There are a lot of positive takeaways from companies that provide supplier management solutions. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of frustrations where there really shouldn’t be any at all.

Frustrations in prequalification services:

  • complicated navigation
  • overpriced fees
  • difficult to understand requirements
  • lack of customer support

Sometimes the prequalification process is so complicated, and the lack of customer support is so great, contractors often turn to a third-party for help registering and getting approved through the system.

If you Google supplier management or contractor pre-qualification a handful of providers will come up. As typical with search engines, the top of the list are the companies who pay for advertising. There is certainly nothing unusual about that but upon looking a little closer, you’ll realize some of those companies do not provide supplier management services, but instead, provide a service to the suppliers and contractors that need to be pre-qualified.

There are third-party companies that exist to help contractors process the necessary requirements to be prequalified. Let that sink in.

There are actual companies that exist to help suppliers navigate through the overly complicated process of prequalification. How is that a thing?

This is often something mortgage and real estate professionals employ when getting a loan or purchasing a house. The paperwork is so tedious, a loan processor or transaction coordinator is hired to assist. While that makes sense for one of the largest financial transactions a person typically makes, how does it make sense for a contractor to employ the same tactic when getting prequalified through a supplier management provider? It simply doesn’t.

It should not take a professional to navigate a prequalification process and it certainly should not take an extended amount of time to do so either.

To further exacerbate the issue, the objective of these third-party processing companies is to get contractors through the prequalification process. They are not as concerned with reducing supplier risk but are focused on the approval. Policies and paperwork are sometimes submitted with no intention of being followed by the supplier but to simply get them approved. That in itself is a major issue but also a topic for a different post.

This may sound like a stretch but, at the last NSC Expo a company that provides this service approach our booth to see if we could work together. Admittedly, some of the services they provide are helpful – such as helping a company write a safety manual or injury reduction plan. While that is of course a positive, the gentleman sales representative of the company was directly asked if the policies they write are intended to be followed by the supplier or just written to help that supplier get approved through a prequalification process. His answer, “Sometimes both.” But again, that’s for a different, longer post.

If you have ever experienced these frustrations rest assured that a better solution is available.

The CanQualify dashboard is easy to navigate, the requirements are clear and we have a team of dedicated customer relations professionals willing to help. (This post didn’t even mention how reasonable our prices are;)

Sound too good to be true? Test us. See for yourself. Contact our customer relations team today.