Days 1–20: establish a baseline that finance trusts
Start with accounts payable transactions, the general ledger and the largest recurring supplier contracts. Identify what each entity buys, the price actually paid, committed minimum volumes, annual spend, renewal timing and termination constraints. Separate one-off purchases from annual run-rate costs. A supplier costing £1 million last year may not represent £1 million of spend you are free to renegotiate.
Don't force every acquired business into a shared cost taxonomy on day one. Record vendor identifiers, cost categories, service specifications and contract owners first. Similar invoices can conceal material differences in service scope.
Days 21–40: prioritise feasibility, not just supplier size
Score each category by addressable expenditure, plausible commercial improvement, contract flexibility, cost of change and management's ability to implement it. Three companies using different contractors for building cleaning may offer aggregation opportunities, but geography, labour requirements and local standards can outweigh headline buying scale.
| Category | Critical facts | Decision to test |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-site facilities | Labour hours, scope, sites and indexation | Incumbent renegotiation versus a scope-matched retender |
| Freight and storage | Lane mix, waiting time, surcharges and minimum loads | Comparable landed cost on a representative sample |
| Software contracts | Licences used, renewal clauses and commitments | Reduce unnecessary demand before negotiating unit prices |
| Outsourced support | Service levels, minimums and contractual exclusions | Compare complete service economics, not fee alone |
Days 41–70: approach the market within a documented mandate
Agree who can contact suppliers, what commercially sensitive information can be disclosed, the acceptable service changes and the sign-off authority. Negotiate with incumbent providers where relationships and implementation risk justify doing so; otherwise obtain properly specified competing quotations. A dramatic-looking discount from an incomplete bid is not evidence of a better contract.
Get the contract obligations reviewed where necessary. Assess transition costs, service continuity, implementation timing, supplier concentration and any effects on customers or employees.
Days 71–100: convert opportunities into verified savings
Finance approves the baseline and the method for comparing old and new cost on equivalent volumes and scope. Keep recurring run-rate reductions separate from cost avoidance, credits, deferred spending and lower service levels. Don't invoice success fees against unimplemented proposals. Check the first invoices after implementation and retain a clear audit trail.
In a portfolio environment, distinguish group-wide negotiated rates from actual local implementation. A central contract cannot contribute to every subsidiary's EBITDA until those businesses can use and pay the amended terms.
What a value-creation sponsor should demand
A brief decision pack: prioritised addressable spend, supplier and category evidence, verified pricing assumptions, commercial options, risks, approval owner, implementation dates and a finance-signable savings bridge. The client retains final supplier appointment and contracting authority. A 100-day review can establish the opportunity even where legal renewal windows mean the saving cannot be implemented within that period.
Supporting tools: model the financial case privately, define qualifying savings, and challenge price escalation using official context.