---
id: KB-PS-020
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/getting-started/the-first-supplier-you-ask
idioma: en
categoria: primeros-pasos
subcategoria: configuracion-inicial
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-PS-014, KB-PS-013, KB-PS-017]
citadoPor: [KB-PS-010]
---

# The first supplier you ask

_The first request to an outsider teaches more about your process than any internal test._

**Responde a:** which supplier should I ask first · how do I tell a supplier we are changing · first request to a third party · pilot with a real supplier

You can test all you like among colleagues: someone inside understands what you meant even when it is not written down. The process only starts existing for real when it reaches someone who does not know you, owes you nothing and has their own Monday.

## Who to pick as the first

| Profile | Good first choice? | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The one who treats you best | Yes | They will tell you what is unclear, without taking offence |
| The one with most documents outstanding | No | You mix launching the process with an old dispute |
| The biggest one | No | They have their own portals and their own rules |
| A small one working from a phone | Yes, as the second | It is the acid test of your format |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> What to watch in that first request is not whether the document arrives: **it is how many questions they ask before sending it**. Every «what is this?», «are you asking or is your colleague?» or «will the one I sent last year do?» is a hole in your message, not carelessness on their part. The other forty will have the same doubts, except most will not ask: they simply will not reply. Each doubt fixed now is saved forty times over.

## How to prepare that first send

1. **Warn them on the usual channel before sending** — One line: «something is coming and it is from us».
2. **Ask for little: one or two things** — Launching with eight documents tests their patience, not the process.
3. **Say what happens once they send it** — Knowing someone reviews and confirms changes their willingness.
4. **And ask them afterwards how it went** — Two minutes of conversation beat staring at a dashboard.

> [!WARNING]
> The commonest launch mistake is not in the message: **it is not telling anyone inside that this supplier will now reply here**. They send the document, it arrives through the new system, and whoever handles that supplier keeps watching their own inbox — so the very first person to try the process waits a week and concludes it does not work. Before the first request, someone has to be watching the other side.

## What the replies you get actually mean

**En corto**

- Fast and correct: do not read too much into it, they are your friendliest.
- Replies but sends the wrong thing: the problem is how you asked, not them.
- No reply: check it reached them before drawing conclusions.
- Asks whether it is compulsory: your message is missing the «why».

> [!NOTE]
> It is worth writing two lines about how this first one went, because by the fortieth nobody will remember what changed after that conversation — and those changes are usually the best ones the process gets.

**Should I call or is email enough?**

For the first one, a short call. After that it is unnecessary.

**What if the first one goes badly?**

That is exactly what it is for. Discovering it at forty would be worse.

**How long before chasing?**

As long as that supplier normally takes, not as long as you would like.

## Ejemplos

**A company launches its process with the supplier that owes the most documents.**

- Starts with a friendly one, asks for two documents and calls beforehand

→ The doubts come out in a conversation and get fixed before the other forty see it.

**The most difficult supplier is chosen for the first trial.**

- Starts with one you get on well with

→ The process's flaws surface in a friendly conversation.

**Nine documents are requested at once the first time.**

- Requests two and adds the rest in the next round

→ The first attempt completes and builds confidence on both sides.

**The supplier does not understand why something is being requested.**

- Explains in the notice why each document is needed

→ They reply without a preceding phone call.

**No warning is given and the email looks suspicious.**

- Phones before sending the first notice

→ The link gets opened rather than binned.

**What was learned with the first one is not applied to the rest.**

- Saves the corrected process as a template

→ The next forty receive the good version.