President’sMessage

Best Practices for Great Relationships
by Deborah Ragsdale
IAPD President
A

s you probably know by now, I am a strong believer in developing and building relationships, both business and personal. I’ve experienced first-hand the importance of having relationships that can help get us through tough times. I’ve seen the performance plastics industry rally around those who have lost everything to natural disasters such as hurricanes and flooding. Although we sell plastics, we are all human and we all have good times and hard times. Having a strong network of relationships with people who are there for you during the bad times is, to me, a sign of a successful life.

I’ve learned that nearly all relationships rely on a few key elements. For example, communication is vital. Open and honest communications build trust and deepen your connections. As we all struggle to navigate supply chain disruptions, you know how important it is to keep your channels of communication open with your suppliers and your customers.

Another key element is a shared understanding of what is expected of you and what you expect of others. Think of all the misunderstandings and arguments that could be prevented if everyone knew what is expected of them. Communicate these expectations before there’s a problem!

Building a foundation of trust
We’ve come a long way as an industry, but I still remember conversations that happened a decade or more ago that exposed the lack of trust between distributors and manufacturers, and vice versa. IAPD set out to try to find a solution by forming a volunteer group that discussed the scope of the competencies and expectations needed from distributor and manufacturer relationships and developed guidance for nurturing and forming these relationships. The guidelines they developed outline what distributors promise to their manufacturer partners when doing business with them, and vice versa. By agreeing to these expectations of each other, we can help our relationships flourish.

The distributors agreed to the following:

Stocking Inventory Commitment — Own and maintain level of inventory as defined in IAPD membership criteria to serve selected markets.

Staff Skill Level and Development — Commitment to training in sales, customer service, products, applications and markets.

Organizational Standards — High ethical and professional values, principles and practices, including those associated with environmental, health and safety.

New Product Development — Willingness to inventory and market new products developed by manufacturer partners.

Joint Marketing — Willingness to develop and execute cooperative marketing campaigns.

Industry, Sales and Market Leadership — Stable management and sales team focused on excellent customer service and developing new business to facilitate the expansion of the performance plastics industry.

Open Communication — Open and collaborative dialogue and expectations regarding shared business opportunities.

Strategic Supplier Relationships — Develop long-term, mutually beneficial supplier relationships founded on trust, respect, open communication and honesty.

The manufacturers committed to:

Open Communication — Open and collaborative dialogue and expectations regarding shared business opportunities.

Strategic Distributor Relationships — Develop long-term, mutually beneficial distributor relationships founded on trust, respect, open communication and honesty.

Organizational Standards — High ethical and professional values, principles and practices, including those associated with environmental, health and safety.

Commitment to Staff Skill and Training with Distribution Partners, which includes: Training/support, customer service, technical back-up, literature – standard and custom, product quality, applications and markets and a useful and updated website.

Distribution Channel

  • Signed distribution agreements should be executed between manufacturers and their authorized distributors.
  • Commitment to selling products through plastics distribution and other market-specific distribution channels.
  • Support distribution in geographies where they have a physical distribution presence.
  • Will not support non-stocking, brokering agencies.
  • Manufacturers may make sales calls to OEMs and end users to promote their products.
  • Derives revenues from sales through distribution as defined in IAPD membership criteria.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Like I mentioned earlier, trust within the industry was a huge issue in the past. The lack of it is what caused a volunteer group to form and develop these lists of expectations and competencies. I’m not saying that all problems have been solved and that there is no longer distrust in the industry, but I have noticed that this issue is not as prevalent as it had been previously. If this is the first time you’ve seen these lists, I hope you take them back to your companies and do an internal audit. Are you in alignment with what is outlined here? If not, what do you need to work on? If there are points that haven’t been on your radar in the past, open a dialog with your key staff and business partners about whether it’s something that you should adopt. Remember, communication is key. Take a moment to review how and when you communicate, whether it’s internally with your staff or externally with your customers or suppliers. If it’s only when you are in crisis mode, consider setting up regular check in meetings so you can connect and discuss issues. Hopefully, you will be able to head off a crisis or two by opening these channels of communications and have stronger relationships as a result.
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