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Drive Your Company's Competitive Advantages With Strategic Vendor Selection

Brian Zielinski
February 13th, 2020

According to Microsoft, micro revolutions are occurring every 12-18 months. How can your business keep up with change? Or better yet make change an advantage? One of the most effective ways is through an effective vendor selection strategy.

According to estimates, about 62 million people are working for boutique agencies, small tech platforms, and specialty firms. That number is expected to rise to 100 million in less than ten years. By leveraging talent outside of your workforce, you can find partners who are not only specialized but also have diverse perspective from working with numerous clients across different industries. Because less than 50% of companies say they are willing to hire outside experts and vendors to help with their business needs, your company can gain advantages over the competition by leveraging external solutions and partners.

Access to Flexibility

Oftentimes, finding, hiring, and training new employees can be a difficult process that requires companies to make a longer-term investment. In many cases, it can be advantageous to partner with a B2B vendor that has the expertise and solutions to make an impact right away. For example, let's say your company is launching a new product this year; instead of hiring and training a new employee to manage the PR of the product launch, select a PR firm with the relevant experience to quickly execute and then determine if you want to retain them or go with a different vendor next time. Having control over the expertise and capabilities you need is vital in today's fast-moving business environment.

Cost Savings

Another significant benefit of working with a B2B expert or vendor is the relative cost savings. Sure, some agencies, tech platforms, and consulting firms can be expensive, but you don’t have to pay salaries or benefits and the terms with vendors can be much more flexible. Additionally, many B2B vendors have developed unique software and other technologies that can bring efficiencies and significant cost-savings to your company. We are at a point now where companies large and small have to constantly be identifying the new technologies that will improve their business performance.

How To Find the Right Partners

Finding the right partners has proven to be a challenge for most companies. Surprisingly, few business schools teach vendor selection methodologies and less than 13% of companies say they have a formal vendor selecton process. We'll have an article soon about the costs of selecting the wrong expert or vendor, but for now let's just say the costs in the way of time, money, and damage to reputation can be high.

At ShapeConnect, we take the guess work out finding the right vendors for your business's specific needs. Our technology and Business Advisors help you define the key factors and requirements that are important to your company. With that information, we curate a list of the top 2-3 experts or vendors that can solve your business challenge and align with your company's culture.

We also verify vendors’ insurance, check for any potential legal actions a vendor is facing, and perform a thorough review of their portfolio and customer base. Once you have selected an expert or vendor our ShapeConnect Business Advisors can help you manage your vendor partnerships to make sure they’re delivering on their promises.

Sign-up with ShapeConnect today and tell us about a need so one of our Business Advisors can help you find the right vendor and solution!