 Hey everyone, I am Ken Ross and I am a business consultant that specializes in cost reduction for businesses and Here with the second part to my four-part series on the specific details about saving people money And the first thing I I did was I kind of gave you an overview, right? That video I've included here Actually, I'm included here on this side. I always do this I go on this sign And I or this sign and I go to this side anyway Sorry, it'll be on this side up at the top a link to the original video Where I discuss kind of the quick tips on how to do this, right? And if you're savvy enough or computer savvy enough where you kind of get what I'm saying That's great, but I wanted to go into a little more detail of every step of the process So the very first video I did that goes goes into the details is the pre-step, right? I talked about this in the in the first video, which is you need to catalog Every service or product that you pay for right and I've actually provided a tool and I'm I'm doing this on intentionally, right as far as Creating these different steps and then this tool, which is actually a spreadsheet It's Excel spreadsheet that you can download off my website I am Ken Ross calm and you can start using yourself And so in the in the first video I talked about cataloging all these vendors, right or different people that provide a product or service and In that spreadsheet. I actually have a tab in there that says vendors, right? And you list all the different vendors that you Use what their contact information is a way to call them or email them their website a Person's name if there is a contact name that kind of thing This is a really good start to the next part of the process, which is you're gonna then take one of those vendors, right? Let's say it's telecommunications because for my second video For the second thing I'm going to offer you is actually in addition to the first step So if you've downloaded the example that I have and you've already started filling it out You're gonna have to download the second step to this which is you're now going to make it a tab for each Product or service that you want to try to do cost reduction on and I would certainly suggest that you pick one of the larger categories of business where you do probably the most Spending in you start at one of those Unless that's really complicated and really arduous that you think it's going to be but ultimately for this step It's not actually going to be that bad So I would take one of those and I would make this new tab for that particular category And I'm going to copy the contact information that's in the first sheet And I'm gonna put it in this next sheet and in the next sheet that I provide on my website It really goes through step one, which is contacting other people Who you know in business that do the exact same type of? You know buying or selling or buying of that product or service, right? So you're just gonna you're just gonna write their names down right write down a list Maybe five people I put five people in this example that I'm providing you on my website And the link is actually going to be in the description of this video But go to that that page that on the Excel spreadsheet look at the telecommunications vendor, right? I actually use my telecommunications vendor Verizon business right in this example I want you to see a real-world example For this particular exercise because I think it really Hones well on what it is that you're trying to do so The next like said the next part of that then is writing down the names of the people that you want to contact So put their names down And start giving them a call now. It's it's really difficult to think oh what I'm really trying to do is I'm I'm really out to just beg them to give me information Well, no not really if these are people that you know in business you can talk about business related things You can get a good general sense for what it is That that they pay for these particular services, but now we are actually on a very intentional journey, right one which Which really takes intentionality right offer to help them save money too in this process, right? Because when you call them and you say hey, you know what I've been thinking, you know I'm trying to get the lowest possible Price on the these services because I really do feel like I may be overpaying for them I don't know what you think about that right offer to say hey look Let's do this together because what I'm gonna do is I'm actually calling multiple people, right? So those people's information if they're willing to share it with you is also something you could probably share with Everyone else right and say hey look when I'm done with all of this You could certainly leverage the information yourself as well and this kid this could benefit all of us So it becomes a multi-win situation, right? Everybody wins when we can share the information something that that really comes to mind when I when I think about this is that If you go to like a concert or some type of Celebration like let's say a wedding, right? You're not there for just yourself. You're there for everyone else, too, right? We're all gonna have a good time. We're gonna share in this experience, right? So I wouldn't say throw a party necessarily that's that's gonna cost some money But but definitely make it a celebration of hey look if we do this, right? We're all gonna be winners in the end because we'll be in a better place. So what you're gonna do like I said call them up Really get them on board with hey provide me some of this information and then ask them a very simple question, right? Once they've been able to give you a kind of ballpark figure or maybe they even know exactly, right? How much they pay ask them a very simple question. Would you mind providing me a copy of your bill? Now that would take it to another level entirely But that certainly gets you much further along than Just knowing a number, right? That's gonna give you the ability to then do some of the other steps Then I'm gonna talk about in some other videos Going forward as far as the the tips that I've given you here one of the tips I know I talked about Briefly and then in in some detail in the first video is you're gonna call other vendors And you're gonna compare their