This past year has been one of evolution and education for me as I moved over to the supplier side of my industry. Coming from the MSP/RPO space, I (thought I) understood how suppliers position themselves as invaluable in an ever-changing MSP landscape. I arrived on this side with a confidence that comes from understanding the unique pressures on program managers, and the delicate balance program teams must navigate if they’re to deliver human capital solutions effectively. Mix in the incredible strain client stakeholders are under — and how that might impact client services, and you begin to understand the tough neighborhood in which we all live.
But none of this experience set me up for success as a supplier. I realize now how little I understood of how high-impact suppliers separate themselves from the rest. In my previous role, I was buffered from the day-to-day life of a talent delivery manager, and lacked critical context to ask the questions I should have been asking my supplier partners all along. So, allow me to share with you five things I’ve learned since coming to the supply side of our industry. Perhaps some of these will resonate with you. And if you’re a Client or MSP partner, perhaps my own evolution will help shine a helpful light on your suppliers’ efforts to support you.
- Exceptional Delivery Is THE Most Important Currency
As an MSP executive, I used to speak of the importance of consulting with clients in order to strengthen the relationship. It’s a great concept, but only to the extent that you’re already delivering on the results expected of you. So too exists this truth with staffing suppliers whose #1 job is to deliver exceptional talent. Every time. When staffing organizations represent themselves as all things to all organizations, they miss a golden opportunity to reinforce some of the gems they bring to the table as specialists. Great suppliers not only segment and specialize their channels of delivery but dedicate assets to the relationships on which they focus. My former CEO, Janice Bryant Howroyd was famous for saying “You get results where you place your attention.” This is absolutely true for suppliers who would do better to select programs in which they already know they’ll thrive and leave behind the impulse of casting the widest net possible. As a supplier, this gives us the credibility of making promises against which we will always deliver — which MSP’s and their clients will certainly appreciate, and rely upon.
2. Define Partnership. Then Operationalize It
I now compete with 20,000+ staffing organizations in the U.S. — all of whom want my business. But I would wager a guess that very few of these suppliers are sensitive as to how to bring partnership-level value to their MSP partners. In my former role, I often listened to poor supplier sales pitches, all framed within the context of which programs they wanted to support. Don’t get me wrong, this is a necessary part of the relationship. Getting on supplier lists is critical. But program selection is a by-product of partnership. For me, I was looking for partners first. Then I could consider which programs they might support. I realize now, had some of these suppliers taken the time to understand how the goals of my organization could be advanced through their partnership, I would have taken notice. Opportunities abound for the supplier community to bring value to their MSP/Client partners, including timely access to data, industry trends, and the creativity to make suggestions for program improvements. The best suppliers out there bring value to the relationship itself, not just a particular program. I understand that so much more clearly today.
3. Culture Sells
Back when I was an MSP leader, I didn’t understand (or care) how suppliers ran their business culturally (so long as they were ethical). I had goals of my own I had committed to, and the supplier community provided my teams with the talent needed to fulfill those promises. But now as a supplier, I am struck by how powerful the role of culture is to our success. Not just in terms of our own alignment with the MSP’s we support, but perhaps more so with the communities of talent we source, manage, and deploy into the workforce. I am gobsmacked by the speed of the changing demographics in our candidate base, including the rise of Gen-Z — nearly 30% of the U.S. workforce by 2025. The best suppliers today are building a foundation of cultural values which reinforce the populations they serve. These include DEI&B initiatives which have real impact on client communities and their families. And recognizing how imperative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is to this next generation of talent who will soon rise to the leadership ranks of major companies everywhere. “Actualizing” culture as a supplier is a fantastic sales tool externally. Especially in environments where young talent have a wide range of choices. MSP’s and Clients, alike, will value the culture you represent. Especially if it’s an extension of their own.
4. Recognizing The Moment
Building partnerships, demonstrating exceptional delivery, and leveraging culture are all necessary pieces of the puzzle for suppliers to grow within the MSP framework. But timing might be the great x-factor which is the most difficult to capture. I hadn’t fully appreciated the true impact of timing on my own ability to seize the moment when a window opens. RFI/RFP’s, program optimization exercises, a new MSP being implemented, etc., — these are the critical junctures where suppliers must make their value known at the precise moment it’s needed. Alas, I cannot fully express the frustration I have come to experience (as a supplier) when an opportunity to support a coveted program comes and goes before my organization knew to cast its lot into the selection process. I learned the hard way that my relationships with fellow executives in our MSP space are important — but not always critical. Program selection lives at the tactical level with supplier relations teams, and the program management leaders they support where quick decisions are made. If the work isn’t being done at the user community level, my executive relationships, important as they are, will be ineffective.
5. Suppliers Are Human Resources Too
I’m coming up on a year as a supplier into MSP programs. And even now, I’m still fascinated by the varied strategies of how suppliers are managed across the MSP landscape. We have programs where engagement with end-clients is encouraged, and others where it’s forbidden. We see MSP’s dedicated to supplier success, where others won’t understand why a great candidate didn’t get a role. We have some programs with metrics, scorecards, and rankings. And others where we produce our own data and email it to clients just to let them know we’re alive and care about their success. The industry still hasn’t arrived at common platform for the model, and the quirky role of client stakeholders on program goals continues to impact how it “feels” to be a supplier. All this is meant to say that the supplier “experience” in programs can vary and can sometimes have a big effect on program success. Engaging suppliers as partners, creating a healthy environment where organizations feel encouraged to bring the best versions of themselves into the relationship — this is where true innovation and exceptional performance is achieved. Said another way — suppliers are people. And they will spend the time to thrive where they’re “wanted.”
In Closing:
I wish I had been sensitive to these observations when I managed programs from the other side of the desk. I would have asked better questions. And my own interactions with client executives would have allowed me to empower these programs with supplier partners who, perhaps, might have been more effective in the long run. That being said, I love being on this side of the desk. The creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of your supplier community is alive and well. We’re good at what we do because we have a passion for putting people to work. And through all the changes with technology, data, and remote/hybrid work environments, your best supplier relationships are perhaps more important today than they ever have been.