Overheard a procurement director say vendor relationships are just transactions

I used to think good service meant lowest price. But after hearing him say the real cost of switching vendors is way higher than a 2% discount, I started looking at long term support instead. Anyone else factor in onboarding time as a hidden cost?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_susan8d ago

Oh man, that procurement director hit the nail on the head. I had a vendor I used for 3 years and their price went up like 5%. I almost jumped ship for a cheaper option but then I thought about the week it would take to train their staff and get everything set up. That lost time alone probably costs more than any discount. Plus the old vendor already knew my weird billing quirks and when I needed rush orders. People forget that onboarding is basically a whole month of headaches and mistakes before things run smooth.

wyatt1358d ago

Wait, you actually almost went back to price shopping after a whole 3 years with someone? That's wild to me... I figured once you hit the 2 year mark with a vendor you're basically locked in forever unless they really screw up. The onboarding headaches are real though, I swear every new system takes like 2 months before you stop calling support every other day.