As a media company, Quirk’s is familiar with the power of language. Be it in the magazine, blog or even on Twitter, we work to use words that best represent our company to the marketing research industry. So when Brooks Deaton, NASCAR, submitted an article sharing the reasons behind his choice to remove the word “vendor” from his vocabulary, we were all ears. Coincidentally, less than two weeks later, research supplier Isabelle Albanese submitted an article on why she believes the market research industry should stop using the term vendor and focus more on relationships.   

Knowing that the topic rings true on both sides of the table, we are publishing the articles side-by-side in the e-newsletter. After reading the supplier-side perspective below, check out the client-side article, “Using language that represents your impact.”

Editor’s note: Isabelle Albanese is president and founder of Consumer Truth, a Hinsdale, Ill., research firm.

After being in a client-service role in the advertising agency, market research and marketing consulting businesses for nearly 30 years, I recently had an epiphany: Relationships are everything. You’re either in a relationship or you’re a vendor.

WhatIs.com defines vendor as:

“A vendor, also known as a supplier, is an individual or company that sells goods or services to someone else in the economic production chain.”

A vendor sells. A vendor sells something to someone in a chain of supply and demand. I’m thinking cars, insurance, carpeting, etc. Can you see how far removed the very act of selling is from serving? To me, this is pathetic. It’s no wonder vendors can be replaced. Easily. Being a vendor inherently means I have placed myself in a position to be compared based on rational, objective, inside-the-box myopic attributes. As a vendor, I can easily be reduced to a lowest-bid scenario. I am one of many participants in an RFP. If my proposal doesn’t tick off the boxes and come within budget, I’m on the other end of “we have decided to go in another direction.” Vendors are only as good as their last deliverable. Vendors supply.

Relationships are so much more complex and multifaceted – rooted in emotion and visceral ties that can’t be compared from one person to another. I’ve won and lost projects because of a relationship I did or did not have. Relationships are built on experience. So, if I worked with you on a project and did a great job, you tend to like me – as a person – as well as my work. If I continue to deliver professionally and consistently and we also happen to get along and connect with each other as human beings, our relationship intensifies. Just like any non-business relationship does.

If I’m in a relationship, I’m viewed from the angle of a broader lens. The prism of my relationship is both light and dark; colorful and grey; sparkly and dull; sharp and flat. I am not esteemed by one project, one comment, one report, one recommendation, one bad judgement, one mistake, one deliverable or lack thereof. 

I don’t supply – I contribute. And my contributions are considered to be a valuable part of the relationship, unique and constructive. Not only because they like me or connect with me but also because I have contributed to furthering their professional goals, objectives and strategic vision. I have presented a unique solution or angle that provides a different viewpoint on a problem and a solution. A vendor/supplier/salesperson cannot possibly occupy that same space.

Apparently, clients want to be in-relationship with us, their marketing and insights partners. They don’t want to be sold to. They want long-term relationships. One client-side verbatim from Quirk’s 2017 Q Report supports this – even while using the “v” word:

“Vendors are focused on selling and not on building a relationship. A sales goal is a short-term view. A relationship is a long-term view and more profitable.”

I have never considered myself a vendor or a supplier. At the very least, I have considered myself a partner – someone who works with my clients to achieve their goals. Someone who is trusted to deliver and is honest if they cannot meet previously set goals. And even though a couple of my best clients still regard all insights professionals as “vendors,” I know they mean it with the utmost affection and appreciation.

A partnership 

When I think about partnership, I must think about those relationships where I possess the client role. I hire facilities to recruit and host my research. I use online and mobile platforms to find truths for my clients’ brands. I hire accountants, attorneys, banks, realtors and financial advisors to provide expertise in running my business. I find I give repeat business to those partners that understand and share my goals and values; those that run their business in similar ways to how I run mine.

Here are the top three things that have worked best for me over the years in establishing a partnership rather than a vendor relationship with my clients and what I look for in those businesses that provide a service to me or my business:

Tap into your inner girl (or boy) scout. Be honest. Tell the truth. Be trustworthy. This is an expectation for all of us. Be honest and truthful about your findings, your recommendations, your supporting evidence, your capabilities and your experience. Honesty means you have integrity and that leads to trustworthiness. And isn’t trust the foundation upon which all strong, long-term relationships are built?

Do what you say you are going to do. If you commit to a certain timing, then be there – deliver to that timetable. If you tout technological, methodological or target expertise, then have it and deliver on it. Be consistent in this delivery of commitments and services because this represents you and your business. 

  • Be yourself. You are who you are – your personality, values and passions. You can’t (and shouldn’t) camouflage this. Clients are going to connect with you personally – or not – based on who you are and how you present yourself. If your self-presentation is false, it will be discovered and cause immediate loss of credibility, which can be difficult if not impossible to recover.

Unless you are in a true relationship with your clients – having a personal and visceral connection with another human – you are merely a vendor, a seller, a “short-termer.” Let’s lose the “v” word. We are humans first. We are partners. We are contributors. We are emotional beings. We are in it for the long-term.