We’ve worked with lots of suppliers over the years and here are a few thoughts;
- Make sure you have flexibility in case you need to ditch them. No long term contracts.
- Monthly fees much better than annual.
- Check that they have worked with your type of company before. Reference checks!
- Make sure they have customer support in your timezone. Especially if it’s mission critical like payment gateways, or hosting.
- Be clear on who your primary point of contact is
- Try and get freebies by giving them extra feedback or blogging about them.
- Put a diary entry in to review them after 3 months and be tough. Pretend your deciding again.