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Decisions >> Business / Organization / Employer >> Vendors >> Legal Firm

Choose a Product or Service Vendor

  Choosing a Vendor for an essential service or product can be difficult. Let MyDecisionHelper guide you through deciding which potential vendor will serve your needs best. MyDecisionHelper will help you decide which Vendor to hire to help your company grow and prosper!

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Other related decisions where we can help you:
  • Choose a New Pickup Truck to Buy
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  • Choose a contract programmer for a Web project.
  • Pick a janitorial service.
  • Choose a business liability insurance policy.


If you....

  • need to choose a Vendor...
  • want to minimize the chances of making a mistake....
  • need some help organizing your thoughts...
  • want to be sure that you make the best choice for your Vendor...
  • need to be able to explain your reasons...

MyDecisionHelper can help you!

We will guide you through the following steps:


Step 1: Discover what is important to you.


Step 2: List your choices.


Step 3: Evaluate each choice.


Step 4: Review the results.


Based on your values and needs, MyDecisionHelper will show you the ranking of each Vendor being considered.
MyDecisionHelper will highlight your best choice and will let you review and tweak every aspect of the Decision process to ensure you make the best decision possible. MyDecisionHelper provides useful charts and reports to help you understand and explain your decision!

Here are some of the things we'll help you consider:
  • Demand Performance
  • Bid Requirements
  • Training and Support
  • Return Policies
  • Financial Stability


When making a decision like this many people use the list below. We will use this list to help you make your Decision. You can modify it to fit your needs or situation.

 Name          Description
General vendor characteristics How do you rate the overall characteristics of the vendor considering reputation, financial stability, market position and growth?
Reputation What is the vendor’s overall reputation relative to quality, performance, guarantees, pricing, etc.?
Financial stability How solid is the vendor’s financial ability to stay in business, provide optimal purchase terms, grow with your business, support re-work, etc.?
Market position How does the vendor's market position affect you considering prominence, exclusivities, name recognition, pricing, etc.?
Vendor growth Is the vendor growing within your market, adding new products/services, maintaining market share, etc.?
Product/service considerations How do you rate the vendor’s products and services overall, considering selection, inventory, customization, performance, warranty, etc.?
Product/service selection How well does the vendor’s product breadth and depth meet your needs?
Product/service specifications How well does the vendor’s availability and suitability of products/services meet your needs?
Inventory How well does the level of on-hand inventory maintained by the vendor meet your peak needs?
Customization How do you rate the vendor’s ability to make or provide customized products to meet unique needs?
Product/service quality How do you rate the overall quality of products and services from the vendor?
Product/service interchangeability What is the vendor’s ability to substitute other products or services to meet deadlines, shortages, etc.?
Product performance What is the overall performance of the vendor’s products such as life, replacement frequency, repair, maintenance, etc.?
Product/service warranty How do you rate the level of product/service warranty? (Consider replacement, repair, labor, rework, etc. of the vendor and their supplier.)
Operational considerations How well does the vendor’s overall performance affect your operations, considering standard and peak period delivery, inventory requirements, training, etc.?
Delivery timeframe How well does the standard delivery time after placing an order meet your normal operational requirements?
Peak period delivery performance How do you rate the vendor's ability to react to peak period or emergency requirements?
Inventory requirements How much inventory must you maintain versus having quick ship or JIT availability from this vendor?
Shipping requirements How well does the vendor meet your overall shipping/delivery requirements? (Consider special handling, special packaging, HAZMAT issues, multiple carrier involvement, foreign port restrictions, etc.)
Operational impact How well does the vendor react to any extraordinary operational issues? (Consider longer lead times, potential shortages, extra paperwork [perhaps required by customs], possible supply interruptions, etc.)
Staff training/re-training How much training or re-training do your employees need to handle or use the vendor’s products?
Financial and contractual How well does the vendor’s overall financial and contractual programs meet your needs? (Consider bid requirements, regular and volume pricing, payment terms, profit impact, etc.)
Bid requirements How well does the vendor meet the bid specifications? (Consider job requirements, product/service specifications, support issues, payment schedules, etc.)
Purchase price How do you rate the vendor’s pricing, considering pricing competitiveness, price stability, any foreign currency exchange rate issues, etc.?
Volume purchase contracts How viable is the availability of volume contracts with the vendor? (Consider term and discounts, ability of vendor to comply, your long-term commitment, exit options, etc.)
Payment terms How do you rate the vendor’s payment terms? (Consider due dates, discounts, your cash flow requirements, etc.)
Profit impact How does the vendor’s proposed pricing impact your profitability?
Background checks How good is the vendor’s background check? (Consider pending criminal and/or civil litigation, past convictions, credit ratings, etc.)
Reference checks How do suppliers and customers rank the performance of the vendor and its products/services?
Support considerations How do you rate the vendor’s overall level of support, considering purchasing support, problem resolution, return policy, training, advertising, trade show, etc.?
Purchasing support How do you rate the vendor’s level of purchasing support? (Consider the ease of purchasing, recurring standard orders, order tracking, on-line services, etc.)
Problem resolution How good is the vendor at overall problem resolution? (Consider shipping errors, billing mistakes, inferior product quality adjustments, etc.)
Return policy How good is the vendor’s product return policy? (Consider defects, damage, spoilage, etc.)
Technical product support How do you rate the vendor’s technical support? (Consider proper product application, unusual uses or applications, custom requirements, etc.)
Product/service training How do you rate the amount and quality of training the vendor provides your employees?
Product/service alliances How strong are the vendor’s alliances? (Consider competitive stability, product/service advancement, unique need solutions, etc.)
Co-op advertising support How do you rate the vendor’s co-op advertising program? (Consider shared advertising expenses, national advertising, ads produced for localization, etc.)
Trade show support What level of local, national and international trade show support does the vendor provide? (Consider level of participation possible, extent of support for your trade booth (space, design, graphics, material, etc.), personnel support to man show, etc.)


This site is intended as an informational tool only and should be used in consultation with appropriate professional advisors.



 

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