Today’s post is by Alyson Usserman, an Account Manager at SafeSourcing.

Let’s talk about Bob for a minute. Bob is usually a great employee, he comes in early and leaves late, he even works from home on a regular basis. Bob is usually the first to volunteer when a new project is proposed to his company. He’s invested in the company, and in return, the company has invested in him.
 
Bob sounds like the perfect employee. However, he becomes so invested in his projects that he overlooks errors, and red flags. Sometimes, he overlooks the errors with strategy that could potentially arise and sometimes says, “This is how we always do it!” He yields average results for savings and sometimes does not understand why a procurement event didn’t go according to his “plan.” His strategy is usually the same, and he often neglects to take into account the factors that are associated with that particular industry. He has no idea if the plastic index has risen or fallen, he doesn’t always have a good supplier base, and sometimes, his events lead to subpar savings for his company.

Bob is overly invested, and cannot see the red flags that he is creating for his company. Bob is still a really great employee but maybe he needs some help with a fresh set of eyes and strategy. Maybe Bob needs someone to point him in the right direction depending on the product or industry. Or maybe Bob simply has too many tasks and not enough hours in the day.

If Bob sounds familiar, let SafeSourcing help. We have an entire customer service team that can help with your procurement needs. Please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Account Manager.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Executive Assistant at SafeSourcing.

So, why is this time of year called that and what exactly does it mean? Since the dog days of summer are fast approaching, now is a good time to look at that phrase and those other “dog” idioms we all know.

Dog Days of Summer. According to several sources, the Romans associated the hot weather with Sirius because it is the brightest star in the constellation, Canis Major, meaning Large Dog. As for the timing of Dog Days in the Northern Hemisphere, it usually occurs from mid-July through August.

Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks. For any Mythbusters fans out there, you probably already know that this is false. You can, in fact, teach an old dog new tricks. The same idea can be applied to people and businesses too. For example, the old dog could be your company and the new trick could mean new technology. New tricks help keep businesses going strong throughout the years.

It’s a Dog Eat Dog World. This saying refers to how competitive the world can be, ruthless and without constraint.  This phrase can easily apply to business as well, more specifically how competitive an industry can be. When it’s a matter of eat or be eaten, learning a few new tricks could come in handy.

Every Dog has its Day. This means that everyone gets a chance, eventually. It is meant to motivate, especially if times are trying. This is especially true in business. If things aren’t going as planned, opportunities will arise, perhaps today.

Dog and Pony Show. This colloquialism refers to something highly promoted, hyped up, or overly-staged performance meant to sway the audience opinion, like in commercials or politics. This saying should regularly be kept in mind when referring to business. Recognizing a dog and pony show for what it is can help a business stay cautious of possibly poor or traumatic decisions.

It’s a Dog’s Life. This saying means that one’s life is hard, poverty-stricken, and poor. The saying shows its age because when first appearing in the 16th century, dogs did not have the life they often have now. For many of our K-9 companions, life is anything but hard. It may even be pampered as the pet care industry flourishes. In 2007, New York real estate tycoon Leona Helmsley infamously left a fortune to her pet Maltese. This has led to a new definition of “a dog’s life,” meaning to have a carefree, pampered lifestyle. You really can teach an old dog new tricks.

If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help your business learn new tricks or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is by Shelly Hayre; Project Manager at SafeSourcing.

Bennis and Shepard’s group development model (Bennis, W. G. (1956). A Theory of Group Development. Human Relations, 9(4), 415-437). explains two phases that a group will experience, with each phase has three sub-phases. The first phase groups experience is dependence. In this phase groups experience dependence, counter-dependence, and resolution actions. The second phase is interdependence. In this phase groups experience enchantment, disenchantment, and consensual validation.

Phase One Dependence

Sub-phase One – Dependence

This sub-phase is the start to a high performing group. This sub-phase is when team members spend time sharing information about themselves. The group is searching for a common goal to share within the group. They want to get to know each other, but also feel a lack of direction. The group is in need of the facilitator for direction.

Sub-phase Two- Counter-Dependence

During this phase groups begin to get hostile toward the structure of the group and facilitator. Members of the group begin to openly question the competence of their leader and openly express dissatisfaction.  The leader is not addressing the group’s needs and begins to express these concerns openly. The group will also try and impose structure within their group. They will work towards electing roles and forming an agenda.

Sub-phase Three- Resolution- Catharsis

Resolution is the final sub-phase of phase one, dependency. The leader starts to step down to allow the group to function on its own by assigning roles and responsibilities to members. Groups begin to discuss member’s roles and responsibilities. The attention and alertness of the group heightens and more time and attention is focused on “becoming a group”. The group begins to find its place in the setting and confidence is built within the group.

