Think for a moment on this powerful African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Human ancestors learned 2 million years ago that we are stronger together. Collaborating and building relationships make it easier to survive and thrive.
This is true in life and in procurement. Our procurement strategies succeed when we collaborate and build relationships with other procurement team members, other stakeholders at our organizations, our customers, and our suppliers. That last group is especially important.
In the age of procurement, it’s easy to reduce our supplier relationships to a shallow transaction with a name on a screen. But relationships are stronger and more beneficial when they are built on meaningful connections and long-term collaborations. Anyone can click the ‘Add to Cart’ button and order an item for next-day or even same-day delivery, but this is without authentic human interaction. Neither party knows the other’s back story, motivations, or goals. And there is no motivation to do more than the basic transaction. If the item is out of stock, the customer is out of luck. If shipping is running late, the customer must wait.
Procurement professionals have the power to add value to their organizations by cultivating deeper relationships with their key suppliers. When you know your supplier and understand her business cycles, you can place orders at a time when you are assured the best service. And when she knows your inventory cycle, she can plan to have stock ready for you. You work together to make business easier and more successful for each other.
It’s important to remember that we’re humans working in procurement. Humans thrive with healthy, positive relationships. Building strong relationships with suppliers based on trust and information sharing improves overall supplier relationship management and comes with a host of other benefits.
Let’s look at three key benefits: collaboration, knowledge transfer, and culture.
Collaboration opens doors to new opportunities
Strong supplier relationships open opportunities for collaboration, which, in turn, enables procurement innovations. Managing strong relationships will mitigate risk while also allowing collaboration to flourish and deliver value, including through increased volume, greater competitive edge, greater awareness, or even lessons learned.
For instance, a ProcureAbility client in the electric utility industry anticipated a significant increase in job volumes due to a recent program focused on constructing new powerlines. However, incumbent vendors were overburdened by administrative tasks, process inefficiencies, and limited job visibility, hindering their ability to proactively plan their work and offer competitive pricing.
As a solution, vendors were asked by the client to provide input on what would make the planning more streamlined and cost-effective. This led to collaborative workshops with vendors to brainstorm potential options to streamline processes, drive operational efficiency, and reduce bottlenecks. Consequently, the decision
was made to negotiate lump sum rates, but they had insufficient information to propose an appropriate rate, causing negotiations to include inflated numbers.
A pilot program was launched with a mutually agreed-upon flexible pricing model, clearer work definitions, and access to open-book data to support the development of a longer-term strategy. Based on the success of the pilot program, the client and vendor achieved improved workplan visibility, job forecasting, and reduction in labor hours. This ultimately led to the decision to implement a tiered pricing model longer term, a solution that both the client and vendor collaborated on and agreed to together.
How strong supplier relationships can encourage knowledge transfer
Strong procurement relationships can also create a supportive environment where sharing knowledge is encouraged and rewarded.
Recently, a client in the multi-state utility industry ran into challenges that impacted the manufacturing and preservation of wood poles. Wooden utility poles are treated with chemicals to help them withstand the environment. Traditionally, the preservation process involved a chemical treatment called pentachlorophenol, which was globally labelled a carcinogen in 2015 and phased out in the US by the EPA in 2022. These regulatory changes meant the client would have to completely change how they treated and preserved wooden utility poles.
Knowledgeable of the prior chemical preservation process, the vendor helped to educate the client on preservation alternatives such as different substrates including fiberglass, concrete & metal and the advantages and disadvantages of each process. The trusted vendor analyzed the utilization and placement of the poles for the client, and recommended the most favorable solution – copper naphthenate which is compliant with local, state and federal regulations and best meets the client’s needs.
Fostering resilient supplier relationships also tend to have benefits, including cost savings, supply chain resilience, and stronger communication. These relationships give partners the opportunity to grow and develop together, bringing out the best in each other and each other’s products and services.
When ProcureAbility partnered with a large food manufacturer to improve the shipping and delivery of specialized cleaning chemicals used to eliminate food-borne bacteria, current processes around delivery, storage, and chemical quantities proved inefficient. Traditionally, chemicals were delivered individually in drums and barrels, and in smaller quantities. The manufacturer was then responsible for storing a multitude of chemicals and combining various types together when needed, which was inefficient, expensive and time-consuming. When brainstorming the best solution, vendors worked closely with ProcureAbility and offered their expertise. Taking a clean-sheet approach together, the teams proposed an innovative solution: shipping bulk chemical precursors that could be easily mixed on-site into the required cleaning agents. This resulted in lower costs and greater efficiency for the large food manufacturer.
As part of this collaborative effort, ProcureAbility and supplier teams also evaluated the Clean-in-Place (CIP) technology installed on the manufacturing lines to identify opportunities for optimization. Vendors shared their technical knowledge by exploring alternatives, including whether certain processes should rely more heavily on CIP or not. Through analysis, the teams ultimately confirmed for the manufacturer that its existing CIP setup was already efficient and optimized.
The importance of cultural awareness
The age of global supply chains not only brings about global risks, but it also gives procurement professionals the opportunity to work with people from around the world and learn more about their cultures. With more than $350 billion of materials, components, and products imported into the United States annually, chances are you’ve connected with an international supplier at some point.1
Cultural competency, or having an understanding of other cultures, is a leg-up when it comes to building supplier relationships. Understanding the cultural and operational nuances of international suppliers is crucial when adjusting to new trade policies. Cultural competence enables procurement professionals to communicate effectively, negotiate favorable terms, and foster resilience in the face of geopolitical shifts.
These perspectives also tend to be the creative link that drives innovation and growth in projects that might otherwise languish. Respecting and even celebrating other cultures helps your diverse suppliers feel like they belong and are valued members of the partnership. And when people feel that they have a place on a team, they are more engaged and productive. These diverse connections grow your business.
Having cultural competence in the workforce allows you to be a better negotiator, collaborator, and leader. When a procurement professional understands a supplier’s perspective before interacting with them, they can leverage multiple negotiation levers to help both sides reach a win-win.
Looking ahead: Reap the benefits of strong supplier relationships
Procurement professionals are in a unique position to build deep supplier relationships that deliver benefits through dedicated collaboration, increased credibility, and new ideas inspired by diverse cultural perspectives. These combined boost resilience, giving partners in deep supplier relationships a competitive edge through groundbreaking innovations and loyalty to each other’s goals. Together, these relationship benefits are the fuel that boosts companies to achieve their growth ambitions.
Sources: 1 Bureau of Economic Analysis, “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, April 2025”
Author Bio
Joe Adamski, Managing Director at ProcureAbility. Joe has more than 12 years of advisory and consulting experience centered on strategic procurement and large-scale transformations. He has deep experience in launching and executing programs focused on strategic sourcing, supply chain, procurement strategy, organizational design, and transformations.
Earlier in his career, Joe was an Air Force pilot before joining A.T. Kearney in their consumer practice. He has consulted with numerous Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries, including utilities, CPGs, grocery, retail, telecom, apparel, food and beverage, and government.
Joe holds a B.S. degree in Physics from the United States Air Force Academy and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. He enjoys boating, hiking, and spending time in the outdoors.
Blog header image by Ambre Estève on Unsplash
