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Ask your vendors to help you cut supplies costs.  Request your supplies vendor come in with a summary list of everything you have bought over the past year and review the purchases for alternatives, buyers’ names and a plan to cut these costs.  Vendors will help because they do not want you to start buying elsewhere.  If they sense you are going to move your business, you can depend on them to give you alternative supplies to buy that are cheaper, just as good, meet the need and save your firm money.  Ask them.  No vendor wants to lose business, so it is better to retain business at a slightly lower price than risk losing you, the customer, to the competition.

Questions to ask of your supplies vendors about cutting costs:

• Who are the worst offenders?  Which are the top ten items purchased and ranked in dollar value, highest to lowest, we bought from your company during the past year?  Note:  When you set up your meeting with them, ask them to come with this information (even if you have it).  They will prepare the listing and begin thinking of what they can do for you given this mix of products or services you have purchased in the past.  They will probably come prepared with some options for you to consider, all because you asked a simple question.  You will get nothing until you ask.
• Who is spending money?  Give me a list of who in my organization is buying from you in dollar order (highest to lowest).  Note:  If a number of people in your organization buy from this firm, ask the vendor to sort the dollars purchased by individual, high to low dollar amount.  You want to know who is buying the most in your organization so you can discuss alternatives.
• What are alternatives?  Give me a list of alternative cheaper supplies to try in order to cut supplies costs.  Tell the annual savings if my firm can use those alternative products?
• How about exchanges?  Do you have any exchange program where we can turn in unused supplies in exchange for those we can use?
• What other ideas can you offer us?  If you do not have an exchange program available for unused supplies, do you have any idea about what we can do with supplies we have that we cannot use?
• Is our spending history available?  Ask your vendor to tell you what you have bought when you place your next order.  If they refuse, start asking alternative vendors that bug you all of the time if they can provide this and tell them to put it in writing directed to you.  Indicate to your current vendor other vendors are willing to provide spending history so you need for them to do this now in order to keep the business.  Tell your uncooperative vendor there are options in the market.  Know a few names of his competitors to drop in the conversation.

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