In Conclusion

If any of the 19 Profit Siphons mentioned in this report have resonated with you, your company will benefit from a lost profit analysis.

In fact, if multiple categories resonated, the case for you having significant profit recapture potential is even stronger.

As I’ve previously mentioned, any indirect expense category can be improved with some attention and effort.  The question you need to ask for yourself is:

Do you want to improve it incrementally or do you want to know for a fact that you’re receiving the very best value that vendors can possibly offer?

To receive the best possible value, you need a guide who intimately knows the expense category being reviewed. You may be fortunate enough to have a team member on staff that has recently worked within the vendor industry that supports a specific expense category

If they were a member of executive management within that vendor industry for over five years and know the cost of goods structure as well as the vendor support capabilities, you’re all set for that expense category.

If not, you’ll need to find an industry expert outside of your organization.

Even if you do have a team member that’s an industry expert, you’ll still need to find a “guide” for each of your other significant expense categories.

To ensure that you get the best possible return from engaging an outsourced expert, I suggest insisting on these criteria:

• NO upfront fee – hard dollar results are delivered and approved by you before any fee is owed.
• Performance-based – they’re incentivized to maximize the benefit you receive and you only pay if a benefit is delivered first.
• Benchmarking of current cost, product/service quality, and vendor support metrics – this ensures there’s no decrease in the quality of the product/service and/or vendor support.
• Results guarantee provided upfront – before investing any time with them, know what results you’ll receive.
• Process outline confirming minimal time is needed from your team – so you and your team stay focused on your current key projects and are only involved with milestone decisions.
• A track record of at least five years verified by client references and/or testimonials – you want proof upfront that results have been delivered in the past.

I hope you’ve found the “19 Reasons” series helpful.  If you have further questions, click on the “Schedule a Conversation” button on the home page and set up a time to talk.