Having the right vendor selection process can help your organization in the long run.
Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR, and Administration at SafeSourcing
Having the right vendor selection process can help your organization in the long run.
When it is time to select a vendor for whatever project you have underway, it is important to choose one that fits your needs the best, but first you will need to determine what your needs are and what your wants are.
Determining needs – First you will need to find a vendor that can provide the good or service you are looking for. This can be as easy as making a list of exactly what you need from your project. For a simple project, which can be fairly easy, but for more complex projects you may need to dive into capabilities. For example, if you need a plumber for a leaky faucet, you will find a number that can complete your project. However, if you need your water line under the ground replaced, you may need someone who specializes in that. The same concept applies to goods as well. If you are looking for the perfect cheese for your pizzas, you may want someone who specializes in cheddar shreds as opposed to one who sells a lot of aged charcuterie style blocks.
Determining your wants – after you find out what you need, next you will dive into what you want. Perhaps you want a plumber that offers flexible pricing options or may be someone who sells cheddar cheeses and nacho cheeses. Determining what you want can help narrow down the field. A list of wants can help steer your vendor selection down. A wonderful way to help with not only determining wants and needs, but also vendor selection, is having a procurement partner. A procurement partner, like SafeSourcing, can help you determine which vendors fit your needs and wants, and on top of that we can also collect valuable information and pricing for your next project.
For more information on what the SafeSourcing team can offer you, or on our Risk-Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.
