Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

This sounds like a tough question, but it shouldn’t have to be. I have waxed for years that the first thing most new executive suite leaders do when they get that new job, is study the existing business and propose changes. They have to do this because ownership and or the board are watching. Generally, any plan they provide includes heavy headcount adjustments. Why, because it is the single biggest expense on the P&L. Cut headcount by 10% and if the business is not poorly managed, the dollars should drop to the bottom line pretty quickly and you are now the new wunderkind. Too bad you were not more creative and more interested in your employees than to look at them as money. You’ll probably also get a nice bonus while they get the breadline.

Another thing learned in management school is to be able to define your job in terms of your passion in an easy-to-understand elevator type statement. That being something that you can recite in the short elevator ride between less than a few floors.

When I am asked what we do at SafeSourcing, my response is that “we are passionate about assisting our customers in reducing all costs, that result in improved Gross Margin and Earnings in the current period, to support growth and sustain and grow associate headcount”. Anyone that understands accounting should understand how that statement can apply to any business.

It’s always an easy decision to restructure and go after headcount, it’s more difficult to look at the bowels of your business and realize there are other maybe better ways. That’s my passion. Why not join me and see if we can accomplish this for your company.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite . These include but are not limited to SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database  that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers.

To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

Today’s post is our archives at SafeSourcing, Inc. 

Recently I was in the market to replace my two front tires.  I had been to the tire store a year prior and was advised to replace two tires and rotate the other two tires.  I was told that the new tires that were to be replaced were the going to be the same tires that were on my car.  The work was done and I never gave any thought to the tires that had been replaced.  Well, it turns out, my car had run-flat tires and the two tires that were replaced were not!  All four tires are both made by the same manufacturer.

When the gentlemen came out to look at my tires, he asked to see my spare.  I opened the trunk and realized I had no spare because they were run-flats and a spare is not needed.  He told me he noticed right away I had run-flats on the front and regular tires on the back.  Thankfully, I never had an incident with a flat or a blow out before discovering that the tire store put the wrong tires on my car.  How can the front desk person and the actual installer not notice that the wrong tires were sold to me and installed?  I elevated my concern to the store manager and was given a significant credit for the two tires that were put on in error.  I told him my concern was that two of his employees signed off on these tires – the wrong tires!

What is a run-flat tire?  A run-flat tire is a pneumatic vehicle tire that is designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured, and to enable the vehicle to continue to be driven at reduced speeds – under 56 mph – and for limited distances – generally between 10 mi to 50 mi, depending on the type of tire. Wikipedia

How would the average person be able to identify a run-flat tire?  Identify run-flat tires by carefully inspecting the tires for specific markings.  Turn on the flashlight.  Scan the sidewall of the tire.  Look for markings such as “ZP,” “RFT,” “SEAL” or an image of a flat tire with an arrow pointing away from it.  Use the magnifying glass to pick out these indices, if necessary.  Sounds pretty tricky if you ask me.  I don’t think the average person would know to do this.

SafeSourcing strives to give excellent customer service.  If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

I was reading an article on Fox News the other day titled Lincoln’s advice for success still rings true today by John Cribb. Being a big fan of Lincoln, I knew the message would be simple but profound. So, here’s a couple of the messages.

1. Lincoln learned early the value of work. He wrote that his father put an ax into his hands when he was 8.
2. He worked hard at whatever he put mind his to. As a budding politician, he tromped from farmhouse to farmhouse looking for votes. 
3. A young schoolteacher once wrote to him asking for advice. “Work, work, work is the main thing,” Lincoln wrote back.
4. “Upon the subject of education,” he once wrote, “I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.” 
5. “My best friend is a man who can get me a book,” he said, and he would walk miles through the Indiana woods to lay his hands on one.

So, let’s see, start early, work hard, focus on improving your skills regardless of what it takes. Be a student and enhance your learning through reading. While this is a summary, the messages ring true today. I often heard these from my dad. Not sure if he was a Lincoln fan, but I am.

If you’d like to know more about our company, we are constantly challenging ourselves to be better for our customers.

To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR and Administration at SafeSourcing Inc.

Recently there have been several major disasters in the news. Some are natural disasters, others due to carelessness, and even others due to war or political/religious conflict. Whatever the cause, innocent people will be affected, and help will be needed. So, what can be done now?

Right now, you can begin preparing for whatever might come. This is called your disaster recovery plan. These are plans set in place, so people know what to do when different emergencies happen. First, making sure people are safe is top priority during any kind of disaster. Having adequate alarm systems is one way to be prepared and ensure people are protected. Another way to be prepared is having employees trained on what to do during different disasters. Whether it is fire, flood, tornado, employees can be trained on where to go that is the safest. In addition, if you use a lot of data or have important files, having a backup of all data is important for any time disaster strikes.

If disaster does strike, be prepared to help and know what next steps can be. Rerouting supply chains, having back up production or distribution facilities, or reaching out to alternate suppliers can all be beneficial and can help keep things running after a disaster. Having supplier resources can also enable live saving goods to get to an area when in need. A procurement partner, like SafeSourcing, can help your organization with sourcing the services, supplies, or suppliers you need to help get your recovery plan underway.

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.

Dave Wenig is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Services at SafeSourcing Inc

If you talk with some executives or purchasers, they will tell you that now is not the time to work on controlling costs. Interestingly, some of those folks have now been saying that for years. Let me tell you a little secret – they are wrong. That opinion is costing their organization a fortune.

I do not intend to tell you all the categories for which we are still out here reducing costs, but I will tell you a few. The truth is, there are ways to control your costs that go beyond just reducing costs. Controlling costs can be just as effective.

These are a few of the dozens of areas where we are still consistently reducing costs:

1. Paper Coffee Cups
2. Waste Removal
3. Equipment Rentals
4. Plastic Cutlery
5. Labels
6. Print Fulfilment
7. Bottled Water
8. Retail Displays

As I said, cost reduction is not the only way to control costs. Other overlooked areas where an RFP or RFQ process can improve your cost control capabilities exist too. If you want to learn how other are using index language, multiple vendor awards, and other tactics to better protect their organizations against cost increase, let us know and we can focus on that next.

For more information, please contact SafeSourcing.

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

Paying invoices electronically  has been SOP (a thing given or done as a concession of no great value to appease someone whose main concerns or demands are not being met) for years, yet many companies continue to insist on paying their invoices with physical checks and snail mail trying to buy a few extra days of cash preservation. Often the response is that electronic payments are too expensive. Anyone with a browser can find out that this is malarky or meaningless talk or nonsense.

EIPP is short for Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment. This is a B2B system of issuing invoices to customers over the internet and receiving payment on the invoices electronically. This can be accomplished in a Biller-Direct model, where payment is received directly via the biller’s website, or Bank-Aggregator, where a banking institution acts as the payment distributor to all of the receiving businesses.

Help your vendors by paying your bills electronically and on time.

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