towers and monitors came with the system, and if it had all of the
bells and whistles we wanted. By asking them to list these details, we
knew that we wouldn't end up choosing a vendor based on its low
quote only to discover later that the price only included the bare mini-
mum of equipment.
We sent each rep the spreadsheet via
e-mail with a read receipt attached to ensure that they received it (you
could also send a physical copy of the sheet using certified mail). We
gave the vendors a deadline to return the spreadsheet, and made it
clear that this was their one and only chance to impress us with their
best price. The trick is to set a firm deadline — if you say they have to
turn it in by 5 p.m. Friday, stick to it, and stress that they won't have
another chance to
come back with a bet-
ter quote. By using
this system, we saw
discounts of up to 60%
on some of the video
systems.
Cheryl (Skeet) Todd,
RN, BSN, CNOR,
CPAN, RNFA
Texas Spine and
Joint Hospital
Tyler, Texas
skeet.todd@tsjh.org
M A Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 7