• Purchasing and supply chain professionals involved in supply management, vendor relations, sourcing, buying, expediting and vendor evaluation as well as personnel involved in the purchasing process
• Junior buyers, intermediate buyers, purchasing department personnel and other personnel from other departments who need to understand the buying function

In business, relations and profitability go hand in hand. Having the right vendors on board and achieving the ideal relationship with them can spell the difference between good and great performance levels. In this course, we describe the spectrum of business relationships and discuss how vendor profiles can be developed to improve each relationship. We then list the different go-to-market strategies and discuss how they can be used to integrate vendor relations. Finally, we highlight the leadership and communication skills that are necessary to leverage the full extent of vendor relations.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate vendor profiles to fit with organizational needs and direction
• Practice vendor integration techniques to support strategic purchasing objectives
• Manage vendor performance to ensure continuous improvement of offerings
• Apply winning go-to-market strategies to support internal capabilities
• Utilize essential soft skills to improve vendor relationship outcomes

This course uses a variety of interactive learning methods such as group discussions, videos, team exercises, individual exercises, case studies and questionnaires.