Partners · Value review · Component
The full cost
What the partnership actually costs — price, management time, and what switching would cost if it ended.
The deliverable
What it is
Management time is the cost that never appears on an invoice and frequently exceeds the invoice. A partnership consuming a day a week of senior attention is expensive whatever its price.
Switching cost accumulates over the life of a partnership, which means the arrangement becomes progressively harder to leave without anyone deciding that it should.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The direct cost
What is actually paid, including everything outside the base price.
3 attributes: Paid in period · Against expectation · Variation share
LearnThe management cost
Time spent coordinating, resolving and reporting on the relationship.
3 attributes: Time spent · Whose time · Estimated value
LearnThe switching cost
What it would cost to end the arrangement and go elsewhere.
3 attributes: Switching cost · Transition time · Trend
Learn
Watch switching cost over time. A rising number is a relationship becoming less negotiable without anyone deciding it should.
The other components in value review
The performance record
What was delivered against what was agreed, over the period — kept continuously rather than assembled at review time.
LearnThe decision
Renew, renegotiate or exit — taken far enough before the renewal date that all three are genuinely available.
Learn