Successful customer-service provider relationship management: Transforming service providers from vendors to thought partner ‘insiders’

As corporate real estate (CRE) has evolved and companies have grown on a global scale, the relation-ship between CRE and service providers has changed significantly. While in the past service providers have served simply as ‘out taskers’, managing limited CRE requirements, in recent years that role has expanded and service providers have become thought leaders and strategic advisors to CRE organisa-tions. In order to provide proactive leadership to its clients, a service provider must transform into an ‘insider’ within the CRE organisation. The key to becoming an insider begins with successful, mutual customer relationship management — trust, reliability and strong communication skills will all help facilitate seamless integration between CRE and service provider and eliminate disconnections be-tween expectations and service delivery. Once this happens, the service provider becomes viewed as much more of a partner to CRE, rather than just a vendor. In order for the service provider to truly act as a partner, it must work with the CRE to set fair expectations and a working business model up front that manages per-formance-based service level agreements and includes a governance model based on collaboration and feed-back. As a true ‘thinking partner’ and ‘insider’ in the relationship, the service provider also must be sure to keep an open and direct dialogue with the client throughout their relationship; in turn, the CRE must remain receptive to such discussions. The service contract and fee structure also should be structured in such a way as to allow the service provider to offer strategies and consultation to the client, even on topics that may risk upsetting the status quo. If the contract ultimately becomes a barrier to change and progress, the parties should keep an open mind to amending the contract to allow such strategic change. Once the service provider is able to earn the trust of the CRE and become an ‘insider’ to the organisation, it becomes much easier to effectively provide true strategic solutions for the client that ultimately will lead to a mutually beneficial partnership and long-term relationship.