service to the service that you have if you have a copy of someone else's bill from another Provider, you're gonna be able to do some of that on your own You don't have to do a bunch of sleuthing. You're not gonna have to call another vendor and ask a lot of questions So that's that's kind of the goal with the first step of this savings journey Now what I would say is this Definitely be conscious and aware that when people are sharing this information that you don't want to just give it to anyone Right keep it amongst a good trust circle a good people circle of people that you trust That trust you in business that that really want to help you succeed and you want to see succeed as well Because this kind of thing could really get crazy or out of hand in some sense You could have a lot of people calling you you could have your own vendor calling you Because they don't want you knowing this information That's one thing I know as a business consultant who does this on a regular basis Happens to people when we enter an agreement and we say hey look we're gonna go on this journey And we're gonna find the lowest cost for the services that you need vendors call Their clients at that point because they know their business is on the line They know that the service that they're offering it may be good service But they know what it should cost right, so That's one of the first things I cautioned my my customers with or my clients is I say hey look now that we've entered this agreement congratulations We are sharing information right the fact that we're sharing this among two trusted parties with an agreement here makes this a a higher risk Deal makes it something that requires a lot of intentionality and one of those intentionalities is Resisting the temptation to let the vendor take over this process You do not want Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile or any of the telecommunications providers Calling you and influencing you just to take a better deal right that's certainly something you would like right but ultimately They still hold all the information and you're doing this process so that you can save the most money So if you're really out to do that you have to exercise some level of patience You actually have to exercise some level of care because you're going to go through the whole journey here You're not going to just shortcut it right there. There is no Shortcut when you make a cake right you got to mix the ingredients get put all the ingredients together You got to have the right ratios. You have to measure things. That's exactly what this process is like right It's not just a one-and-done thing. It's something that takes some time So with that that's what I have for step one Calling other people in business that share in the service or the product that you you offer and ask They're not offered that you use right and asking them what they pay to it's very simple in concept and ultimately is something I think We don't do enough in business, right? I think enough enough people think about who a good person is to provide a service But that could be problematic as well because that person could be exceptional at offering a particular service But they are still going to temper their discussion with one client versus another Because one client may may need service a at a certain rate For a certain quality of service and another customer might need service B Or they may just be looking for good referrals because hey I offered him such a sweetheart deal the persons. He refers me to He may tell them at a ballpark what it's going to be But I need to recoup some of my expenses right some of my Marketing dollars or some of the expense that I took to get this client, right? So the next clients won't necessarily get the same rates that the client that got such a great rate Was for because you were almost used in some sense as a pawn in their game, right? If you receive such a great rate on a particular service or such a great deal on something You're gonna tell everybody you're gonna be like oh look at this deal. I got this good. This is amazing, right? That doesn't mean that they have to provide you the same deal Just because you know that person so I do want to caution you in that right? I do want you to understand that that this is a process this process takes time and If you can give it the time that's necessary it will reward you in the end So that's what I have. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this this whole thing. I'd love to hear Other topics that we can cover. I know this is kind of Like I said a longer format to a shorter video at the beginning But I want to give you this detail because I really do feel like if you follow any of the steps that I'm I'm giving you you are gonna save money and that's something I really want to see happen I have a goal and like I said in the first video 52 people this year. That's one a week for me Personally that I've helped by either watching these videos or working with personally out in the business world or what have you and I'm I'm well on my way to towards doing that. So That's that's what I got. Yes, please Subscribe to this channel. Please tell your friends about these videos that I'm producing about this particular journey I'm on share with them my goal. I'm really looking forward to hearing people say I saved, you know, I Don't know. I think of some of the other Commercials where you're like, oh, you can save 15% and 15 minutes. That's not what this is, right? This is actually something that requires More care, right? It's actually something that you're gonna take a lot of pride in and in the end I take a lot of pride in knowing I've navigated people through that. So that's the reason why I want to know So if you are able to save money doing any of these things, please comment down below Let me know. Hey, I did I did something today with your help and I would love to celebrate that with you in the comments section I'd love to hear your own comments about what I'm saying about other topics that we can cover in business because I'm always doing research for businesses on different topics as well and Please also subscribe to this channel like it. Tell your friends. It would be great and Visit my website. I am Ken Ross calm and until next time. I'll see you around