Revenue-IQ » If you could ask Microsoft, Yahoo and Expedia…

If you could ask Microsoft, Yahoo and Expedia…

May 21st, 2008

If you could ask Microsoft, Yahoo and Expedia... Wouldn’t it be great to ask world-class companies about outsourcing, contracting and buying?

Lucky you. Today’s blog gives you the opportunity to do that.

You can ask Microsoft, Yahoo and Expedia about governance, vendor selection, contract management, or procurement.

GUEST INTERVIEWEES

I’ll be interviewing several directors and managers at those companies for upcoming Revenue-IQ articles. You give me your questions, I’ll ask them.

RUSH DEADLINE All right, not so rushed

There’s a time crunch for this.

Submit your questions by 1:00 p.m. EST /11:00 a.m. PST this Friday (5/23) here when you can.

HOW TO SUBMIT QUESTIONS

Figure out what you want to ask and post your questions as a comment online here.

See, if you want your questions asked you’ll have to post a comment to this blog. Which isn’t frightening, but probably not something you do often.

Click here for instructions how to.

Or, call me and I’ll walk you through the process over the phone. Ah hah, but here’s the hard part!

I’m not collecting your questions over the phone, or in email. They have to be submitted as comments to this post.

Consider it enforced learning. If you have a question you’d like asked, you’ll post it in a comment. Again, here’s how to.

Go on. Give it a try.

MISCELLANEOUS

Just to state the obvious, practical stuff:

No guarantee that all questions submitted will be answered
Questions will have to pass an appropriateness test (can’t ask “wrong” questions, i.e. where they live, what high-school did they go to, etc.)

That’s pretty much it.

~~~~~~

Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance

Technorati: contract management, Expedia, governance, Microsoft, outsourcing, procurement, vendor management, Yahoo

1. ahmont | May 21st, 2008 at 1:46 pm

I am interested in hearing from you about how a company can work around the standard directive of registering on-line as a potential supplier, and then never hearing back.

These large companies (Microsoft) are very protective of these departments, and there is not a way to “personalize” or to find out where you stand and who the decision maker is.

There has to be a way to break the “vault” when you have something of value to bring to an organization.
2. Chris Arlen | May 21st, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Good question. Adding it to the list. Thanks.
3. Robert-the-Barbarian | May 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 am

I would like to know how they break down the decision making process. Do they use a matrix with associated points and are all items equally important, or weighted? If so, what generally is most important to them and what really gets the most points on a weighted scale. Also, what triggers would automatically put a bid out for an underperforming group. And lastly, is reputation truly the biggest buying plug?