Good Vendor Employees Are Working All Around You

So I'm on a Zoom yesterday, and the individual representing the vendor did SUCH a good job.

What does doing a good job look like?

• Patient.
• Respectful of the Client.
• Tries to Help the Client.
• Translates Between the Client and Others.

The best vendors you work with are able to translate between Spanish and Portuguese. You'll have two parties speaking similar but different languages. Those two parties can run in circles for darn near infinity not understanding each other, unless somebody translates for one party in a manner the other party understands.

Maybe you have a, oh, I don't know, a paid search vendor, and you think the job of the vendor is to generate the best ROAS possible. You're not wrong. But you are also missing something if you view vendors under solely via performance.

In the case I'm talking about (from yesterday), the vendor did a fabulous job of bridging the gap between parties who viewed the world differently. Once everybody had a common definition of reality, there wasn't much to talk about. The problem was solved by the vendor.

There are so many good vendors ... there are also lousy vendors who hire great people ... align with the great people to overcome other issues.

I don't talk about it often, but I did spend a year at a retargeting startup back in 2000. We had some fabulous people working at this company ... brilliant people. But as a vendor, we were awful. I've told you about my product manager ... "It's my job to lie, it's your job to make my lies come true." That's what happens when you work for a bad vendor ... good people are swamped by bad culture. Still, if you are able to align with the good people, your needs are easily met.

If I had to boil my issues with vendors down to one problem, it would be lying. Too many of the public-facing individuals just bold-faced lie, and they taint all the good employees who work honestly, behind the scenes.

There are a ton of spectacular vendor employees working behind the scenes. Find them and work with them!