There are frequent changes in this spending area. Even if you are midway through a contract, you can renegotiate your contract terms. You need to go beyond your account rep or area manager to make the best deals.

Points to consider:

• Most telecom bills contain errors - and not in your favor.
• You may be paying for services that you no longer use.
• Tariff filings with the FCC change weekly - deals are always improving.
• You can often reduce or eliminate data fees.
• You may be able to improve technology and routing methods to achieve 
  the same or better performance at lower costs.

Freight and Express Delivery

Willingness to test alternate suppliers can loosen "fixed" prices. 
Companies under-estimate price flexibility.

Points to consider:

• Volume is a prime factor in motivating your suppliers. 
  Consider consolidating your usage for overnight delivery (FedEx etc), 
  small package shipments (UPS et al), and even LTL (less than full load) trucking. 
  Participating in a group buying service often makes sense.
• Make sure you have only one organizational account even if you 
  have multiple departments or locations.
• Suppliers in this industry make it very difficult to compare pricing. 
  Access to information about what other companies pay is difficult to obtain, 
  but is one of the most effective tools you can use to negotiate pricing.
• The freight industry is notorious for billing errors - have your billing statements audited.
• You may be able to eliminate shipments entirely (by using faxes, e-mail, or a central web sites), or you may not need to pay a premium for overnight service when two- or three-day delivery would suffice.

Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO)

Salesmen usually control MRO pricing. Sales margins for some items can exceed 300%.

Points to consider:

• Keep your focus on your actual cost of products and services. Organizations often buy based on friendly relationships with salespeople or buy under pressure to solve immediate problems. Preventative or predictive maintenance programs will go a long way toward eliminating reactive buying.
• Where possible, consolidate spending with fewer suppliers. This will reduce paperwork, which often costs more than the products being purchased.
• Make sure you buy what you need, not a premium product when an ordinary product would be fine. Avoid over-specifying.

Office Expenses and Supplies

These cost you more than you may think. Your organization not only pays for the actual products and services, but also for the time to order and process these transactions.

Points to consider:

• Consolidating suppliers - instead of buying small amounts from many suppliers - will result in lower prices. Similarly, standardize your buying to earn deeper volume discounts. Your organization does not need 20 different notepads or pens.
• You should pay "contract" pricing for two-thirds of the office supplies you buy. This should be priced at the most aggressive levels - at least 50% below "catalog" list price.
• You should pay "non-contract" pricing for everything else -- items you purchase infrequently and in small quantities. You should pay at least 30% below list price.
• If you buy products like paper, toner cartridges, furniture, or electronics in quantity, consider negotiating a separate agreement.
• Consider what you really need - particularly for leases or purchases of office equipment like copiers. It is easy to buy more than you need or spend too little for products and too much in time to use them.