Here are some specific tips from survey respondents who were asked to share their best ideas for how to maintain great relationships with vendors and other P2P customers in regards to payables:
- Give it your best and always make internal and external customers as happy as possible.
- Get it right the first time.
- Resolve issues in a timely manner.
- Provide accurate information on a timely basis.
- Communicate — let them know what is happening and also help them understand payables processes and how those interact with other systems/processes.
- Be responsive, respectful and accountable.
- Always have a great policy. Always have an open relationship. Always tell the truth about the status of payment. Always understand you are dealing with money.
- Process requests and invoices timely.
- Provide excellent service and educate vendors and internal customers about policies and procedures.
- Respond promptly and courteously.
- Relationships are built on trust and honesty.
- For internal customers, have regular meetings to discuss process enhancements and educate on AP procedures. For vendors, utilize self-service portal tools.
- Pay on time.
- Be responsive and timely to their inquiries. Communicate pertinent info timely. Most important factors are pay timely and accurately; capture all available discounts. Provide internal customers with metrics regarding coding, approving time per person/group/department, paid on time and discount taken data.
- Always communicate no matter how busy you are or how small/large the topic at hand may be.
- Be transparent and provide open communication.
- Be honest about business practices and be willing to discuss issues, especially those created by others.
- Treat them with respect and as you would like to be treated.
- Keep the channels of communication as open as possible.
- Manage expectations.
- Positive attitudes.
- Listen to people.
- Answer their questions promptly and always be truthful with them.
- Everyone is our client. We strive for efficient, on-time payments and continuous improvement.
- Being responsive to questions/inquiries, being transparent.
- Allow and assist them to proactively manage their payable transactions.
- Resolve the issue and then move forward in a pleasant manner.
- Be professional and take the emotion out of every response.
- Deal with problems right away.
- Communicate within 24 hours.
- Maintain a positive can-do attitude.
- Set expectations and meet them.
- Follow up on past-due invoices until the problems are resolved and get back to their inquiries and follow up on pending issues.
- Benchmark internal standards and keep pushing to achieve.
- Maintain consistency with communicating/reporting.
- Be flexible.
To see how InvoiceInfo’s self-service solutions can benefit your operations and your company click here to request more information or call (678) 335-5735.