Why You Should Invest in Vendor Education and Outreach
Written by Kyle Williams, VP of Supplier Operations at mdf commerce
Investing in educating vendors is essential. Your guidance builds trust with your suppliers and can make all the difference in the success of your community and the vendor's business. By having vendors educated on how to do business with government agencies, there is an increase in compliance, fewer bid submission errors, and a higher chance of a long-standing business relationship within your community.
As the Vice President of Supplier Operations at mdf commerce, my team and I work with the vendor community on a daily basis. We often receive feedback from customers struggling to identify suitable solicitations for their businesses. This is particularly true for those interested in government selling for the first time, who may feel overwhelmed and uncertain about where to begin. These inquiries underscore the need for better education and communication between all parties – buyers, suppliers, and technology partners. With over 5 years of experience helping suppliers find the right tools to succeed in government selling, I strongly believe in supporting public sector vendors, especially those who are new to government bidding. It should not be painful for your suppliers to do business with you.
Continuous education and information sharing are crucial aspects of the procurement process. By offering educational support to vendors about the process, we can promote transparency, which results in more competitive bids. This approach also helps vendors better understand your buying organization processes, policies, and laws, which ultimately leads to higher-quality products and services.
Providing the Basics
Assisting vendors, especially those new to government selling, in understanding the requirements, certifications, and processes needed by your organization can significantly impact their awareness of the buying process. To aid you in formulating what needs to be shared, here are some basic questions commonly asked within the supplier community:
- Where can they find your solicitations?
- Where can they find resources related to your organization?
- What are the requirements and certifications the vendor needs to have on hand to do business with you?
- What is the dollar threshold limit for minority and disadvantaged-focused solicitations?
- What is the dollar threshold for different types of solicitations?
- What are the contact details for your office?
Answering these questions and providing other crucial information can help guide new vendors in the right direction and alleviate some of their stress. Once the information is gathered, there are several free ways to distribute it, including:
- Social Media: The easiest way to spread information within your locality,
- Your website: Have it immediately visible within your website so that first-time visitors can see the information directly,
- Pamphlets or brochures: Printing brochures would be a great idea, and placing them visibly in your office or local libraries,
- Your sourcing solution: If you are using a sourcing solution, your technology partner may already offer these services and documentation to the supplier community on your behalf!
Maximizing Procurement Technology
If you want to efficiently distribute educational materials to your suppliers and prospects, consider using a source-to-contract or source-to-pay solution that has a team in place to help onboard and educate the supplier community. Procurement technology can be a valuable tool for strengthening the relationship between the public sector and its suppliers. If you're already using a procurement solution, be sure to take advantage of any supplier services available through your provider. Collaborate with your procurement technology provider through webinars or one-pagers to educate your supplier community on your organization's competitive buying processes.
In early 2023, we surveyed new and experienced vendors in government selling to get their thoughts on digitizing the procurement process. The result shows that both new vendors and experienced vendors believe that digitizing public procurement makes it easier to access opportunities.
Procurement technology providers offer more than just an easy way for suppliers to find government solicitations. They also provide customer assistance in using the platform and electronic bid submissions, which can help reduce your office workload and allow you to focus on strategic sourcing. Our support teams are here to take the calls on how to access documents, submit bids, and find awardee information; Electronic solicitations can also be more easily understood by suppliers who intend to bid on your solicitations.
Strengthening the Supplier–Buyer Relationship
It shouldn’t be painful for your vendors to sell your organization their products and services. By helping educate your supplier community, you can foster a positive and longstanding relationship with them, which is an investment in the quality of products and services you receive. These positive buyer-supplier relationships are great for your community and your tax dollars. Your source-to-contract solution provider can help facilitate that relationship with the right tools, education, and supplier outreach.
About Kyle Williams
Kyle is the Executive Vice President of Supplier Operations, overseeing various supplier-facing aspects of the business such as customer on-boarding, sales growth, revenue growth, customer retention, and innovation within our supplier products and services. Kyle has been with mdf commerce since 2018 and has over 12 years of leadership experience in building and growing high-performing teams for inside sales and SaaS-based software organizations. He focuses on implementing scalable processes that maximize efficiency and has created a culture that models integrity, is team-centric, passionate, and accountable. Before joining mdf commerce, Kyle worked as a Sr. Sales Manager for AvidXchange, a hyper-growth company providing best-of-breed AP automation solutions. He also served as Sr. Sales Manager at SettlementOne, one of the largest suppliers of mortgage data for financial institutions and consumers. Kyle holds a Bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies from Notre Dame de Namur University and a multi-subject teaching credential.
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