The same CI skills used to pinpoint a competitor threat can be applied to uncover over billing by your vendor.
Meticulous investigation and forensic analysis, both required in CI, can help you red flag over billing by a vendor.
Start with a copy of their terms of agreement and an invoice:
TERMS OF AGREEMENT
Examples:
No mention of make goods for errors
No details as to who would be managing your business (e.g. partner, director, account manager)
Invoice
Examples:
- Terms are hard to understand (small font, financial jargon, lengthy)
- Copies of bids by subcontractors are not attached
- Spending is based on estimate vs job
- Fees are rounded up
Push Comes to Shove
In the end you may decide to do what Boston Bank did, when they were faced with significant overrides by a vendor
To reign in over spending they took back anything that the vendor did not specialize in and control of anything which the vendor marked up.