Community
Suppliers – Key Items
- It is crucial to sit down with the Member to create your plan. The level of creativity is transparent to a Member – it’s a make it or break it for your GFG plan.
- Get your reps involved in the early stages of planning. If they are part of the decision making and invested in the process, they will be more likely to implement your strategy all year long.
- Create deeper relationships by:
- Engaging all the employees. Get to know the entire Member team. Hosting a dinner, a training, or a meet and greet, really does make an impact to get everyone to collaborate with your plan.
- Giving Members access to manufacturers.
- Providing group troops, field support.
- Manage expectations – what is reasonable growth? Consider a multi-year plan to have a form of measurement. This gives you the opportunity to “re-up” your partnerships and re-focus on different strategies.
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
I need to add a plan with a Member or Supplier, but I don’t see them listed on my dashboard.
No problem! Since Suppliers are the only ones who can author a plan, they can also add additional Members anytime throughout the year. Once you get to your GFG dashboard page, Suppliers can scroll down to the bottom buttons and click the “Add Additional Matches” button.
After being matched up, and the Member doesn’t respond, what do I do?
- Involve the Member Primary Contact (check out our Sphere 1 monthly listing on the website), Buyer / Purchaser and any responsible party to follow up. Email first, then call.
- Sometimes the Member may have matched with too many Suppliers. It’s ok if they are not interested in a GFG plan this year. Table it and let Katherine from Sphere 1 know to remove that Member from your GFG dashboard.