This week’s blog series has been our archives at  SafeSourcing.

During Part III of this post we discussed organizing your data and looking at amenities offerings and programs that when supported by your corporate travel policies drive value and assist in establishing the goals for your event.

Ok, amenities are one thing, but how data relative to individual locations, chain or corporate discounts and rebate programs interact is key to making sure that what looks like value really is.

Today we will be exploring the importance of these additional data elements.

1. Location Rates
2. Chain Discounts
3. Rebate Programs

The Location rate – The most ideal scenario in any accommodations eProcurement process is to negotiate the rate at individual properties based on a spend estimate (usually more than 100 nights a year).  Regardless of what the goal of the project eventually ends up being, being able to focus on the top 8-10 locations where you have significant recurring use  to reduce your rates is something that should be considered as long as you have the estimates to provide the properties; which is not always the case. There are ways to extrapolate this data if it is not yet consolidated that a solutions provider should be able to help you with.

The Chain or Corporate Discount – In many cases, company’s lack the visibility into their accommodation spend to be able to let vendors know much more than the overall amount they spend each year.   There are times in these cases, when a company is beginning to establish its travel policy and tracking mechanism that trying to get a chain discount across all properties may be a good place to start.  Selecting 2 or 3 preferred chains will help you get a good discount and will provide you with partners who can begin helping you track the activity from their side as well.

The Rebate Program – Unfortunately when you can’t provide the level of detail you want to the vendors on the portion of business they stand to gain while at the same time you may even be starting a new travel policy program internally; getting everyone to commit to the project can be difficult.  The vendors don’t want to go out on a limb because they don’t know how much business they are really going to get and the employees may not follow the process because they see no reason to do so.

Establishing an annual cash rebate program with the vendors based on volumes can address both of these issues.  Vendors have the opportunity to commit to additional savings when they get the volume of spend they are seeking and since tracking volume becomes the means by which this rebate is achieved, the employees and company have a strong reason to maintain use of the new processes.

If you do have good consolidated information, there are ways to leverage all three of these data elements in order to optimize your savings opportunities and reward your frequent travelers and traveling vendors at the same time.

Hopefully this four part blog series points out that there are a number of variables (data) to consider when sourcing Hotel Accommodations, individually they all can add value and potentially reduce costs or mitigate increases, combined as a complete strategy where each element is leveraged there is significant potential  for your company.

If you’ve enjoyed this four part post on sourcing accommodations, please pass it on to others that may have interest. If you like more information about sourcing travel related categories like hotel accommodations; please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

This week’s blog series is from our Archives at SafeSourcing.

In todays part III we will be exploring the following data elements.

1. The Data
2. Amenities & Features

The Data – After you have established your goals for your events it’s time to review the data you have available to you in order to get your project off the ground. Don’t be disturbed if there isn’t much.  Having no visibility into how many nights you stay at a specific location can certainly make negotiating rates with that location more difficult but not impossible.  In many cases companies have rates established with properties and do not even realize it.  Simply making some phone calls to the hotels near your offices is a simple way to start. You might be surprised with what you have in place currently with these properties.  At the very least a picture of what your accommodation spends as a whole is needed so that the chains and properties know how to provide you with something that is valuable for you and worth their investment. Between these phone calls, some internal surveys and some expense statement reviews, extrapolating your spend is entirely possible.

The Amenities & Features – You may not have a policy that details the amenities a specific property or brand needs in place in order to be a “preferred” site but gathering those details is critical so that you can sort out your true cost profile once the project has been completed.  One property in Phoenix, AZ may provide lower rates than another but may charge for internet access and is not able to provide the free continental breakfast another property with higher rack rates does.  It  may be preferable to conduct an RFI as a precursor to any pricing work that is done so that  your company can understand which properties will fit the criteria you require of a preferred location.

During tomorrow’s final post in this series we’ll be discuss Location Rates, Chain Discounts, Rebate Programs and how to leverage them to your best advantage during your event.

If you can’t wait for tomorrows Part IV or this IV part post and need more information sooner about sourcing travel related categories like hotel accommodations, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

This weeks post Sourcing Travel Accommodations part II  of IV  is from our Archives at  SafeSourcing.

In yesterdays  post we discussed the types of data required to effectively negotiate Hotel Stays on behalf of  your company?

Today we will be exploring the following data elements.

1. The  Corporate Travel Policy
2. The goal of your sourcing effort

The Policy – Before anything gets done with a travel related category it may be an appropriate time to revisit the company’s entire corporate travel policy in order to determine if any updates are required.  If you do not have a formal travel policy that covers the entire company, establishing one should the be the first step in this sourcing endeavor.  Details that should be included in this document become the  foundation for the Terms & Conditions that drive as well as the contracts that ensure your results and will also determine how best to set the next step of the process: The Goal.

