2 tips for making big lab purchases easier

Spending a lot of money on a big purchase can be time consuming. Whether it’s a high-power laser, an imaging system, or something else, the process is often similar: research the options, talk with vendors to get quotes, and then lots of paperwork. You’re probably already doing it right. Here are a couple of tips that can help reduce the amount of time you spend.

1. Keep the Secretary Problem in mind. There might be a lot of options. Don’t get bogged down in analysis paralysis. The optimal stopping solution in the secretary problem is 1/e — that’s about one-third. If there is a big stack of options that take a long time to investigate, look through the first third and then pick the next option that looks the best. Then move on. Spend your time elsewhere. Similarly, if there are a smaller number of options but you’re spending a lot of time looking through them and comparing them on various metrics, stop when you’ve narrowed it down to 2-3. Don’t overthink it. Sometimes price or delivery time negotiations might help you further narrow it down. But if you’re really having a hard time making the call, then it might not be a call worth making. Just pick one and go. Your time is valuable and any of the remaining options will let you do your work. You can’t know which one is going to break early on and which one will be trouble free, so stop looking for ways to pick a winner. Just exclude the losers and then get the purchase made as fast as you can.
2. You don’t owe vendors your time. I like vendors, and I have learned a lot from many salespeople. They’re great. But you don’t owe them your time. Some will respect your time and send brief emails with the information you need, but many others will try to get you on the phone or to in-person meetings where they try to sell you their products. It’s a classic sales tactic, and I honestly like these people, but they are not trying to save your time. They’re trying to make a sale. It’s not personal. If you don’t want to spend the time, just say so. You can even use a classic sales tactic and defer to someone else. “I’ll have to check with my manager before I can offer a price that low.” You go ahead and do that, my friend. Email me later. Likewise, “I can’t talk right now because my lab mate is on fire.” Protect your time.