Phase Two Interdependence

Sub-phase Four- Enchantment- Flight

Enchantment, sub-phase four, begins the second phase, Interdependence. This sub-phase is when everyone becomes happy, cheerful, and friendly with each other. Issues and disagreements are ignored due to the level of happiness around the group. This sub-phase is when the group starts to plan parties, outings, and events to spend quality time with everyone. There is a level of comfort and bonding going on during this sub-phase. This level of “happiness” is short lived though. The breakdown of this sub-phase will lead into sub-phase five.

Sub-phase Five- Disenchantment- Fight

This sub-phase is when some separation in the group occurs. The group divides and begins to form subgroups. The team members will go out of their way to form subgroups within their group.

Sub-phase Six- Consensual Validation

The final phase of Bennis and Shephard’s Theory of Group Development is sub-phase six.  This phase forces group to examine themselves and members demonstrate self-awareness of their own involvement. Members begin to have meaningful discussion and effective problem-solving. The subgroups that may have been developed in sub-phase five fuses together to accomplish the task.

Knowing the phases a group will encounter may make the ride smoother. It can be very stressful at times. Regardless of the phases, you still have a common goal and the results delivered from your group will be the only important piece in the end. Did your group go through each phase or are you currently experience one of these phases?

At SafeSourcing, we can help your group with its common goal. We may not be able to help with sub-phase five, but we can certainly keep your team focused throughout each phase.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Ref. (Bennis, W. G. (1956). A Theory of Group Development. Human Relations, 9(4), 415-437).

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

Yesterday we discussed some of the template documents your procurement team and/or 3rd party strategic sourcing partner should be developing in order for your projects and those of other departments can go more smoothly.  Template supplier research, communication and Requests for Information/Proposal were the first items and today we will finish off three other areas that can benefit from having templates established in advance.

Terms & Conditions  – Terms and conditions are the one document that many procurement departments have spent a lot of time on and yet we still see that those documents have not been shared well with the rest of the organization and also that instead of developing 3 or 4 templates to fit projects for very different categories that a “one-size-fits-all” approach has been taken leaving subject matter experts to spend more time removing what doesn’t apply than if they had started from scratch.  Terms & conditions should have background about the company and established rules and guidelines for how a sourcing project is expected to flow from the timeline through payment terms to communication to where the responses should be submitted.  Having a separate document that details the slight differences some categories will need (index price reviews, samples, testing, reporting, etc.) should also be developed to help guide other departments in designing initial documents that protect the company.

Specifications – Specifications are going to different from project to project.  Sometimes they will be on file somewhere, sometimes they will be a cut sheet in a filing cabinet and sometimes they won’t exist internally at all.  It is difficult to come up with a “standard” for product and service specifications and many times your 3rd party strategic sourcing provider will have a good library any way.  What is important at this stage is to create templates that help business owners ask the questions of their suppliers, gather details and detail out what will be needed in order to source the category.  These types of documents can be standardized and like other sets of documents, should be broken out into at least 3 or 4 category types so the information gathered can be focused on that category.

Template Reporting – Standardizing reporting packages can be extremely beneficial to any procurement department because it can shape how a project is shaped before any details are gathered.   Knowing the information needed to make an award decision at the end will dictate how the project is structured to ensure that information is gathered and can be analyzed in true “apples to apples” format.  Many times the contract stage of procurement is very similar and the data needed for contracts and to make award decisions is also very similar.  Developing this in advance is a big key to strong sourcing projects.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help your team develop your library of template documents or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

When we deal with new customers we often find that even in large companies the presence of standard template documents, standard operating procedures, specifications and reporting templates is not a given.  Many times we spend the first couple weeks with a new customer just working with them to develop the library of documents they will need to move forward with sourcing projects with us.  Over the next two days we will take a look at some of these documents we help our customers develop and the value having them brings to their future sourcing projects.

Supplier Research Templates – Supplier research is a funny thing for many procurement departments.   Many times the list of potential suppliers consists of current incumbents, previous suppliers or suppliers who have cold-called someone in the department or delivered a presentation.  Many times this group will have a couple of major players in the industry and maybe a niche player or two but it is usually not exhaustive by any means.  The question then becomes “Who is missing and what information do we need to know about them before doing business with them?”  Determining what this list of information is (Company size, age, customer base, reputation in the industry) will help you or a 3rd party gather the information on new players in advance or during the course of an Request For Quote or Proposal.

Supplier Communication Templates – One thing that very few procurement departments ever think to standardize is the communication that happens internally with the business owners and externally with the suppliers, both incumbents and non-incumbents alike.  Many of these communications will be tied to a flow of activities that needs to occur during the course of the project such as the email notifications to incumbents suppliers of the project, invitations to submit proposals, notifications to internal subject matter experts requesting any information they might be privy to, etc.  Many times these communications do not need to be changed much from project to project and a strong 3rd party strategic sourcing partner should be able to help you develop these from past experience.

