Afraid of onboarding with a GPO? It’s easier than you think

Q&A with Corinne McElroy, Senior Director of Client Support

As it turns out, a lot of procurement pros have a little bit of fear when it comes to onboarding with a GPO. After all, much is at stake. A major portion of a company’s food spend and supply purchases are involved.

So, we asked Corinne McElroy, Entegra’s Senior Director of Client Support, to talk about the onboarding process. The good news? When you have a trusted partner behind you, the onboarding process can unfold more efficiently.

What is a company’s biggest pain point with onboarding and how does Entegra solve it?

“The pain point we hear the most is that companies want the process to be seamless and fast. They want us to flip a switch even though there are a lot of steps,” said McElroy. “That’s understandable.

“We know that the selection process can be long one, depending on the company size and contract. Then, when it comes time to onboard and get going, there’s just generally a lot of anxiety and excitement to start benefiting from the new relationship. We’re experts in onboarding and keeping it seamless, guiding you every step of the way. Our approach involves a combination of some automation with a high level of human touchpoints. We do a lot of heavy lifting upfront, so the onboarding process can go faster.”

What kind of support can hospitality and food service businesses expect to receive?

“Client support is at the center of everything we do,” said McElroy. “We’ve invested a lot of time in structuring our team and process to make onboarding with a GPO a lot more streamlined and communicative.

“We have dedicated, assigned teams that work with new clients and help them every step of the way. As a new client, you’ll get one point of contact but know that a whole team is in the background taking care of the details.”

What is the most important thing a company should know about onboarding a GPO?

“We find that taking the time to educate companies about how onboarding with a GPO works is time well spent. We’re going to need to collect information on their current spend.

“Someone could be buying $1 million worth of items. What does that million represent? Who are the suppliers? What are the items they're buying? If they give us the correct information, we can align them to the suppliers and get our pricing in place. And their locations can start receiving the benefit of our pricing and incentives.

“We need to verify everything in their contract. It’s similar to what we do for clients who are switching from one GPO to another, but we want to make sure this group understands all the reasons behind why we’re asking for the information we need to get them set up properly.”

What advice do you have for a company onboarding with a GPO? What should they be thinking about?

“Let us prove ourselves. You’ll have a whole team who’ve been through this with hundreds of companies. We’re known for the excellent care we take of the companies who partner with us.”

If you’d like more information about working with the world’s largest food GPO and strategic growth partner for businesses just like yours, contact us.