Switching Suppliers Without the Headache: A Step-by-Step Process |

Switching Suppliers Without the Headache: A Step-by-Step Process

Most cleaning companies don’t avoid switching suppliers because they’re happy. They avoid it because they’ve been burned before.

Missed deliveries. The wrong chemicals are turning up on site. Supervisors panicking. Clients asking awkward questions. All because someone thought a supplier change was just a pricing exercise.

It isn’t.

At the director level, switching suppliers is a leadership decision. Done badly, it creates noise and risk. Done properly, it quietly fixes a lot of things that have been annoying you for years.

So here’s how to do it – without the drama.

First, get brutally clear on why you’re switching

Cost is usually the excuse, not the reason.

The real triggers tend to be inconsistent availability, a supplier that’s stopped being proactive, growing compliance exposure, or a product range that’s become bloated and unmanageable. If you don’t pin this down early, you just swap one set of problems for another.

Then look at what’s actually happening on site

Not what’s in the contract. Not what procurement thinks is being used.

What’s really being ordered? What’s being substituted? Where teams have created their own workarounds because the system doesn’t quite work. This is where most transitions go wrong – surprises appear because no one wanted to lift the lid beforehand.

Lift it early.

Choose capability over catalogue size

At this point in the industry, everyone has “competitive pricing” and a glossy website.

What matters is whether the supplier can transition a live operation without disruption. Do they understand dosing systems? Can they rationalise, not just replicate? Do they have real technical backup, not just sales support? If the answer isn’t a confident yes, don’t proceed.

Phase the rollout properly - by site or region

This is where a lot of advice gets it wrong.

The risk isn’t switching “too much product” at once – it’s switching too many environments at once.

Phasing by site or region works because it reflects how cleaning operations actually run. Site teams need consistency. Asking them to run mixed suppliers or partial ranges usually creates more confusion, not less.

Start with lower-risk sites or regions. Learn. Adjust. Then roll forward. Stability still beats speed – but coherence beats fragmentation.

Bring operations in early - not at the last minute

Nothing kills a transition faster than blindsiding operational teams.

Explain what’s changing, why it’s happening, and what support they’ll get. Not to ask permission – but to avoid resistance, workarounds, and unnecessary noise on site.

Training and compliance are locked in before go-live

New products without training equal risk. Everyone in operations already knows this.

A proper supplier transition includes:

Updated COSHH and safety data before go-live
Clear dilution and dosing guidance
Supervisor training first, operatives second
Site-specific packs that actually reflect how the site runs
On-site or supported rollouts where required – not just emailed PDFs

“No shortcuts” isn’t a slogan here. It’s how you avoid incidents, audit issues, and uncomfortable client conversations.

Watch the switch as it happens

Not six months later.

Track deliveries, availability, early substitutions, supervisor feedback, and site-level issues while the transition is live. Small problems caught early stay small. Left unchecked, they grow into things clients notice.

The real value comes after the switch

Once things are stable, that’s when you simplify.

Fewer SKUs. Better standardisation. Easier training. Cleaner reporting. Less friction for site teams. Less noise for management.

Switching suppliers isn’t the win. Control is.

If switching suppliers feels risky, it’s usually not the decision – it’s the process.

Handled properly, a supplier change should be quietly boring to your clients, noticeably easier for your teams, and commercially sensible for the business.

And if it isn’t?
Something was missed long before the first delivery arrived.

If you want to understand what best-practice handover and transition support actually looks like in practice – not just on paper – that’s the conversation worth having before you switch.