In today's business climate, companies look for ways to operate leaner and meaner. We are expected to do more with fewer resources, and are often called upon to accomplish tasks that fall outside of our area of expertise. Hiring a consultant or a technical firm to assist in executing your project is a step in the right direction, but may not be the complete solution.

Whether you own your own business or are employed by an outside company, if you are ultimately held accountable for the project's success, then you need to know how to manage the project and the vendor.

Hiring an outside vendor to act as the technical expert on your project can serve as a great opportunity for your own learning experience. However, if the vendor's staff assigned to do the legwork on the project is not managed properly, it can be costly, non-productive and frustrating.

Start Off on the Right Foot - Project Planning:

1. Define the project's scope and requirements. Make sure both parties agree, and that the vendor has the capabilities (such as staff, systems, and knowledge) to execute the details of your project.
2. Determine a timeline of when each task needs to be accomplished.
3. Establish roles and responsibilities. Make sure you know who all the players are - even those working on the "back-end" of the project.
4. Make sure your priorities are clear, specific and documented.
5. Establish a contract that includes the number of hours expected to accomplish various tasks, hourly fees and deliverables.

When the Vendor Goes Astray - Signs of Looming Problems:

1. A pattern of delays and excuses in getting things done.
2. The vendor has a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver.
3. There is no account manager or client manager who oversees the vendor's staff working on the project.
4. Vendor staff decides to work on your lower-ranked priorities because they can be done quicker.
5. You start to lose track of what is going on; the vendor is not proactively communicating.

You might think it would be easier and cheaper to dump the vendor and find someone else. That is always an option, but by the time you discover problems, there may be too much money and time invested. At this point, you need to change your strategy and get tough.

5 Ways to Take Back Control:

1. Suggest daily or weekly conference calls with all parties involved in the project. Make sure there is an agenda for the topics to discuss during the call. Conclude the call by summarizing the list of action items, and who is responsible to do what. This helps to keep everyone focused, and the project on track.
2. Send an e-mail after the conference call documenting the action items, who is responsible, and the deadlines to accomplish each task.
3. Ask for quotes before agreeing to any additional tasks that fall outside the scope of the project - and certainly before the vendor begins any work. While you want to benefit from any creative ideas on how to enhance aspects of the project, remember, you're not the expert here. You may think a new task is simple and would not take much time, when in reality, it could be more complicated - and more costly.
4. Insist on deliverables by the agreed upon dates. Delays should be explained and renegotiated. Expect ongoing progress reports on a regular basis.
5. Don't be afraid to go to the top. If you have doubts about the competencies of the staff working on your project, go up the chain of command until you have the right person managing the vendor staff.