Outside Vendors
From day one at Revolution, we have used outside vendors for various things. We have outsourced graphics, web, video, sound, etc. In that time we have had some great partnerships and we have had some awful partnerships.
Different churches look for different things in outside vendors, but for us we have established some guidelines that determine who we partner with and who gets our business.
Since this is one of the questions we get asked very often from other church planters, I thought I would share what we look for in an outside vendor.
- They MUST look at what they do as a ministry first - Trust me, I understand they are in a business and a business must make money. I also understand a lot of churches want everything free. We have NO problem paying for the services and we don’t look for the cheapest person, but we have to feel they have a heart for the local church and truly want to partner with us to reach those far from God.
- Be fair and honest - I understand sales, so don’t try to give me a sales job. Don’t blow smoke, shoot straight, and trust me, I am going to check out what you say with others so don’t lie to me.
- We want to know we matter - As we grow, this becomes less of an issue. However, in the early days nothing would make me madder then when we hired someone and they would blow us off for more well known churches or larger jobs. If you take our job I could care less who else you are doing work. We want our job done and done right. Ken Wilson is the BEST at this. He was doing his real job at New Spring and doing side work for churches like Elevation, yet I always feel we get the same quality work as they do.
- You have got to understand our budget - Nothing, I mean NOTHING angers me more then when someone knows our budget and they come in nowhere near our budget. I would rather you tell me it is impossible to do for the amount we have budgeted then you turn in a bid nowhere near what we have budgeted. Tell us how we can do what we need to do within our budget.
- You’ve got to understand our church - One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to outsourcing. Just because you can do graphics for First Baptist doesn’t mean you can do them for us. They are different styles. You need to understand what we do, how we do it, that we are portable, and that we don’t run 2,000 people so we don’t have the money like a church with 2,000 people.
- Realize we are looking for a long term relationship - I am a networker. I am very relational and I am very loyal. I still remember the people who helped us when we had nothing and 9 times out of 10, we are still using those people. When you do business with us, shoot straight and do us right because we want to use you long term.
- Do what you say you are going to do - Meet your deadlines, do what we pay for, call us back if we have questions, stay within your quote, don’t come later telling us we need something else, and show us how to work the services we paid you for.
- Don’t act like we are stupid - I hate professionals that talk down to you because you are not an expert in their area. If we were experts in your area, we wouldn’t need you. We are paying you money to speak in a language we can understand, not act like we are idiots.
- Realize cost does matter - We aren’t made of money, but we aren’t afraid to spend what we do have. We want things done with excellence and we want stuff that is going to last. However, we are doing our best to be good stewards with our finances and if we can something for the same quality at a lower price, or make something we already have work, we are going with that. Some people are brand driven, no matter the cost. We aren’t.
- Don’t come back three months later telling us we need to upgrade - We had a guy sell us something one time that we needed. Three months later, he was telling us it wasn’t good enough and we needed to upgrade. Why? We don’t have to have the latest and greatest. When you sale us something make sure it is going to last us.