As companies begin to come out of their company’s financial spending difficulties, how will they spend wisely?
Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing.
anyone who has ever had a hangover before, it can be a horrible experience the first time it happens to you. You can’t, nor do you want to, do anything but get through the stretch as painlessly as you can. Everything you would normally do is frozen because your body is depleted of many things it lacks. All you can think of is how you can’t wait to be done with the experience and many swear that when that time comes things will be totally different for them.
Unfortunately, for a lot of us, that first time was when we were young and once we got through the hangover we felt much better, even wonderful, energized and instead of doing things differently, like learning moderation, we do the same things that got us hung-over all over again.
But just like the example above, a new account and new money comes in and everyone starts feeling better and there is money and instead of “doing things differently” they go on a spending spree and quickly find themselves right back to where they started; financially hung-over.
Today we will take some principles that would help prevent the hangover from happening again.
• Plan before you make spend. Once you get out of difficult period, before you do anything that would get you into another tight financial spot, plan on what it is you want to do so that you do not get caught up in the process of spending. Rank the purchases you need based on contract end date, importance to the business and things that will save time and money.
• Spend in moderation. The hardest thing to do after coming out of a tough financial time into a great and exciting one is to show self-control. Pick one or two things from the list above to begin pursuing first, hopefully with a mix of some projects that can return some money to your bottom line in savings and in optimization.
• Find someone to assist. Having a partner who can help organize your projects, take the pressure off you and keep plans on track can be critical to your success. Finding a 3rd party consulting firm or strategic sourcing partner can greatly increase the chances that you will do things differently.
For more information about how we can assist with organizing and executing you sourcing projects, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.
We look forward to your comments.
