Managing vendor relationships is important because many key aspects of your event will be partially or fully reliant on vendor performance. Vendor relationship management helps private individuals and businesses control the quality of their events and minimize risk when it comes to working with independent contractors.

Good vendor relationship management can:

• Improve the quality of interaction between vendors and event managers
• Minimize costs of working with independent contractors
• Improve your reputation
• Help to build long-term winning partnerships
• Impact your community positively
• Help to maintain standards and accountability

Vendors may work independently, but their individual impact may be vital to an event’s success.

If you were to hire a floral designer but had a poor relationship with that vendor, or the vendor was unreliable, you may be left with out-of-season arrangements or be forced to buy last-minute replacement bouquets.

If you were to hire an audio engineer to cover sound and technical support but fail to communicate your preferences or issues with sound quality, your work conference may suffer from speaker and microphone malfunctions, disrupting the professional atmosphere.

What is Vendor Relationship Management?

Vendor relationship management is intentionally nurturing buyer-to-supplier relationships in a mutually beneficial way.

Vendors in event planning provide many of the staples needed for successful conferences, weddings and galleries. Without them, there would be limited or low-quality resources to bring your event vision to life.

Investing in vendor relationship management creates a win-win situation in the form of a partnership. Strong vendor relationships create security and clear expectations for both the vendors and the event manager.

Vendor relationship management may take many forms. Some may use software to automate the process, track performance and communicate goals. Others may spend one-on-one time with each vendor to foster more personal connections in their business.

Many people who choose CrystalView for their wedding or organizational event trust our event management professionals to coordinate and manage vendor relationships. We strive to preserve each client’s peace of mind and ensure they can enjoy a worry-free event that goes according to plan.

Ways to Enhance Vendor-Client Relationships

• Consistent Communication: Creating a detailed plan to maintain communication with your vendors can help to encourage accountability on both sides. Vendors need to be kept in the loop concerning changes to your event plan, and you need to be aware of changes to theirs.

• Referral Networking: Vendors may be independent contractors, but they rarely operate on their own. In most cases, they are connected to an entire network of industry professionals. Nurturing relationships with your vendors can help establish a referral network where both parties benefit.

• Measurable Objectives: Vendor relationship management is a professional strategy to promote business growth for both the supplier and buyer. By creating a plan and enforcing measurable objectives, you can track the progress of your relationship and document the ways that it’s been mutually beneficial. 

• Expectation Management: Setting clear expectations can help start partnerships off on the right foot. Vendors possess many resources that ensure events run smoothly, but if expectations are unfulfilled on either end, there will be conflict.

• Connection: Taking the time to learn about your vendors can help you determine whether they are a good fit for a long-term partnership. This is an important step for investing in the longevity of your vendor relationships.

Quality Assurance

A common problem that event planners of all types face is struggling to find quality vendors. Not because quality vendors are extremely rare, but because it can take time to identify the best ones and develop good working relationships. By investing in relationship management, you can establish quality standards for both parties that lead your partnership in the right direction. 

Ethical Relationship Management Benefits Your Reputation

Ethics are important when it comes to building healthy relationships with vendors. It may seem beneficial in the short term to give preferential treatment to certain vendors to gain their trust, but it can backfire in the long run.

Vendor relationship management relies on ethical principles to ensure agreements between parties are fair. Being known as an event company that is always fair and open with its vendors will improve your reputation in your community.

Host Your Next Event with CrystalView in Fairfax, VA

Are you looking to plan your next work conference, charity or luxury event? Choosing CrystalView in Fairfax, VA frees up event hosts from having to deal with the labor-intensive act of finding the right vendors and managing each individual vendor relationship. We thoroughly vet the vendors we work with and have nurtured relationships that allow us to bring the best quality experiences to you.

To schedule a tour of our venues and get more details on our services, contact us today.