It’s no secret that the services industry is unique. Rather than selling hard goods, service businesses sell processes, ideas, and expertise. Marketing these intangibles presents its own challenges. For starters, service businesses need to put more effort into defining the value and quality of their service to justify their price tag. Establishing this framework of comparison is vital when there aren’t clear attributes to point to. Because a service isn’t something that can be returned, customer satisfaction has a greater influence on brand perception, retention, and referrals.

Every successful supplier diversity program was born out of a comprehensive strategic plan. Creating this framework up front will help you align your organization behind common objectives and empower the growth of your supplier diversity program down the line. But where should you begin? And what should your strategic plan include? Below, we’ve outlined seven key steps to follow to set your organization up for success.

For years, decades even, supplier diversity was seen as only a social responsibility issue. A means for corporations to address social injustice through increased opportunities for minority and underrepresented business owners.

We are living in a golden era of women entrepreneurs. Women are launching businesses at a faster rate than ever before in history, outpacing men by 114 percent.

According to the latest American Express State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, the number of women-owned businesses (WBEs) increased from 402,000 (4.6 percent of all firms) in 1972 to 12.3 million (40 percent of all firms) in 2018. Employment surged from 230,000 to 9.2 million. Revenues rose from $8.1 billion (representing 0.3 percent of all firms’ revenue) in 1972 to $1.8 trillion (4.3 percent of total firms’ revenue) in 2018.

Have you been thinking about establishing a supplier development program, but don't know where to start? Is your supplier development program not quite delivering on your goals?