The relationship between a customer and a vendor is hard to describe. On the surface, it involves nothing more than an exchange of money for goods and services. However, when examined, the relationship is much deeper and more complex than that.

The customer owes more to the vendor than just money, and the vendor is responsible for providing more than a product or service. What exactly do they owe each other? Here are a few intangibles that are essential to good business relationships.

Honesty

As the old saying goes, “Honesty is the best policy” (unless your wife asks if she looks fat in those jeans). The relationship between customers and vendors depends on both parties being honest. This goes beyond the vendor offering a fair product at a fair price, or the customer paying on time and in full without arguing.

Honesty means that if a product is covered under warranty, the vendor should take care of the repair, and not try to find a way to get the customer to pay. One company I’ve been told about has a warranty statement but has never covered anything. Even when the company issued a “fix” for a problem it didn’t admit, there was no warranty coverage because the customer had “done this to their own machine.”

Honesty is not a one-way street, though: Customers should be honest about the causes of breakdowns. Many times, customers call vendors complaining about equipment. The vendor goes to fix it, only to find that the customer has abused or neglected it.

If a part that was supposed to be greased has not been, the customer should be honest enough to not argue about the warranty with the vendor. Being honest sometimes costs money, but it is in the best interest of both parties to deal squarely.

Loyalty

Loyalty, in today’s society, isn’t valued as much as it once was. In sports, many athletes chase the dollar rather than being loyal to the team that took a chance on them. In the septic and sewer business, it is often the same.

Many vendors and customers view loyalty as something owed to them, but not necessarily something they owe to others. For vendors, being loyal to a customer means putting the customer first, even if it costs a little money. It doesn’t mean giving parts and services away, but it does mean absorbing some loss occasionally. It means Customer A doesn’t have to worry about Customer B, a competitor, learning what Customer A is doing. Loyalty is doing that little bit extra for a customer who has bought from you for years.

Customers owe vendors loyalty, too. Today, it’s all about the money, and vendors understand that. They know customers will shop around for the best deal, even from a competitor. But customers need to show loyalty by at least letting an incumbent vendor try to get the business. It’s one thing for a vendor to lose a deal – it happens and they understand it. But if a customer doesn’t even give the vendor a shot, hard feelings are born.

The funny thing is that some customers continue to do business with the vendor and are shocked when the credit terms that were extended before the deal are no longer available. “Why are you cutting me off?” they ask. Customers should understand that vendors extend credit, especially in-house credit, because of the relationship and the trust it implies. Coldly dumping a vendor for a competitor breaks that trust.

There is a caveat to loyalty: It must be shown to be received. Customers show loyalty in buying products and services again and again. Vendors show loyalty by helping the customer and going above and beyond.

There are times when customers should find a new vendor or try a new product, just as there are some customers that vendors quit servicing because of late payments or because the customer is verbally or otherwise abusive. But as a norm, if the equipment works well, customers owe their regular vendor a shot at new deals, and vendors owe customers their best efforts.

Respect

Some customers take the attitude that, “I give the vendor my money, so I can treat them any way I want. If something goes wrong, I can yell at them, and they won’t do anything.”

There are two problems with that thought process. First, some vendors will gladly let such a customer go: The money they spend isn’t worth the headaches they cause. Second, vendors are not there to provide an outlet for the customer’s frustrations.

There are stories of customers yelling at waiters and waitresses, then getting a burger that contains a “special ingredient,” courtesy of the cook. Septic and sewer vendors can’t put a surprise in someone’s food, but they can exact their own revenge. For example, they may decide to service customers who respect them first, and disrespectful customers second. That unit the problem customer needs repaired by Friday might have to wait until Monday because the vendor “just can’t get his crew there,” or that part “just can’t be shipped.”

On the other side, vendors need to respect customers. When a customer calls in for a part, the vendor should do everything in its power to fill the order as soon as possible. If a vendor is scheduled to be at a customer’s yard on Monday, then someone should be there. If something comes up and the vendor can’t make the appointment, it should be rescheduled quickly.

Another aspect of respect from both sides is a short memory. Once an argument or disagreement is resolved, both sides need to forget it and move on. Leave the rotten past in the past, or it will spoil the present. Many relationships, personal and professional, suffer and die because one party can’t move beyond an old hurt. On the other hand, many relationships are stronger because of a situation that was resolved professionally and forgotten.

Information

Customers and vendors are not mind readers. There are times when a vendor expects the customer to provide certain information, and the customer has no idea where to find it. The vendor has a responsibility to give the customer as much information as possible on how to maintain the equipment properly. Customers, meanwhile, must give vendors the information they need to give proper product support.

A vendor’s pet peeve is a customer who calls, ranting and raving about a piece of equipment going down again, “the third time in three weeks.” But the service records then show that the vendor was never called about the unit having a problem, and the customer didn’t even order parts for the unit to be repaired. Vendors know that some customers can repair their own equipment. The problem comes in when the customer’s repair failed, and yet the next breakdown is still “the equipment’s fault.”

Vendors should be told when there is a problem because that piece of equipment, no matter how old, is a reflection on that vendor’s reputation. Most vendors will offer free advice on how to diagnose and repair their equipment (and often competitors’ equipment as well). Customers should then know there is a problem, and then give them a chance to help.

Common bond

Customers and vendors share a common bond: the vendor’s products and services. Both sides often need to step back, look in the mirror and ask: If I were on the other side, what would I expect? The reason is simple: Everyone is a customer and everyone is a vendor. It always pays to remember the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you would want them to treat you.