Devoted to purchasing, purchasing agents, and all things related

Why 7?  So there is room for you to come up with 3 of your own.

Whenever a vendor loses a bid, he or she invariably contacts the Buyer and wants to know why.  What went wrong?  How could I have presented my bid better and convinced you my company was the one with which you should have partnered?

Smart vendors ask the above questions so they can keep good working relationships with Buyers for the next time the commodity comes up for bid.  (Not so smart vendors call to complain and bash whomever has been selected as the bid winner.  Yes, that happens - all too frequently.)

1)  Price - That's almost always the main reason.  People who tell you otherwise are trying to kid you - or themselves.

The rest are in no particular order.

2)  Lousy Presentation - If a vendor puts little to no effort into an RFP, that's the same amount of effort one is likely to get throughout the relationship.

3)  Personality - This is a rare, but possible reason.  Much like sports teammates, both sides in a Purchasing relationship don't have to like each other (but it helps).  However, they do need to respect each other.  Occasionally, I have heard Buyers say they just don't think they could ever stand working with a particular vendor because of the rep's personality.

4)  Scope (ability) - This especially true if the vendor is trying to get into or expand a new line of business.  The Buyer may not be comfortable that the vendor understands and/or can handle the scope of the project.

5)  Relationships - Other members of the vendor selection team or upper management of the company may overrule or "highly suggest" certain outcomes to bids based on the relationships they already have with other vendors.  Vendors will often use this to their advantage by touting relationships they have with other areas of the company.

6)  Unwillingness to Negotiate - If there are two finalists, the Buyer will start to negotiate with them to see where it can lead.  Refusal to bend at this point will not get vendors to the final goal. 

7)  Scope (Change) - Someone else in the company changes plans and drops the project.  This happens much more frequently than you would think.