When you surround yourself with successful people, you usually gain habits for success. This is no secret.  Whether it’s the leader of a country or a CEO, large amounts of resources are used to put the correct people or companies in place. They have employees or partners who support their leadership and are vital to the success of any leader. So why is it that companies choose to spend significant time and effort researching their candidates for hire, but a fraction of that effort into their vendors? A company of about fifty (50) employees many have a dozen, two dozen, or even more vendors. Each of these vendors having dozens of employees themselves. Therefore, the workforce of your vendors may far outweigh that of your hired staff. Wouldn’t it make sense that great efforts went into choosing the vendors carefully?

Many companies choose vendors such as printers, web designers, insurance brokers, food purveyors, service contractors and more with reckless abandon. How often have you seen companies order business cards from online printers they know little about? Decision makers of some CEOs choose insurance brokers based on the simple qualification; that they offer insurance the company is looking for.

Your vendors are your lifeline. They support your company so you can service your clients. It is crucial you spend time researching your vendors and getting to know them. Your vendors should have values that are in line with your companies’ values. You should trust in them and vice versa. The vendors you choose should add overall value to your company. Simply supplying a product or a service should not be enough. Finding the cheapest price may not suit your company’s overall plan for success.

For example, having a printer who cares about your success and is invested emotionally in the design and quality of your printed products is important. Having used Color Copies USA in Fort Lauderdale, FL helped us to obtain the best business cards and brochures for our new rebranding and marketing. They were invested in our project. They worked with us in picking the perfect card stock for our projects. They did not push the most expensive products or the easiest product, but the best products to suit our needs.

Likewise, Mager Paruas, LLC in Hollywood, FL has guided use in our contracts, protocols, and legal matters for many years. They are highly accomplished yet supplied help like that of a lifelong family friend. With supreme knowledge of legal precedents, court codes, laws, and statutes as well as contracts, insurance and so much more. They are professional and aggressive. This is a team I can see by our companies’ side for years to come.

Information technology is a large part of risk management and adjusting. It is because of our partnership with GoToITSolutions in Plantation, FL that we are successful today. They have helped us to create proprietary software for tracking our claim files. A software that has led us to obtain contracts from many large companies. We are currently working on groundbreaking, industry-changing applications for claims management and risk reduction. This team is one that our company cannot do without!

When our company was just beginning, our shirts and other apparel were created by companies chosen solely because they could produce what we needed at a low cost to us. We soon realized that cutting costs and convenience did not serve us well. So, we found the wonderful people at Casco Images in Hollywood, FL for our printing needs and soon discovered that they were, simply the masters of apparel. We battled finding an apparel company that could duplicate our logo well with embroidery. They spent the time needed to get our logo perfect on our apparel. Because of them, we wear our apparel with pride at all our business events.

There are several other companies that make up our “Dream Team of Vendors” such as our friends at TCC Associates, Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, FL that offer amazing Personal and Commercial Insurance. They might just be the best insurance brokers in the business.

So, my passion for partnering with amazingly talented and loyal vendors is obvious in this blog. Proper vendor selection cannot be overstated. Select your vendors as carefully as you select your employees, or even more. It is these vendors that are truly the driving force behind your business. Do not minimize them. The next time you call a vendor, stop and think, are the people you are about to hire for services or products the people you can be proud of? Are they companies, or people you would want to your customers to know that your business relies on?