Day 5 Quick Live

Day 5 quick live Vendor leverage, contract performance, and risk control “If our vendor spend is climbing and performance is inconsistent, here are three reasons we should bring me in.” I renegotiate contracts so we are not paying premium prices for average results I focus on the terms that actually protect the business: service level agreements (SLAs), penalties when vendors miss commitments, incentives for real performance, data rights, security requirements, and full transparency into performance. No vague promises. No fuzzy language. Clean expectations. I manage vendors with a cadence that separates a bad day from a bad pattern Everyone can have a rough day. That is why I run daily and weekly overviews to catch issues early, spot trends, and prevent small problems from turning into customer facing failures. Then we bring it all together in a quarterly business review (QBR) to confirm consistency over time, reset expectations, and make decisions based on patterns, not emotions. I reduce risk by simplifying the tool stack and designing clean handoffs If we have three tools doing the same job, we are paying more, training more, and breaking more. I consolidate overlap, reduce hidden costs, and create clean integration paths so systems work together instead of fighting each other. Then I use artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to reduce manual work so our team is not dependent on extra vendor headcount just to keep the lights on. To achieve vendor performance we can measure and margins we can defend, let’s connect. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamrochelle.substack.com/subscribe