Running a supplier selection that works
Most selections are decided by the best presentation, which is a test of presenting. Here is how to test the thing you are actually buying.
Send all candidates the same written brief, ask all of them the same questions, and decide against criteria you wrote down before the first meeting. The single most useful step is a reference call with a client whose project went badly.
Write the criteria before you meet anybody
Once you have met three suppliers, your criteria will quietly reshape themselves around whichever one you liked. Writing them first is not bureaucracy, it is the only way the comparison stays honest.
Four or five criteria with weights is enough. If a criterion cannot change the outcome, it does not belong on the sheet.
- Evidence they have solved this class of problem before
- Who does the work, and whether you met them
- How they behave when something goes wrong
- What happens to your code, data and accounts at the end
- Price, once the scopes are confirmed to match
Ask all of them the same questions
Different questions produce answers you cannot line up. Send the same list, in writing, and read the written answers before any meeting.
- Who exactly will do the work, and what else are they on
- What is not included in your price
- What do you need from us, and how many hours a week
- What happens to the code, accounts and data if we part ways
- Name a project that went badly and what you changed afterwards
- What would make you decline this project
The reference call worth making
Any supplier can produce a happy reference. Ask instead for a client whose project ran into trouble, and ask that client what the supplier did when it did. A firm that cannot name one has either never had a difficult project or is not going to be candid with you either.
On the call, ask about the middle of the project rather than the end. Everybody is professional at the start and relieved at the finish.
Buy a small piece first where you can
A paid piece of real work is worth more than any evaluation process. A short, scoped, paid engagement tells you how they estimate, how they communicate when something slips, and whether the people in the meeting are the people doing the work.
It costs money and it is the cheapest information available. A selection decided entirely on documents is a decision made about documents.
Notice what they ask you
A supplier who asks nothing difficult has either done this exact project before or has not thought about yours. Good questions early are the clearest available signal, and they are free to observe.
Watch for the supplier who tells you your requirement is wrong and explains why. That is either the most valuable one on the list or the most difficult, and it is worth finding out which before you sign rather than after.
What to take from this
- 01Write and weight the criteria before the first meeting
- 02Same brief, same questions, in writing, for everyone
- 03Ask for a reference from a project that went badly
- 04A small paid engagement outperforms any evaluation document
Ask the question directly
- How many suppliers should we approach?
- Three is usually enough to calibrate and few enough to evaluate properly. Beyond that the process cost rises and the quality of your attention falls.
- Should price be one of the weighted criteria?
- Yes, but not the heaviest one, and only after you have confirmed the quotes cover the same scope. Weighting price against inconsistent scopes rewards whoever excluded the most.
- Is a tender document worth the effort?
- For large or regulated purchases, yes. For most work a two-page brief with a clear outcome, constraints and deadline gets better answers than a long template, because suppliers respond to it rather than to the format.
Related answers
Growth transformation
Organic accounts, reputation, lifecycle and conversion run as one programme, with fractional leadership above it for the companies that need the seniority before they can justify the salary.
Bring the decision you are stuck on
A call, forty five minutes, no deck. We will tell you if we are the wrong firm.