Jim Johnson says most companies lose money by not checking supplier invoices against agreed prices. Automated tools can catch overcharges while freeing staff for better work. Renegotiate contracts, request rebates, and question price hikes to stop the bleeding.
The first thing I want to challenge you to do when you get back to your offices is I want you to do a price audit. I want you to compare your invoices, okay, to what you're actually paying or actually what you agreed upon paying. You got pricing from your supplier, you get an invoice in, right? The person has a job to check that invoice and go put it where it belongs in QuickBooks or the CRM or both. Do you think they check that invoice compared to your pricing and say, "Is it accurate?" Every single one of them, every single time? You're leaking money right there. With tools that are available today, you can audit every single invoice that comes in and not have to put a person towards it. You could literally put that person, put them towards something more productive with their time and automate this today. When was the last time you negotiated your prices? When was the last time you pitted one supplier against another supplier? When was the last time that you asked for your rebates? When was the last time that you negotiated anything on your materials other than having GAF send you an update that says your pricing is going up 8%? They're negotiating. Are you? And why are our materials going up when demand is down?
