Condo Media - August 2011 - 45

Empower your vendors. Just as managers dislike being micromanaged, vendors don’t like it either. Let them know upfront what is expected of their service, and what you expect your involvement, if any, to be. Then stick to it. Fool me once … One of my favorite adages of management is that I give people all my trust until they lose it. It’s no different with vendors. Unless you know otherwise for certain, vendors deserve trust until they break it. Once they do, you must be the judge as to how many chances they receive from you to make it right. If a vendor screws up, deal with it … now. Tell the vendor what happened and why, in the same manner you would like to be told if the situation were reversed. Let them know in a firm and professional manner what they can do to make it better — and allow them to fix it. Most vendors will be grateful you handled it in this manner and will be happy to take remedial action.

Manager’s Pet Peeves
“There is a vendor who always calls me up when I’m super busy asking me to lunch so he can pitch his new product/service. It drives me nuts.” So tell him. Just call and tell him you are too busy, not interested or not able to attend lunch at this time. Or, tell him that calling you at 8:00 a.m. on the Monday after a three-day holiday makes you grumpier than usual and less likely to use his service. He’ll probably be glad you told him, back off, or know to call at more appropriate times. “My pet peeve is a vendor that hounds us for checks — they just can’t seem to understand our check schedules.” Yes, we all know this one well. Look to yourselves, managers. Prepare a schedule that shows the vendors exactly which days their invoices must be in to get paid by a certain date. If there are going to be extenuating

circumstances, note that on the schedule (holidays, time off, etc.). “I hate going to industry functions, because I am always pounced on by vendors. All they want is my business.” A vendor introducing him or herself at an industry function and handing you their card it not exactly pouncing on you. It’s business as it’s done the world over. Be gracious, accept the business card and move on. Or, you may be surprised to find that you may need the product or service, or you know someone who does. “I can’t get a bid on time.” Unless there are extenuating circumstances, there is no excuse for not receiving a bid on time. If you have provided a written request for proposal (RFP) that includes a due date/time and the vendor has chosen to ignore it, move on to the next vendor. “The proposals some vendors put out are so unprofessional I hate to give them to my board. But, I know the vendor does great work.” Remember that most vendors, especially those in the construction-related trades may be great at their trade, but lousy at office work. When this happened to me, I let the vendor know right away how their proposal looked. Almost always, they are glad you let them know the problem. Unfortunately, some times you may have to be the one to give them instructions on how to fix it. This may be worth your time if you know the vendor does exceptional work. “I can’t tell you how many times I have had to correct letters or opinions put out by our attorney’s office, or cover for them because they don’t have their work out when they are supposed to. They make so much money, and here I am correcting their work!” They may make more money than you, but lawyers are vendors and should be used as such. Unfortunately, they are some of the worst offenders when it comes to not completing assignments on time. Let the lawyers know that you expect service as you would from any other vendor: On time, accurate and efficient work. Send

inappropriate work back, and don’t feel as if you have to cover. If the lawyer gives you grief, treat them as you would any other vendor. They aren’t irreplaceable.

Other Relationship Factors
There are a lot of new vendors out there — and that’s good and bad. As the economy sputters, we see many in the trades come around (again) looking for work within associations. Some are highly skilled and can supply superior product or service for less than you could have received it three years ago. This is the market at work. Supply exceeds demand, so supply prices go down and that’s a good thing. The bad thing may be that these trades don’t understand the nature of working in associations and all the little quirks that go along with them. Before hiring an unknown, make sure you have a standard of practice set forth in

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CONDO MEDIA • AUGUST 2011

Condo Media - August 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - August 2011