find partners

The right supplier is to the business what a better half is to her spouse. It is the right-bone of your corporation, and finding the best supplier is as tricky as it gets. A company needs to identify the best strategies to source the right suppliers in a way aligned with the company’s goals. Therefore, the first preliminary step to strategize the procurement process is to identify the specific needs of your organization. Take budget for an example; if you do not plan to find a high-priced supplier, it will short-list the available vendors automatically. Thus, the recognition of organization-specific demands is crucial. Now let us look at how to source your supplier with the top strategies.

Finding a competent supplier is a make or break situation; hence many companies have a procurement department for the job. If you are a small company or don’t have a procurer, the best practice would be to equip your human intuition with focused and systematic criteria. These measures will include Delivery methods, Payment conditions, Time management, assurance of quality, and mutual references. If you go searching for a supplier without an excellent working, you will search for a needle in the haystack. Reviewing hundreds of suppliers without objectivity would be over-kill and efforts that are not the requirements of the task.

Bids:

Procuring the quality suppliers could be either a bull’s eye or a bullet to the head. The easiest way to start the process is by sending out a call for bids, where you gather all the quotations and proposals. You could develop a questionnaire and ask the suppliers the services you require. To elaborate, you need to ask about the delivery schedule further, quality standards, work out the payment methods, and their SWOT. This survey will help you identify and isolate the desired pool of suppliers, which will be easy to choose. After collecting results, you could summarize the scope of services rendered, match them with your needs.

You need to assess all the bids by evaluating the value they could bring to your business. The idea of sourcing the right supplier is to bring value to the overall organization. Make sure that the suppliers answer all of the questions for your better understanding of the services they will provide accordingly. You could also conduct interviews where a panel of your management can discuss the services with the short-listed vendors.

Performance:

You will need to analyze the supplier’s capacity. Firstly, ask for the references and reviews of their previous buyers. Then decide whether they match your requirements and their capability insured to deliver on time. The best strategy is to chart out possible outcomes and estimate the traders’ operational capacity. While on-job, you should arrange performance appraisals and treat them as one of your own. In addition, the supplier’s performance needs to match the efforts he will be putting in.

Techniques:

It is useful to research on their delivery techniques and the level of technology they use. Make sure the supplier has the necessary licensing and paper works. These strategies will help you nail the dilemma of sourcing a supplier, which proves best for your company.