{"id":1836,"date":"2018-02-14T15:27:31","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T15:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/?p=1836"},"modified":"2023-05-31T05:29:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T09:29:43","slug":"stakeholders-think-love-supplier-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/stakeholders-think-love-supplier-much\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Stakeholders Think You Love a Supplier Too Much?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Valentine\u2019s Day!<\/p>\n<p>No other day of the year screams \u201clove\u201d quite like Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0 So, let\u2019s talk about love and procurement.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, let\u2019s talk about whether stakeholders think you \u201clove\u201d an incumbent supplier too much to be unbiased.\u00a0 Many stakeholders are often suspicious that you choose the supplier that serves them based on \u201cpersonal\u201d reasons, not just business reasons.\u00a0 Here are things they notice that could arouse such suspicions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sweets.<\/strong>\u00a0 Just like you might get a box of chocolates from your sweetheart on Valentine\u2019s Day, your office may get cookies, donuts, or the like delivered from \u2013 or even personally brought in by \u2013 a supplier.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a true procurement professional, you know that you would never allow a chocolate-dipped French cruller to influence you to make a sub-optimal business decision.\u00a0 But, some snarky stakeholders might think you would.\u00a0 Be aware that, even if gifts like sweets fall under the $25 limit of your <a href=\"https:\/\/lms.nextlevelpurchasing.com\/course\/view.php?id=33\">ethics policy<\/a>, they still may create the perception that you are being unethical in your behavior.\u00a0 That\u2019s why some organizations replace gift value limits with strict no-gift policies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A Less-Than-Modestly-Dressed Sales Rep.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been a male procurement professional for any length of time, you\u2019ve seen her:\u00a0 the\u00a0flirty female sales rep.\u00a0 You know, the one whose skirts are a little shorter than those of the average business suit skirts?\u00a0 The one who always has that one blouse button that<em>\u00a0could<\/em> have been buttoned, but isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 That style of dress is no accident on your supplier\u2019s part.\u00a0 Again, no eye candy is going to influence you to make a bad business decision.\u00a0 But you know that your stakeholders are thinking that it does and that there\u2019s no way you\u2019d ever give bad news to a \u201chot\u201d woman.\u00a0 It would be pretty uncomfortable to tell a sales rep how to dress.\u00a0 But what you can do is behave like it doesn\u2019t make a difference if she was wearing a snowsuit or Valentine\u2019s Day lingerie:\u00a0 maintain eye contact, don\u2019t allow your demeanor to become flirtatious, and treat her organization as you would any other supplier.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lunch Dates.\u00a0<\/strong> When suppliers take buyers to lunch, some stakeholders can act as you\u2019ve just accepted a life-altering bribe.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t matter if you just went to Denny\u2019s and had a meal that gave you gas for the rest of the workday.\u00a0 Again, the perception is that something unethical is happening.\u00a0 What can you do?\u00a0 You can decline lunch meetings and meet in the office instead, you can pay for your supplier\u2019s lunch rather than the other way around, or you can invite the suspicious stakeholder to join you with each party paying for their own meal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope this post got you in the mood\u2026to have an ethical Valentine\u2019s Day in procurement!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Recommended Reading<\/b><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lms.nextlevelpurchasing.com\/\">Procurement Ethics Checklist<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lms.nextlevelpurchasing.com\/\">Leveraging SWOT Analysis for Procurement Strategies<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lms.nextlevelpurchasing.com\/course\/view.php?id=5\">Managing Supplier Performance<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/people-dont-quit-procurement-jobs-they-quit-procurement-bosses\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cPeople Don\u2019t Quit Procurement Jobs, They Quit Procurement Bosses\u201d (Edit)\">People Don\u2019t Quit Procurement Jobs, They Quit Procurement Bosses<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/low-cost-country-sourcing-mindset-must-evolve\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cWhat The Low Cost Country Sourcing Mindset Must Evolve To\u201d (Edit)\">What The Low Cost Country Sourcing Mindset Must Evolve To<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/escalating-plant-procurement-problems-centralized-procurement\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cEscalating Plant Procurement Problems To Centralized Procurement\u201d (Edit)\">Escalating Plant Procurement Problems To Centralized Procurement<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/leaders-motivational-choice-make-em-scared-make-em-care\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cThe Leader\u2019s Motivational Choice: Make \u2019em Scared or Make \u2019em Care?\u201d (Edit)\">The Leader\u2019s Motivational Choice: Make \u2019em Scared or Make \u2019em Care?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/will-procurement-part-veterans-day-2018-marketing\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cWill Procurement Be a Part of Veterans\u2019 Day 2018 Marketing?\u201d (Edit)\">Will Procurement Be a Part of Veterans\u2019 Day 2018 Marketing?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lms.nextlevelpurchasing.com\/\"><b>NLPA Learning<\/b><\/a><b>:<\/b>\u00a0Looking for authoritative procurement templates, tools, webinars, and more? Stop trying to create resources from scratch and start taking advantage of having exactly what you need right at your fingertips in\u00a0NLPA Learning.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Valentine\u2019s Day! No other day of the year screams [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.4 (Yoast SEO v19.13) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Do Stakeholders Think You Love a Supplier Too Much? - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/stakeholders-think-love-supplier-much\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do Stakeholders Think You Love a Supplier Too Much?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Happy Valentine\u2019s Day! 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