3 these people were prepared to share with us. Far from being reticent, they were only too delighted that someone cared enough about their opinions and thoughts to take the time to meet with them and discuss these.
The upshot was that by acting on the information we’d gathered from these surveys, and feeding it into their strategic planning, our client more than tripled their revenues over the following 3 years.
And doubled their exit valuation.
We never repeated this for any other client (although we spent the next 7 years saying we ought to offer this as a service to other businesses but never did) – the why is a story in its own right…4
Peeking into the Crystal Ball: Supplier Plans and Industry Developments
Now, let's talk about why understanding your suppliers' plans and industry developments is like having a crystal ball for your business:
🔮 Technological Advancements: Stay ahead of the curve by knowing what new tech your suppliers are cooking up.
🔮 Industry Trends: Spot potential disruptions or opportunities before they hit you like a ton of bricks.
🔮 Supplier Health: Keep tabs on your suppliers' stability to avoid any nasty supply chain surprises.
The Strategic Planning Trifecta: SLEPT, SWOT, and Supplier Insights
You're familiar with SLEPT (Social, Legal, Economic, Political, Technological) and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analyses, right?
If you aren’t yet, you can refresh your memory here, and here 😎
Well, my sweet summer child, adding supplier insights to this mix is like upgrading from a two-dimensional chess game to a three-dimensional masterpiece.
SLEPT Analysis on Steroids
When you understand what's happening in your suppliers' world, you're essentially getting a ground-level view of SLEPT factors:
🔭 Social: Are your suppliers facing labor challenges? This could impact your supply chain.
🔭 Legal: New regulations in your suppliers' industries might trickle down to you.
🔭 Economic: Economic pressures on your suppliers could affect pricing or availability.
🔭 Political: Political changes in your suppliers' regions? That's your early warning system.
🔭 Technological: Innovations in your supply chain could be your next competitive advantage.
SWOT Analysis: The Supplier Edition
Now, let's sprinkle some supplier insights into your SWOT analysis:
🤔 Strengths: Are you a top customer for your key suppliers? That's a strength to leverage!
🤔 Weaknesses: If suppliers see room for improvement in your relationship, that's a weakness to address.
🤔 Opportunities: Supplier innovations or new capabilities could open doors for your business.
🤔 Threats: Supplier instability or industry disruptions are threats you need to prepare for.
The Art of Gathering Supplier Intelligence
So, how do you become the Sherlock Holmes of supplier insights? Here are some tried-and-true methods:
The Questionnaire: A well-crafted survey can unearth a treasure trove of information.
Face-to-Face Chats: Nothing beats a good old-fashioned conversation for building relationships and gathering insights.
Extra points for using the questionnaire during this. You’ll get much more interesting information by asking the questions to their face, than asking them to complete yet another on-line survey5, and you’re letting them know how much you value their time and insights…Regular Check-ins: Make supplier visits a habit, not a rare occurrence.
Open-Ended Questions: Sometimes, the best insights come from letting suppliers speak freely about their thoughts and concerns.
But since I know that taking the first step is often what Founders and CEOs struggle with the most, I’ve pulled all this (including a questionnaire) into this handy primer:
Putting It All Together: Your Strategic Planning Superpower
By weaving supplier insights into your strategic planning, you're essentially creating a 360-degree view of your business environment.
You're not just looking at your own strengths and weaknesses, or the broad market trends – you're understanding the very fabric of your supply chain and how it's evolving, so you can:
🎯 Anticipate Changes: And be proactive, not reactive, to shifts in your supply chain.
🎯 Not Just Collaborate, but Innovate: Partnering with suppliers to develop new products or processes that benefit both sides.
🎯 Mitigate Risks: Identify potential supply chain disruptions before they happen.
🎯 Optimize Relationships: Build stronger, more mutually beneficial links with your suppliers to give you partnerships that are more than just financial transactions…
The Bottom Line
My lovely, understanding your suppliers' perceptions and plans isn't just a nice-to-have – it's a strategic imperative.
It's the difference between playing checkers and chess in the business world.
By incorporating these insights into your SLEPT and SWOT analyses, you're not just planning for the future; you're shaping it.
Remember, in the grand tapestry of business, your suppliers are more than just thread – they're an integral part of the pattern. By understanding their perspective and plans, you're not just creating a strategy; you're crafting a masterpiece.
So, my sweet summer child, go forth and conquer!
Engage with your suppliers, ask the right questions, and weave their insights into your strategic planning. Your future self will thank you for the foresight and the competitive edge you've just gained.
And yes, the last in this series of posts will be about the conversations you need to have with your customers as well…
Until next time, keep fueling that founder's fire! 🔥
Go! Confront the problem! Fight! Win! And call me when you get back, dahling. I enjoy our visits…
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Thank you for reading Founders' Fuel™. I write these posts so that I can help people like you become the leaders their businesses (and dreams) deserve.
This post is public so please feel free to share it with someone that you think will appreciate or benefit from it.😎🤜🏻🤛🏻
The incomparable Robert Burns, of course… Last stanza of “To a Louse” - and by a complete coincidence the BBC selected this for the same day as my birthday 🙈
Having to tell the Owner/CEO (in as constructive a way as possible) that their son (head of sales and marketing) was an offensive, skirt-chasing POS, and the main reason why they had lost their most prestigious client. That was so. much. fun. for a 25-year-old me 🙄
Covered by commercial-in-confidence agreements of course
The short version is that my dad (CEO and Founder of Firn Crichton Roberts) had a tendency to be deeply attracted by the next shiny shiny - and was also fairly shit at (and pretty uncomfortable with) proactive marketing to businesses. As opposed to his awesome skills at cultivating relationships that led to winning public sector invitations to tender 😎
Which if they can be arsed to complete it at all, is likely to be delegated to a pretty junior member of staff…