In the chemical industry, it can be difficult to distinguish between a hygiene partner and a cleaning chemical vendor. The terms are used interchangeably but are fundamentally different concepts. Consider these definitions courtesy of Merriam-Wester’s Dictionary:
- Partner: one who participates in a relationship in which each member has equal status.
- Vendor: someone who promotes or exchanges goods or services for money.
- Client: one that depends on the protection of another
- Customer: one that buys goods or services
How do you Distinguish a Partner from a Vendor?
In general, vendors take a narrower look at the situation at hand, but partners see the bigger picture and understand the value of integrated total solutions. Vendors sell cleaning and sanitation solutions and discussions exclusively focus on chemical. In comparison, partners discuss the entire hygiene program, service, training, reporting and innovation in conjunction with how chemical fits into the overall program,
Both vendors and partners provide data, but partners interpret the data, analyze it, and make recommendations. A vendor might present how much detergent, sanitizer or softener was purchased while a partner would analyze why a facility purchased only one product that normally belongs in a system of three products. The partner is focused on providing transparency and information that will help improve the client’s bottom line.
Consider a scenario in which a customer asks for a service or product that is not part of the current operations. While the vendor will take the order and work to fulfill it as quickly as possible, the partner will ask questions to understand the source of the problem and work together with the customer to determine the most effective alternatives.
When true business partnerships are created, both parties grow as a result. In essence, one plus one equals four.
What Makes Us Different
At Diversey, there are a number of things we do to establish partnerships instead of vendor relationships. Consider the following:
- Diversey Service Technicians focus on service excellence, not selling. Our technicians are salaried employees and have no incentives (direct or indirect) tied to a customer’s product consumption. Instead, technicians are measured and evaluated against the 5-star service rating that our customers provide after every service visit.
- Diversey Service Technicians study the industry to be well-versed on issues impacting our clients’ businesses. We provide customized cleaning & sanitation standard operating procedures for a customer’s equipment and brand.We focus on joint projects with industry organizations, tourism & culinary schools and customers around the world to understand how Diversey can support and increase guest satisfaction.
- Diversey Service Technicians ask questions to understand the overall perspective, not just those that are relative to Diversey solutions. Diversey Service Technicians are trained to listen well to understand the problem before providing solutions.We focus on a customer’s total program costs and partner with them to find ways to reduce and simplify the program. We analyze customer data and ask questions, making recommendations based on those responses.
Diversey has been, and always will be, pioneers and facilitators for life. We constantly deliver revolutionary cleaning and hygiene technologies that provide total confidence to our clients across all of our sectors.