I spent many years as a Procurement Manager, literally buying the goods and services for major corporations, in effect, I was a professional client.
You are spot on with the friendliness trap, I would often have to step in to these kind of relationships where someone in my business was, what we in Procurement call 'captured' by a supplier. They had forgotten this was really a business arrangment for the betterment of our organization, and were happily approving invoices on trust. Just as bad on the supplier side, I saw companies which had become overly reliant on the business we were providing, if they lost us as a client then they would basically go out of business; bad for the supplier but bad for us too, that kind of instability means other issues can make the supplier fail unexpectedly, which has negative impacts on our business.
Unraveling these kind of relationships, isnt a method to being popular, there is definately an element of fear on both sides, but relationships can be made professional again. Invoices can be checked for things like correct amounts, correct payment terms and questions can be asked about quality of deliverables, the supplier is just as entitiled to follow up on late payments, not serve unreasonable demands and have fair treatment.
Buying things is the easiest job in the world, doing it well is another story.
Wow, thank you so much for the insight on on the client end. I can say honestly, this article is based on my experiences working with clients, particularly on the startup end. There were honestly lots of moments where clients would take advantage of my over-eagerness, and entrap me into doing more work for less money. By now, I have refined the tone of how I work with these clients by being Respectful, punctual, and professional. I give my client their due respect, but also make sure to draw a line in the sand. The line of, we are here for business.
Once again, thank you for your insight. I thought it would be cool to cover some of the things that aren't covered normally. Perhaps, maybe even 1 or 2 people might actually learn from my mistakes when they start up their commission based services. Thanks again @scalextrix
I really enjoyed your post, its nice to see people thinking about this stuff, like you said its not about being at arms length, but you do need a line somewhere.