Vendor Management

Would You Like Me to Personally

Save You Tens of Thousands of Dollars

AND Dramatically Reduce the Substantial Risk

You and Your Organization May Currently Face

Related to Your Outsourced Services or Vendors,

And do All of That

…For next to nothing? (Actually, a Net Gain to You)

Dear Fellow Business Executive,

I’ve built my business by providing high-level, personalized service to folks just like yourself.

Periodically, I have a small opening in my schedule. When that happens, I seek out one of the very rare executives who truly understand and appreciate the critical nature of the risks of outsourced services and third-party vendor relationships, and the need to mitigate those risks.

If you’re that executive, we should talk. Click on the button below if you’re ready to schedule a brief call.

There is no cost to you for this introductory call. In fact, it might pay dividends.

(Due to overwhelming demand for our services and the need to provide our current clients with our full attention and exceptional service, we are not accepting new clients at this time. However, if you’re one of those rare, visionary executives who truly understands the value of the services we provide, please email us to be placed on our waitlist. Periodically we have an opening and we will contact when a spot becomes available.)

So, what exactly do I do?

Should we decide to work together, I will personally work with you to develop a plan to reduce your risk and increase your ROI when using outsourced services. Specifically, I will:

Assess your current vendor services profile and risks;

Develop a plan and processes for mitigating key risks;

Provide ongoing oversight and monitoring of your vendors and risks; and

Help ensure your vendor services and projects come in on time, on budget, and to specifications.

If your situation is similar to any of the following, I can usually help.

You may have recently decided that you need to outsource some of your resources or activities.

Or you may be in the process of a shorter-term vendor project.

Or you may be in the process of a long-term or perpetual vendor project.

Whatever your situation, here are some items you’ll need to consider in order to reduce your risks and increase your chances of success. You’ll want to ensure that:

You identify qualified vendors;

You select the best vendor for your specific project;

You have effective contracts in place to protect your interests and fully address project budget, timeline, and specifications;

Your risks are minimized as they relate to your vendor and your projects;

The vendor is properly on-boarded;

The vendor is effectively managed throughout the project; and

Your project comes in on-time, on-budget, and to specifications.

This is just a partial list. And within this list, there are dozens of other items that must be addressed. But you get the idea.

So, let’s talk a little bit more about your risks. You see, you can outsource activities to third party vendors, but you cannot outsource your risks. In fact, you could be introducing additional risks.

What are some of those risks? Here are just a few.

Cybersecurity risks

Unauthorized disclosure of confidential information

Non-performance

Under-performance or performance not to specifications

Improper billing

Scope creep

Over budget

Missed deadlines

Lack of onboarding strategy and controls

Lack of exit strategy and controls

Miscommunications

Not meeting contractual obligations

Vendor loss of staff or staffing changes

Improper or inadequate systems or controls testing

Ambiguous contract terms

Undefined approvals process

Ambiguous roles and responsibilities

Poor internal ‘public relations’ around your projects resulting in negative impressions to stakeholders

Let’s also discuss roles and responsibilities related to your vendor management program.

Who has responsibility for managing your vendors?

What are those specific responsibilities?

Are those responsibilities well-defined and complete?

Are your vendor management controls effective?

Does your staff have the bandwidth to effectively deliver on that program? Or is this an ‘add-on’ to their already limited bandwidth?

If you are that very rare executive who truly understands and appreciates the critical nature of the risks of outsourced services and third-party vendor relationships, we should talk.

Here’s how it works. Simply click on the button below and select one of the available slots on my calendar for an introductory call. If there are no slots available, you’ll be added to the waiting list and I’ll get back to you on a first come first served basis. If you’re having trouble accessing my calendar, please use our contact form on the contact page.

During the introductory call, I’ll get to know a little bit more about your situation and whether I think I can help. I’ll learn about what you’ve got, what you’re doing, and what you want to achieve.

You’ll also get to know a bit more about me, and together we’ll decide if it makes sense to proceed with a meeting at your offices.

When we meet at your offices, whether or not we decide to work together, I’ll provide you with a list of key risks, controls, and related information to immediately help you with your vendor management program.

At no cost to you.

(After doing this for over 31 years, I’ve gotten fairly good at not just helping organizations solve large, long-term challenges in this area, but at quickly assessing situations and providing some immediate feedback that you can use right away).

