It amazes me how often customers and clients treat their vendors like crap. I don't understand why people don't treat their vendors better. How often does the guy yelling at the flight attendant, when a flight is delayed, get a seat on the next one? Does the food come any faster if you abuse the waiter?
I see this often in sales. Customers beat up their vendors. I've seen flat out abuse. This is a problem. It's not a good strategy. I am sure it gets better pricing in the short term, but the damage to the relationship can be huge.
It's easy to forget we need our vendors as much as they need us. Yes, we have alternatives, and therefore we can expect certain things, but to think it's OK to treat vendors like shit to get what you want is not the right thinking.
The companies that beat up their vendors lose in the long run. Just as companies who treat their customers poorly, customers who treat their vendors poorly will lose out on their biggest supporters. Getting the best deal, preferential treatment, just released information, additional features, special support etc. doesn't come from kicking around your vendors and suppliers. It comes from having strong, mutually beneficial relationships.
Give what you expect to get. Every company that beats up its vendors and suppliers is a vendor to someone else. Would they want their vendors treating their sales team the same way?
Learning how to manage your vendors in a way that provides you the best deal is critical. Companies that develop good vendor management approaches will not only get better deals, but will get preferential treatment . . . and who doesn't like preferential treatment.
Everyone gets customer service, but few get vendor service. You don't think it matters? What do you think the obnoxious guy who got stuck in the airport overnight would say?
Getting fired from a vendor hurts, I promise you.