Your business will eventually need outside help. And when the contractor you've hired is not performing as promised, what do you do? James offers some possible solutions in this quick tip.
James Schramko here. What do you do when you’ve hired a service to provide something to you, and it runs off the rails? Well, this can happen a lot, unfortunately. So the first thing I’d recommend is make sure you get recommendations from people who you know, if you possibly can. And people who you know have had a good result from the supplier will eliminate some of the risk.
But if you do happen to find yourself in a situation where your supplier has run the project off the rails, they’re not delivering what was promised, then the first thing to have a look at is the brief. Did you specify the right project to start with? Did you buy the right thing for your need? And if you did, then did they clarify that? And does the scope look like the same thing you purchase? Sometimes, there’s a mismatch between what you think you bought and what they think you’ve bought. So check that.
Secondly, have very clear communications with your service manager, or the owner of the business, and let them know very clearly, and in no uncertain terms, where you think the project has gone off the rails and ask them what they can do to get it back on the rails. And you might want to just at this point zoom out a little bit, and see, if you’re not happy with the answer, then you might want to start fielding different service providers. If you’re not too far invested in it, or too far down the track or contractually obligated, then you might want to hit pause. And even if you have to tear up a sunk cost, and switch providers, if you know these people can’t deliver, it might be better to just call it early and move on to someone who actually can.
This is basically the steps that you would take. So clarify the scope, make sure that you’ve got the right thing. Secondly, make sure they actually think that you’ve got this same thing as well. Communicate clearly your situation, find out from the provider what their plan is to get you back on track. And if all else fails, start considering another service provider. Because ultimately the thing will need to be done, and if you don’t have the right service provider – and there’s plenty of people out there who are not good service providers – sometimes it’s better just to quit and start again, even if it costs you a little bit now because it’ll cost you a lot more if you keep the delays going, if you keep dealing with the provider who can’t deliver.
Hopefully this is helpful. Catch you on a future video.
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