The Goal – There are generally two kinds of hotel accommodations that companies should gather data for during the eProcurement process. They depend on the structure of your company.  The first is to gain the best rates you can for company associates that travel as part of doing business for your company. These can location specific if used frequently enough or they may be in the form of a program that gets established for all locations within a specific hotel brand. The variety of stay should be dictated by the corporate policy.  The second goal is to secure the best rates and service for a company’s locations or location for their associates as well as vendors and customers visiting your offices.  These two goals can happen independent of each other or as part of the same process.

During tomorrow’s post we’ll discuss additional data elements such as amenities, features and services.

If you can’t wait for tomorrows Part III or this IV part post and need more information sooner about sourcing travel related categories like hotel accommodations, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Todays post is from our Archives at SafeSourcing.

Negotiating hotel accommodations for your company can be a tricky business because many vendors will want to understand your goals and your projected spend with them before they will seriously consider awarding you aggressive discounts.  Couple this with the fact that many franchise properties like to negotiate their own rates independent of their national brand and you have what appears to be a complex low return category. When In fact, this not the case.

Over the next several days we will be taking a look at some of the data companies require before they will seriously consider awarding you aggressive discounts.

Over the course of this post series we will be exploring the following data elements.

1. The  Corporate Travel Policy
2. The goal of your sourcing effort
3. The Data
4. Amenities & Features
5. Location Rates
6. Chain Discounts
7. Rebate Programs

If you can’t wait for tomorrows Part II or this IV part post and need more information sooner about sourcing travel related categories like hotel accommodations, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Today’s post is from our  SafeSourcing Archives

The day we are born we all get a set of identifying marks that make us unique; our fingerprints.  Not one us have the same set of fingerprints and so they have become one of the things that identify who we are to the rest of the world.

In much the same way our physical fingerprints identify us, how we approach and handle tasks in our everyday lives have characteristics similar to our fingerprints that identify us as the ones involved with those tasks; how we write; how we speak; how we lead; how we organize; how we communicate.  Each of us puts “fingerprints” on our work that identify us as being involved with a project.  Let’s look at a few areas to help you determine what fingerprints you are leaving behind.

Research – Every sourcing project begins with the research.  Research includes understanding what you are buying, how much you are buying, who you are currently buying that product from and who else sells that product that you could buy it from.  The diligence you show in digging up the documents, emails, contracts, potential new vendors leaves your fingerprint on a project a major way.

Tool use – Tools range from pencil & paper to Excel spreadsheets to fullblown eSourcing solutions that intelligently help you organize the procurement process.  Knowing what tools you have at your disposal and how to use them can mark a project with your involvement.  Also, knowing when the tools you have aren’t sufficient is equally important.

Organization – Knowing all of the details does no good unless the organization of a project is done well.  Great procurement professionals can assess a project; determine who needs to be involved; determine what each phase of the project should be and who should be brought in to assist with each step of the process.  Knowing what to expect and organizing appropriately can be the difference between a successful project and one that fails to meet expectations.

Communication – Communication is tightly connected with organization.  Without effective communication among all parties involved in the organized project, including what the expectations of each member are, many projects fail before they ever begin.

Desire – The wild card to the fingerprint you leave on a project is desire.  Desire can originate from many different sources but the goal is always the same; completing a successful project in the time it was expected to happen.  Among each of the five components mentioned here, desire will mark projects as yours and will many times be the difference-maker in a project being completed correctly and in a timely manner.  When you strongly care about a project being successful, the majority of the time it will be.

For more information on SafeSourcing or how you can leave better fingerprints on your sourcing projects, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is from our  SafeSourcing Archives.

Dale Carnegie advised us in 1934 that we should be Hearty in our approbation, and lavish in our praise. And we are, of the people who save the baby from the burning building, divert tragedy, or run ultra-marathons. These individuals do deserve our admiration to an extent, but we need to be careful not to overemphasize the more visible accomplishments to the extent that we de-incentivize the small wins.

If management is pushing productivity through an organization, leadership is pulling from in front. But leadership doesn’t have to be 1 man or woman pulling an entire organization up the mountain. It takes a chain of linked individuals, each pulling everyone forward in great and small things to create success across an organization. However, the culture of the optimal organization is not to point to the top rungs and say be THAT guy, because we don’t need 2 CEO’s, we need people who take ownership and create value in every position of the company. But how many times have we had people go above and beyond in the small things that had a profound impact on our personal or professional life and never given them the praise they deserved? Or worse, how has it effected you when someone only gives marginal or poor effort, because the tasks they’re working on aren’t praised in their organization no matter how well they are done?

When we make leadership into something bigger than ourselves, we give ourselves an excuse to not take responsibility for the profound ways our actions affect other people. We all have had experiences where someone’s small act has had a profound impact in our lives, for good or bad. Don’t forget to praise their investment in you or your organization, or learn from their mistakes.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist your team in being a savings hero for your ortanization, 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.