1. We have used consulting firms before. What makes PRP any different?
PRP is staffed with specialists who have both vendor and industry expertise. Additionally, we implement our expense reduction solutions and ensure every PRP program is managed effectively throughout the 24-month term of our agreement. Many of our competitors only make recommendations; their business model does not include staff that continuously validates vendor compliance and identifies additional savings opportunities. Our fees are based solely on client savings. There are no out-of-pocket expenses so our engagements are essentially risk free to our clients. No savings, no fee!

2. Why can’t we just do this ourselves?
Companies typically have limited resources (people) who have multiple responsibilities, making it a challenge to prioritize G&A expense reduction projects. PRP has multiple teams of experienced consultants who use their unique knowledge and experience, together with proprietary time-tested methodologies, to create innovative expense reduction solutions. This is our core competency! Additionally, most procurement functions are limited in that they have only their own company’s purchasing leverage upon which to rely when they negotiate. PRP leverages nearly $1 billion of annual spending across the expense areas in which we maintain expertise, enabling us to secure the best pricing, contractual terms and conditions, and service level agreements for our clients.

3. How much of my time is required to complete a project? How much of my staff's time?
Your time commitment will be very minimal compared with the typical consulting engagement. During the initial on-site visit , we will meet with all of the client stakeholders to ensure that everyone from our Operations Team gets to know your people, the status of your current vendor relationships, and your objectives of the project. During the 60 to 120-day review period, periodic conference calls are conducted to inform you of our progress, our interaction with your vendors, and/or to request approval for implementation of immediate savings. Once all analyses and negotiations are complete, a meeting will be held to present findings and recommendations. That is it! Within a few months, we will have implemented programs that reduce your expenses by 10-35%!

4. How will PRP work with our Purchasing Department?
PRP's goal is to share our industry knowledge and assist with future vendor negotiations as we monitor and ensure our clients realize savings that were negotiated by our Operations Team. PRP complements our clients' procurement / purchasing group by providing real-time knowledge. We enable them to focus on other important initiatives by freeing up the time they would typically spend on compliance and other tactical purchasing activities. Our methodologies are shared freely with our clients throughout the process, so your procurement departments receive the benefit of continuous learning opportunities.

5. Will PRP require us to change from our current vendors?
No. PRP will always provide a “current-to-current” vendor cost savings program. We recognize that there are costs related to initiating a change. However, many of our clients have welcomed even deeper cost savings when they see a particular product or service as a commodity. Often we will provide options with alternate vendors unless the client has communicated with us that they have no intention of changing a vendor regardless of their realizing more favorable pricing.

6. Will our service levels suffer after you have reduced our current vendors’ margins?
Absolutely not. In fact, they often get better. PRP recognizes that service is often as important as realizing cost savings. PRP's client base represents hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for many of your current vendors. Subsequently, these vendors have a strong incentive to maintain the highest level of customer service, as they do not want to risk losing an entire portfolio of business due to neglecting our mutual client.

7. How do you make money?
Our fees are results-based. We only earn our fee once a client-approved expense savings solution is implemented.

8. How does PRP define “savings?” What do you use as a baseline?
Client savings are calculated as the current invoice price times the average usage minus the newly implemented price times the average usage. In other words, savings are the difference between your current monthly expense and the newly implemented monthly expense negotiated by PRP. The baseline for each expense category is established during the project kickoff meeting when PRP collects and copies invoices, contracts, and any other vendor documentation that would clearly establish your current cost structures and average usage.

9. What if our spending levels decrease after PRP implements a program? Wouldn’t we then be paying for savings that are not real?
If your company’s usage / volumes decrease resulting in a reduction to your total savings, PRP will adjust the savings to reflect the new average, subsequently reducing our fee. Remember, our fees are based on client-approved savings which come from the initial cost savings review. This means that any increased savings beyond the initial review are provided as a courtesy to our clients. We have never charged fees for savings that have not been realized by our client.

10. What if my usage goes up, resulting in more savings?
Again, PRP's fees are based on client-approved savings from the initial cost savings review—and our fee is fixed from that point throughout our 24-month contract. Therefore, any increased client savings that would result from higher usage are provided as a courtesy (no additional fees!).

11. Do we have to hire you to review all of the areas covered by PRP?
Yes and no. Our model has been designed so that we will do a cursory review of all expense areas to determine which ones have the most savings opportunity. From this perspective, we prefer to have access to all expense data for review. However, for larger clients who expect a “proof of concept” we will review a minimum of three areas.

12. Who are some of your clients and why did they hire you?
We have more than 600 current clients that come from the service, professional service, and manufacturing sectors. A partial client list is available within this site. There are several reasons why most clients engage PRP: (1) We deliver tangible cost savings which go straight to the bottom line. Our clients know that when they pay us each month they are paying for the real, measurable value we have created. (2) Our business model is much different than most consulting firms in terms of how we do our work. We require very little time on the part of our client throughout the process. Aside from a Kickoff Meeting to begin the project, periodic conference calls to keep you and your point people abreast of the progress we are making, and then finally a “Savings Options / Recommendations,” we require no other time of yours. (3) Finally, and often most importantly to many of our clients, PRP's philosophy has always been to teach our clients as much as we know throughout the 24 months of our engagement. Our goal is to become an indispensable resource for you so that you retain us well beyond the first two years of our initial engagement.