To me, the job function is not just “meeting with vendors”.  Rather, you are cultivating a relationship with a vendor.  One that is, ideally, mutually beneficial.  This is the most important part of my job.  If you’re good at it, you can leverage that relationship to benefit the library.  It is probably more important than whatever you feel like it is preventing you from doing.  One example:  I work with two different representatives that sell two different products for the same parent company.  I felt one of the representatives was trying to "get over" on us with a renewal.  I have a great relationship with the other representative and asked her to work on my behalf with the higher ups.  Our renewal ended up being 30% less than the original quote.  That relationship paid my salary for the year.  The point being, is that by making the effort to cultivate the relationship, you position your library to potentially benefit in the present and the future.  Also, most of vendors are really nice people and the relationship you establish often carries on if/when they switch companies and even outside of work.  That said, I recently got an office phone with caller ID and it has been a godsend.  I let all unknown numbers go to voicemail and return calls when it’s convenient for me.

G. Randall Watts, M.Div., MSLS, AHIP

Assistant Director for Resource Management
Medical University of South Carolina Library
171 Ashley Ave., Suite 309
MSC 403
Charleston, SC 29425-4030
(843) 792-8309
wattsg@musc.edu

     

From: "Rossmann, Doralyn" <doralyn@MONTANA.EDU>
Reply-To: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum <SERIALST@listserv.nasig.org>
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 17:41:07 +0000
To: <SERIALST@listserv.nasig.org>
Subject: [SERIALST] Library communication with vendors

I’m curious if other libraries have developed any policies or guidelines for communication with vendors. Between on-site visit requests, telephone calls received, and emails received from vendors, I find time-management to be challenging around these relationships.

 

To be consistent and clear with vendors, I’d like to develop some policies which might make this communication less time intensive. For example, might we limit vendor visits to a specific month or two of the year or only when we request an on-site visit? And, could we say we prefer email to telephone communication?

 

I realize vendors have their own time challenges and needs to communicate so I want to respect that. How do others manage the communication relationships with vendors?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Doralyn

Doralyn Rossmann
Head of Collection Development

Associate Professor

Montana State University Library

P.O. Box 173320

Bozeman, MT, USA 59717-3320

(406) 994-6549

doralyn@montana.edu

doralyn.org

@doralyn on Twitter

---

To unsubscribe from the SERIALST list, click the following link:
http://listserv.nasig.org/scripts/wa-NASIG.exe?SUBED1=SERIALST&A=1

---

To unsubscribe from the SERIALST list, click the following link:
http://listserv.nasig.org/scripts/wa-NASIG.exe?SUBED1=SERIALST&A=1