There's no point in asking your AVS to do a better job. Your expectations simply
By Martin Heubel ยท October 14, 2026 ยท Curated by George's Blog
There's no point in asking your AVS to do a better job. Your expectations simply don't match reality:
That's because AVS is not a done-for-you solution. And despite how your Vendor Manager may have sold you the service, it's reactive and tactical rather than strategic and proactive.
So if you think that investing in AVS will solve all your problems, I have some bad news for you:
It's not going to happen.
Instead, it's critical to engage with AVS in a way that fully utilises its service capacity.
Here's how in three simple steps:
๐ญ- ๐๐๐ธ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ
This is who your AVS reports to. If you don't know who your AVS Team Lead (TL) is, you're not talking to the right person. After the introduction, set up monthly calls to discuss service quality and any areas for improvement.
๐ฎ- ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐
By "early," I mean outside your vendor negotiation cycle. If you only complain about AVS when it's time to discuss the investment, Amazon may ignore your team, because it will look like a negotiation tactic.
๐ฏ- ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐๐
Service Level Agreements are your best friend when it comes to AVS. Define these as part of your trade negotiations. If your Vendor Manager wants to delay the discussion, delay your commitment to invest, too.
๐ Bonus: Insist on quarterly business reviews with your VM, TL and AVS. This ensures any service shortcomings get resolved quickly.