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SAVE MONEY BY USING A BUYING GROUP?
Buying A Home When Rates Go UpMany people fret the rising tide of interest rates. Youll hear things like, Did I miss the boat? Is it too expensive now to buy a home? ..... Let me give you a brief history of Group Purchasing
Organizations (GPO). They have been around for decades. Do you
know what types of businesses get the best pricing on all of the
goods and services they purchase? The answer is healthcare
facilities. Do you know why? Ill tell you. Nearly any
healthcare facility in the nation that is making a profit
belongs to a buying group. The average healthcare facility
belongs to two GPOs . Thousands of facilities join together to
negotiate contracts with their vendors. Vendors aggressively
compete to get awarded the groups contracts. As a result each
group member saves money on everything they purchase. Annual
membership fees range from $250.00 - $20,000.00. The concept is
slowly evolving into other industries. Today there are National
GPOs for Universities, Engineers, Cable Television/Satellite
Installers and one for Small & Medium Size Companies. Smaller
GOPs have formed at the regional, state and local level for a
variety of industries.
Pros and Cons of the National GPOs
The benefit to the national buying groups is that their size
gives them the volume to negotiate bigger discounts with
national vendors. But there are many problems with the national
buying groups. They have gotten greedy and charge their vendors
ever-increasing percentage of their revenues generated by their
members. This reduces the amount of the discounts offered to
their members. The national GPOs do not backup their annual
membership fee with a money back guarantee on member's savings.
Some of these GPOs force their members to use their vendors
exclusively. This has caused a backlash against GPO's because
members maybe forced to use vendors that offer poor products and
services.
Pros and Cons of the Smaller GPO's
With the exception of a few state GPO's most non-national GPOs
are local. A group of businesses in a city in a particular
industry get together and form a GPO. The advantage is that each
member has say in the vendors that are selected by the GPO. The
other advantage is that the GPO is free. The problem is that a
few dozen members of a local GPO don't have the purchasing power
to receive really big discounts from vendors. To get any decent
level of volume all of the members are forced to use the same
vendors exclusively. Thus the members do not have total freedom
to select their vendors. The other major problem it that it
takes lots of time and coordination by the members to manage the
GPO.
There is One National GPO for Small Business That is FREE!
The Hospitality Buying Group, www.hospitality-buying-group.com,
is a national buying group for any small & medium size business
that has a totally FREE lifetime membership. Unlike all other
GPOs, the Hospitality Buying Group does not charge their vendors
any fees or commissions on purchases made by their members.
Don't let the name fool you! The focus of this GPO started in
the hospitality industry, but so many non-hospitality vendors
started participating in this GPO that any small business would
be able to use any number of the hospitality buying group
vendors. Members have total freedom of using the GPO vendors or
using their own vendors. The founder of this buying group was
the committee chairman for a health care GPO for six years. This
GPO is a value-added service for customers of several GPO
vendors. To get a FREE lifetime membership to the Hospitality
Buying Group all you need to do is email customer service at
questions@hospitality-buying-group.com and tell them you are
considering becoming a customer of DHL Shipping Services or
CFOToday Payroll Services. Provide your name, company name,
street address, phone number and fax number in the email and you
will be added to the Hospitality Buying Group database. You can
then immediately start contacting the Hospitality Buying Group
vendors of your choice and get access to the GPO discounts.
When selecting a GPO consider the cost of membership, vendor
selection, how long they have been in business, and if you are
forced to use their vendors. For small and medium size
businesses the Hospitality Buying Group is a good no risk
approach to get familiar with a GPO.
About the author:
Age 38 Six Years Buying Group Chairperson Health Care Depertment
Head Degree in Business Administration
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