Vendor vs. Partner Relationships

How you view your agency relationship can make all the difference

by John Anstey, Agency Principal

Years ago, shortly after starting Anstey Hodge, I was issued an ID badge for one of our largest clients at the time. This badge, which included a very youthful picture of me, got me in the front door of their headquarters and allowed me to go unescorted to the marketing department. I always thought it was a testament to how valued I was to the organization.

However, the word VENDOR, running vertically in all caps on the front of the ID badge, never felt good to me. I felt like more than a vendor. I was a trusted partner. After all, I could skip the security checkpoint and just walk into the place.  

On one visit, I broached the subject with Wanda, who manned the front desk and security checkpoint.  

“Wanda, is there another descriptor that could be put on the badge other than ‘vendor?’” I naively asked. “Maybe ‘partner’ or some other term that captures what I do here.”   

Her response was very direct: “No. There’s two types of approved badges: ‘Vendor’ and ‘Customer.’ You’re a ‘Vendor.’” And that was the end of the discussion. 

That was 23 years ago, and I still think of it frequently. While it’s just a word, there is a world of difference between a vendor and a partner. For senior living agencies and their marketing agencies, the difference between a vendor relationship and a partner relationship can mean the difference between success and failure.  

Vendor = transactional, partner = real investment 

Vendors take an order and then fulfill it. No more, no less. A good vendor can have value, but ultimately, they are replaceable. There is no real investment or commitment in the relationship. Vendors follow set specs, get it done, and move on to the next job.  

In contrast, a partner is a person or organization that is a teammate—they are actively invested in your success. Because your futures are intertwined, a partner genuinely cares about your organization and is dedicated to helping you get the most out of your marketing. While a vendor does what is asked, a partner helps solve the unknown. A vendor will fill a hole in your driveway as requested. A partner will also research why the hole developed and generate ideas for how to avoid getting holes in the future.  

Partner relationships are based on a high level of mutual trust. 

When you are a true partner with an organization, there has to be a high level of trust between all parties. Trust is what allows true collaboration and open communication to occur. Good things, bad things, successes, challenges—in a trust-based relationship, transparency, and openness are critical. It’s in this type of relationship that we hear about a community’s real needs. Occupancy numbers are openly shared, appointment-to-sale ratios are discussed freely, sales challenges are addressed. When we can clearly see all the challenges and opportunities before us—as a team—we can get to work producing work that achieves your community’s goals.  

Partners align closely with the goals of the organization. 

Goals are another area that separate vendors and partners. You may task a vendor with creating a digital ad campaign. With a partner, you share your business goals and trust the experts to recommend strategies and tactics that will most efficiently achieve those goals. Whether it’s sales per month, total leads per month, focusing on selling a specific type of home, meeting certain cash flow goals each month, or any other goal that marketing can help achieve, the more clearly the goals are set, the more effective the strategies can be. So it’s in your community’s best interest to be as open as possible with your partner agency. That’s what true win-win relationships are all about.  

Partners help you navigate your greatest challenges. 

Beyond getting smarter and more strategic work out of a partner agency, one of the greatest benefits happens when the unexpected occurs—such as a global pandemic. During the COVID pandemic, one of our partner communities’ occupancy dipped, cash flow suffered, and they missed key milestones that their lender had set. In order to right their course, they needed to enter into bankruptcy to seek more favorable financing terms. By the time the bankruptcy was about to be filed, our agency was owed $80,000 for unpaid completed work. Most companies would have just filed a lien for the $80k and ceased all work with the community.  

But that is not what happened. I knew if we stopped our advertising efforts, the situation would continue to get worse—fewer advertising leads coming in would lead to fewer sales, and their financial troubles would just get more exasperated.  

When a pandemic hit, we were all in this together—community and agency.

I met with the CEO, and he assured me that we would be made whole when the dust settled. And per our own legal counsel, we filed a claim in bankruptcy court to ensure we were on record to be paid when the case was settled. But we didn’t stop there. We chose a different path based on partnership. We were all in this together—community and agency. 

We continued to provide services to the community, uninterrupted and on our own dime, until the bankruptcy case was settled. In fact, we doubled down by developing new strategies that we believed would be successful in a truly challenging situation. It would be months before our bills would be paid, but we knew it was the right thing to do. We carried these costs for months as we continued our marketing efforts.  

In the end, the bankruptcy and refinancing process was completed, all outstanding debts were paid, and in part thanks to the strategies developed during this period, we realized record sales two years straight. We still work together today. This example is a real example—albeit extreme—of what a partnership is all about, and why it benefits both partners.  

You should expect more out of your agency relationships. 

When you embrace a partner model with your agency, you’re not just getting better design or creative. You’re getting a team that is fully committed to realizing your community’s most important business goals. A group that gets in the boat alongside you to row together, as a team. Real solutions to your challenges.