At the end of our meeting in your offices, one of two things will happen:

You will more fully appreciate and understand the risks you face via your outsourced services and have some tools and techniques for addressing those risks but decide you can handle them on your own.
You will more fully appreciate and understand the risks you face via your outsourced services and ask to become my client so I can personally help you and your organization reduce your vendor services risks and increase your related ROI.

If that’s the case, I’m confident we’ll knock it out of the park.

It’s really that simple. No catch.

The worst that can happen is that you have some tools and more information to handle things on your own. That information, if acted upon, can immediately save you money and reduce your risk.

The best that can happen is we work together to substantially reduce your risks, protect you and the organization from potential negative outcomes, and increase your ROI on these projects.

And here’s something even bigger to consider.

What does it cost?

My fee for this specific service is generally around a few thousand dollars per month, depending on the scope of the project and services involved. And that’s usually a drop in the bucket, especially when you consider all of the value that you’ll receive

But the reality is that this really doesn’t cost you anything.

Here’s why…

Generally, I save my clients far more money by implementing strategies, processes, and controls, than they pay me in fees.

Just one, small example -

When you’re paying me to ensure vendors are properly invoicing you, two things generally happen:

I identify over billing resulting in actual dollars in your pocket for which you’d otherwise be unaware; and
Over time, since vendors know someone is auditing their invoices, instances of improper billing magically disappear.

O.K., here’s another example –

When you’re paying me to ensure your vendors are ‘sticking to the script’, something else magically happens: ‘surprises’ tend to disappear.

In other words, that scope creep, those additional items that got added on to the project without your approval, that miscommunication that resulted in missing a milestone – all of that tends to go away, or be significantly reduced, and that results in – you guessed it – dollars in your pocket.

It doesn’t take too many of these to add up to huge losses for you. Conversely, it doesn’t take me implementing too many controls that avoid those things before they add up to huge gains for you.

Alright, one more example –

Who is negotiating your contracts with your vendors?

How effective are they at saving you money?

When you’re paying me to look after your interests, I help ensure you get the best possible value out of your vendor relationships.

Now, sure there are many services which come with a take it or leave it price tag. For example, something like Salesforce. (With that said, I can even help you save money with Salesforce).

But many vendors understand the value of a long-term relationship, and consequently can be persuaded to work with your budget. Even with vendors who have a take it or leave it pricing structure, there are often lesser known items that they may include, simply by someone knowing what to ask for.

But perhaps your biggest asset in these negotiations is your pre-selection leverage. I’ve seen many organizations completely mismanage this key item. The result? Overpaying for services.

Managed correctly, this can amount to substantial short and long-term savings to you and your organization.

As I’m sure you can see, my fees are more like an investment, than a cost – an investment that pays dividends, in both the short and long-term.

So, if you are that very rare executive who truly understands and appreciates the critical nature of the risks of outsourced services and third-party vendor relationships, let’s talk.

Simply click on the button below and select one of the available slots on my calendar. If there are no slots available, you’ll be added to the waiting list. If you’re having trouble accessing my calendar, please use our contact form on the contact page.

Obviously, this is an extremely limited opportunity, due to the fact that I rarely have openings in my schedule. You see, I’m already delivering for other clients, and not only do they rarely let my services end, they are so thrilled with the results that they continue to ask me to help them in many other areas.

And if you needed one more reason to schedule a call with me, here you go. We are a small, specialized firm by design. It allows me to do something absolutely none of the medium or large consulting firms can ever do – provide you with personalized service.

When you sign up with one of those other firms, you’ll likely start out by dealing with an ‘account manager’; someone with little experience in the actual services being provided. Their job is to ‘sell’ you on the services. Once you are ‘sold’, you may never hear from that person again.

Next, they’ll send out one or two junior staff to deliver the services. By junior staff I mean someone with less than 10 - 15 years’ experience. Since they lack experience, (and by experience, I mean the kind of experience you get by being in the field for over 30 years), they’ll often take a ‘template’ approach to your situation. That is, they’ll try to make your situation fit into their template. It may or may not.

If anyone promises you a template approach, and promises that they can deliver what you need, without actually sitting down with you and having a detailed discussion, well…let’s just say that isn’t your ideal situation.

The bottom line? I can only work with a few clients at a time, because my clients get me personally. As much as I might like to work with many other companies, I simply can’t.

So, if you feel like this is right for you and your organization, click on the button below and let’s talk.