Are Your Vendors Ready to Scale?

You need the right partnerships in place to empower marketing to scale up so it’s ready to support the next push in company growth.

And the loyal vendors that were partners during the company’s earlier growth stages may not have the expertise, resources, capacity, or innovation to support marketing at the next level.

Making the call can be tough. It’s a lot of work to make a transition.

But if you’re aiming for ambitious growth, you need to ask:

Are each of my current vendors going to fuel our growth and challenge us to be better?

And the answer needs to be, “Yes.”

Evaluating vendors

I’m not suggesting you switch out vendors for the sake of it. Believe me, I’m not a fan of vendor hopping. And the first place I always look is in the mirror – are we a good client? Do we brief well? Are we disciplined?

There are benefits to relationships and loyalty. But when you head up marketing for a company that’s levelling up – especially from regional to national - it’s not unusual to outgrow vendor partners.

Here are 5 metrics you can use to assess whether it’s time to reevaluate your vendor relationships:

Performance against KPIs: Are they hitting the key performance indicators that matter for your growth? You want them to meet and provide ideas for exceeding. Provide data that increases visibility on results. Have eyes on improving results (just as you do).

Innovation and adaptability: Does your vendor bring new ideas to the table, or are they stuck in the same old strategies? At this stage, you need partners who are pushing boundaries, not just checking boxes.

Scalability: Your vendor might be excellent with a $2 million campaign, but can they handle $20 million? Make sure they have the bandwidth to scale alongside your marketing program.

Technical capabilities: Is your vendor keeping up with the latest tools and technologies? You need partners who can leverage advanced analytics, automation, AI opportunities, and digital strategies to help you stay competitive.

Cultural fit: While expertise is critical, cultural alignment matters too. Are their values, work ethic, and collaboration style still aligned with yours? As you grow - and the pace and need to deliver results increases - it can bump up against a “friendly culture of service” that served well in the past.

When should you evaluate vendors?

In an ideal world, you’ll start evaluating vendors at least a year before you need to make a change. Transition can involve contracts, resources, and financial investment so waiting too long to reevaluate can cost you. (And put you under even more pressure.)

Here are moments to look out for:

Shift in marketing strategy: Vendors who thrived in one arena may not excel in the next. If you’re moving from a regional strategy to a national one. Or from traditional to digital-first (or a hybrid). From rebrand to ongoing campaign execution. Make sure you’re clear on your needs and then overlay your vendor partner capabilities.

Product or market expansion: If your company is entering new markets or launching new products, your vendor’s capabilities need to grow with you. Are they familiar with your new target audiences or marketing channels? Can you brief them and bring them along or do you need new, specialized knowledge?

Ongoing niggles: Missed deadlines, lack of responsiveness, unexplained delays around results or measurement, or subpar work may be signs that your vendor is struggling to keep up. Any hitchy points you experience now will be magnified as you grow.

Increased complexity: If your marketing operations are becoming more intricate, like managing cross-channel campaigns or complex CRM integrations, or even the ability to tie traditional mediums like print into digital tactics, your vendor may no longer have the right expertise.

Making the transition

Moving away from a long-standing vendor can feel daunting. You’ve built a relationship, and there’s loyalty—but the future of your business comes first. Do your best to manage the transition with grace.

Be transparent: Start by being honest with your current vendor. Share your growth plans and your requirements for vendor support. Be clear and specific about your concerns about their ability to keep pace. Who knows—they might surprise you with new solutions.

Have a transition plan: Map out the steps for switching vendors. This should include everything from procurement (contracts), transferring assets, files, and systems to onboarding the new team. A smooth handover is critical to avoid disrupting campaigns.

Communicate internally: Keep your team in the loop – often they own the day-to-day relationship with the vendor and ‘doing the right thing’ will be important to them. They should understand why you’re making the switch and what to expect from the new vendor. This will reduce resistance and ease the transition.

Test the new vendor: Before fully committing, consider running a smaller project with your new vendor to see how they perform under pressure. Do they communicate effectively? Deliver on time? Show you innovative thinking?

Celebrate the wins: Once the new vendor is onboard and campaigns are running smoothly, share the wins with your team and stakeholders. Celebrate the better results and the improved marketing efficiency to reinforce the decision.

Evaluating in priority order

Not all vendors need to be evaluated at once. Vendor transitions need to be made strategically so you minimize disruption to marketing activities. Here are suggestions for prioritizing your review:

High-spend vendors: Start with the vendors where you’re allocating the most budget. If you’re spending six figures (or more) annually, those are the relationships worth scrutinizing first.

Critical services: Focus on the vendors providing the services most crucial to your marketing success. This could be your agency delivering campaigns, your digital media partner, or operational providers such as a printer that also houses an internal marketing portal (digital templates and on-demand print assets).

Underperformers: Any vendors you’ve been making excuses for? Sometimes we overcompensate, taking on work that vendors should do because they’re not working at the level we need (and it ends up being easier to just do it yourself). If this sounds familiar, that vendor moves up the list. As the department levels up you need ALL vendors making you better.

High-visibility roles: If you’re working with vendors who are responsible for customer-facing elements—like creative agencies or website developers—make sure they’re representing your brand the way you need them to. And driving lead generation. Being on brand is only half of the equation.

New tech or channels: If you’ve started using new technologies or marketing channels and your vendors can’t support them, it’s time to look for new partners who can help you maximize those efforts. (And get you OUT of execution.)

Loyalty to vendors who helped you get where you are today is natural, but it can’t come at the cost of your future growth. As marketing scales, the stakes get higher, and the need for high-performing, innovative partners becomes even more critical.

Evaluating your vendor relationships isn’t about burning bridges. It’s about aligning with vendor partners who can meet your evolving needs and provide jetfuel for the big leap from regional to national.

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