As someone who’s spent years working with SRM teams on a plethora of projects, I’ve seen the power of the Voice of the Supplier (VoS) first-hand.

The best companies don’t just talk about collaboration, they create structured, repeatable ways to listen, learn and act. And it all starts with asking the right questions.

Too often, supplier surveys are clunky, vague or focused on what we think matters rather than what suppliers actually experience. If you’re designing or refreshing your VoS survey, here are the five questions I believe you must include to get meaningful, actionable insight.

These are based on our work at SRM Tribe, where we help procurement & SRM teams build supplier relationships that deliver real value.

Voice of the Supplier - 5 questions to ask

1. “How easy is it to do business with us?”

This question seems simple, but it cuts deep. Ease of doing business is the clearest indicator of friction, or flow, within your processes. From onboarding to invoicing, suppliers feel every inefficiency.

I once worked with a client whose suppliers rated them highly on collaboration, but terribly on admin. Their invoicing system required five different approvals across three platforms. Just by asking this question, we uncovered pain points that had been buried in operational silence for years.

🟢 Tip: Use a scale (e.g. Very Easy to Very Difficult), and follow up with a free-text box: “What’s one thing we could change to make working with us easier?”

2. “To what extent do you trust us to act with fairness and integrity?”

Trust is the foundation of any relationship but in supplier feedback, it’s often avoided because it feels ‘soft’ or subjective. Don’t be afraid to go there.

Trust touches everything: pricing, risk, innovation, even day-to-day conversations. One supplier told us they never challenged a scope change because “they wouldn’t listen anyway.” That’s a trust issue, not a process one.

🟢 Tip: This is also a powerful benchmark to track over time. Even small movements can signal cultural shifts.

3. “How proactive are we in sharing plans, risks, and opportunities?”

Suppliers want to be brought into the conversation earlier. Whether it's demand forecasts, strategic shifts, or potential disruptions, proactive communication makes them feel like partners not just vendors.

In one case, a supplier rated their customer low on proactivity. The buyer team was shocked they thought they were being open. But it turned out they only shared information once decisions had already been made.

🟢 Tip: This opens the door to discussions about visibility, transparency, and joint planning.

4. “Do we support you in bringing new ideas or innovation to us?”

If you’re serious about supplier-led innovation, you need to ask this explicitly. Too many organisations claim to want innovation but create no channel, or appetite, for it.

A supplier told me they had submitted three cost-saving ideas over 12 months, with zero response. “They’re always too busy,” they said. “So now we don’t bother.” This kind of silence is where opportunity dies.

🟢 Tip: Pair this with a question about how suppliers prefer to share ideas, email, platform, regular reviews?

5. “Would you recommend us as a customer of choice?”

This is the supplier-facing version of Net Promoter Score (NPS). It’s one of the strongest indicators of relationship health and competitive advantage.

A low score here can expose broader issues, like commercial inflexibility, misaligned expectations or lack of respect. On the flip side, a high score often correlates with preferential access to talent, capacity and innovation.

🟢 Tip: Use the classic 0–10 scale, and ask: “What’s the main reason for your score?”

Final Thoughts: The Real Power in a Voice of the Supplier is in the Follow-Up

Asking the right questions is the first step. But the real magic happens when you respond, act, and close the loop. If suppliers take the time to give honest feedback, they deserve to know it’s being heard and used to make things better.

At SRM Tribe, we design Voice of the Supplier programmes that go beyond surveys and help you close using a simple framework. We help SRM and Procurement teams turn feedback into momentum. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refresh your approach, we’d love to support you.

👉 Learn more at srmtribe.com