Priority in Purchasing

I have been teaching and speaking for many years on church facility management and love saving money. Wherever I speak I always set the session up with this "hot tip" first. It sets the tone for so many other ways to save in church facility management. We all have to make purchases large and small and there needs to be some structure to the purchasing process. Here is what I use and in this order of priority.


Service
Quality
Price... and in that order!

What gets people the most is why price is at the bottom they. Price is not the driving force for a great deal. It's just part of it, but not the top priority. First, I want the best service for what I am buying. I do not want to be left with a product that is not serviced properly. Second, I want a quality product. I do not want to buy an inferior product that you normally get for the lowest price. Third, I want the best price possible. If you let price drive the process, you may miss out on service and quality. I always want all three!

Recently, I used this as a negotiation tactic with a vendor that I wanted to become my partner in church facility management / operation. I had two offers on the table from two different companies and already knew which one I was leaning toward. While meeting with that vendor, I simply let him know about my priority in purchasing and that they had checked the boxes for service and quality but not for pricing. His next move was to check that box by offering more savings to the tune of $3000. That set this offer up to save me a total of $18,000 with other factors we worked through. All the way through the sales pitch, I focused on service and quality and saved the best for last, price! It paid off too.

Using the priority in purchasing method proved to be fruitful once again!

Comments! Suggestions!