Do your vendors really know your vision and expectations? Are they exceeding or at least meeting them? Are your vendors proactive or reactive? These are very tough questions to answer, especially if you really like a given sales representative or you've been working with a particular vendor for years. But if you're honest, is your organization better off because of that vendor or do they treat you like a cash cow? For years I would share my vision and expectations (at least that's what I told myself) with my vendors, but I did it verbally and never really followed through with anything I said after that. This led to frustrations down the line. But looking back on it, it was my own fault, because I didn't communicate effectively. I see now that my conversations with vendors were more rants out of frustration than efforts to promote purposeful dialogue that would foster lasting relationships.
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