The pressure to save money is forcing some organizations to question every purchase.? That can mean a lot of extra work for someone.? When should you look to save and when does paying full price or extra make sense?
Look for a deal when it comes to buying products like office supplies.? In most cases, a pad of paper or a box of pens are about the same quality wherever you shop.? It’s great if you can save a little on these items through comparison shopping.? When you find a good deal, buy in bulk.
Do keep in mind that if you spend an hour of time finding the best deal on these things, the savings may not be more worth than your time spent searching.? Also make sure that staff or the boss are not married to a particular kind of item.? The grief you receive over changing pens may not be worth the savings.
When you are looking to bid out a service, don’t treat this transaction like office supplies.? In these instances you want to focus on the return on investment.? One provider may be able to do the work for less but will there be a tradeoff in quality?? Is the firm offering a low price because it doesn’t have any clients?? That could be warning sign.
Also will a low bid result in the provider being flooded with business?? Make sure the service fulfillment is set in stone.? Don’t let the provider justify poor service by reminding you that you’re getting a great price.? Find the quality in the market and then try to negotiate a better deal.
Here, time spent researching the field is a important task.? Make sure you understand the expectations of your superiors.? Remember this: Bosses don’t mind paying for quality but they will question you if they feel you spent too much on someone who didn’t represent value.? Later, paying someone else to do the same work, only now in repair mode, does not represent a good investment.
The recession has forced us to change the way we think about buying.? Make smart decisions.