Template RFIs/RFPs – It is rare that many companies will have an exhaustive Request For Information/Proposal template library and many will not even have a template for a baseline document from which to start.   It is best to begin with baseline templates that any department can use that have the same language that has been approved by the company’s legal team.  SafeSourcing recommends at the very least developing baseline RFI/RFP templates for services, products, computer software and, if applicable, for resell products.  This will give departments a great start from which to start new RFIs/RFPs and will feed other documents such as scorecards and reporting templates that will be able to be standardized based on this initial collection of data.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help your team develop a library of useful documents for sourcing events or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today?s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

Each year companies spend millions of dollars researching markets and categories, and the suppliers that support them.? Some of this work is done internally and some of this work is performed by 3rd party strategic sourcing and research companies like Gartner or Forrester.? The goal of the research is always to understand who the players are, where they are strong, where they are weak and how they compare to other players in the space.? These results eventually help companies make decisions and are the basis by which presentations are requested and who should be invited to submit proposals for business.

The National Suppliers ? National Suppliers are essential for almost any sourcing project, especially for those companies with a nationwide presence.? National players are usually the leaders in the industry and have a better handle on trends from coast to coast as well as the experience to lead big projects.? The downside to National players is that they are not always right for ?niche? projects that need a very focused tool or service.? National players are also situated within the market and their customer base in a way that they are not always as hungry from a pricing perspective as some of their smaller competitors.? While National players can come with a higher price point, however, their experience and coverage usually make up for it.

The Regional/Sub-Category Suppliers ? The next tier of suppliers is one that contains large regional companies or companies who focus on a big portion of an overall category.? An example of the latter would be if a company was looking at Maintenance, Repairs and Operation spend and wanted to include some companies that specialized in only a few products that made up a large portion of the spend but nothing else.? Everyone wants to go with a single award supplier because it is easier to manage but the reality is that single supplier awards don?t always make as much sense as splitting the business geographically or categorically between 2-3 vendors.? This creates a great opportunity for this tier of suppliers to feel they have a legitimate shot at winning business and keeps them aggressive in their proposals.

The Local/Niche Suppliers ? Many people would believe that after the first two groups of suppliers, that it does not make much sense to include the smaller local or niche vendors.? This assumption would be wrong.? Procurement projects, especially those for large National companies, often see that huge portions of the spend can be found in only 2 or 3 locations.? In these cases, a local supplier may already be supporting the company very well and should be included in any sourcing project.? Also, in the case above with MRO example, if a company only wanted to focus on a section of parts like filters, they would likely start with being focused on niche suppliers but would also invite large regional and National players as potential secondary suppliers.? This process allows a company to leverage a potential existing deal with a National or Regional player while keeping a local incumbent honest.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist with helping you business find the right mix of suppliers to include in your next sourcing event?please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.? We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing. 

In an January interview with Deloitte vice chairman and U.S. Retail and Distribution leader, Alison Kenney Paul, one of the hot topics for Retailers in 2014 will be how they begin to leverage the millions of devices their consumers are using every day in order to provide better customer service and drive additional sales in a way that keeps them focused on what they really want to achieve rather than reacting to any change in the technology world.

Determine the goal – With new technology it can be easy to get caught up into what’s new and what’s different and lose site of the goals of the company.  Increased sales, better customer service, reduction in loss, reduction in expenses, increased traffic in the store are all good goals which companies should already have established as part of their annual planning.  Technology and leveraging customers’ smart devices can help with any/all of these goals but the key is to determine where the company has the greatest need.   If you are a smaller retailer competing with larger National retailers, the main goal may be to maintain your current customer base through competitive deals and better customer service.  Driving sales through targeted discounts and marketing may be the goal of someone.  Whatever the top organization goals are; lock those down as the baseline for how to investigate the use of this technology.

Understand the options – With established goals set, finding ways to begin leveraging the technology to achieve those goals is the next step.  For many companies this means beginning the research for solutions and partners that can help them achieve what they want.  Outside of searching on the internet, some of the best ways to see what some of these new solutions are by going to industry trade shows, attending webinars or speaking with 3rd party consultants who work with digital media and messaging to consumer smart phones every day.  Some will have tools of their own and others will be able to provide the guidance needed to take the next steps.  Many times conducting an RFI to help fill in some of the holes can be an excellent next step.

Find the best solution – With goals and an understanding of the options to achieve those goals the final step is find the best possible solution to complete the objectives.  This is generally when a formal Request For Proposal takes place and the business provides the detailed information of what they want to achieve to the suppliers that can provide solutions and/or services to help them do that.  Many options such as in-store blue tooth beacons that can push discounts and coupons to consumer phones that have signed up with the store, to in-store assistants that allow phone apps to show shoppers where a product is and if it is in stock have been released or being tested to take advantage of the technology that is already there.  The goal for all of these suppliers is to show and convince the customer of the ROI and how long it will take to achieve.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist with researching these types of solutions, conducting Requests For Information/Proposal or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.