Issue #129

It's Not Procurement, It's YOU!

You keep telling yourself procurement is blocking your deal.

They are not, they are just doing their job:

• Reducing risk
• Controlling spend
• Protecting reputation
• Ensuring supply continuity.

The problem is not procurement. The problem is you haven't given them a reason to respect you.

They respect competence and compliance, not charm, not nice slides, not your ability to chat about football.

Here are five power moves that change the dynamic.
​

1. Be the Relationship Guru

Procurement lives in a world of policy and process. You live in the wild. You can talk to users, technical teams, finance, operations. Use that freedom.

Map the stakeholders. Build genuine working relationships. Understand who will actually use your solution and who will be blamed if it fails.

Then bring that intelligence back to procurement. Share what matters to each department. Show where consensus sits and where friction hides.

Now you are useful.

You have become their eyes and ears in the business. That reduces their risk. They remember that and they like it.

2. Be the Product and Market Maestro

Know your product and the market better than anyone, particularly them.

If you cannot explain the real cost structure of your offer, you deserve to be beaten on price. Obviously, you don’t have to tell them everything and certainly never your profit margins.

(You can't compete on price forever, here's why, click here, in case you were wondering.)

However, you must know where your margins sit. What drives cost. What can flex and what cannot. You should also know how your competitors price, bundle and position.

Not in a vague way, in defensible detail.

Procurement is trained to compare numbers. Help them compare properly.

Explain why one supplier looks cheaper but will cost more in service. Show where lifecycle cost shifts. Translate technical differences into commercial impact.

When you speak clearly about cost drivers and market reality, you stop sounding like a rep and start sounding like an adviser.

Procurement get all their information from talking to the market, so make sure they come to you first.

3. Unleash Your Creative Genius

Offer something they did not think to ask for. Procurement prefers clean comparisons:

• Three suppliers
• Same specification
• Lowest defensible price.

Fine, give them what they asked for, then show them something they did not expect.

Bring an alternative configuration: a different service model, a performance based option.

Something that changes the frame. Make it structured, priced and clear.

If it solves a problem they had not fully priced in, you have shifted the conversation from price to value.

That is where grown up selling happens.

4. Be the Contractual Management Maverick

Take contract management seriously.

Most sellers disappear after signature. Then they complain when procurement gets aggressive at renewal.

If you want respect, manage the contract constantly and properly.

Set up review meetings, track performance metrics consistently. Address small issues before they become procurement ammunition.

Document every improvement and additional modification or service. Share the results internally with them and make sure their boss is copied in.

Procurement hates chasing suppliers for compliance. They are under constant pressure to move on to the next category, the next saving.

hen you show discipline and transparency, you reduce their workload.
​

Reducing someone’s workload is a fast route to respect and trust. It allows them to look elsewhere than your growing profits.

5. Master the Art of Storytelling

Tell the story behind the numbers.

Procurement trusts spreadsheets, it is their natural language.

But spreadsheets without context are just numbers on a screen. The rest of the senior team want to know what it all means.

When you present pricing, explain the commercial logic (from their perspective, of course).

Show how investment creates operational impact. Link cost to risk reduction, time reduction, payback. Link service levels to user outcomes, customer satisfaction, increased profits.

Use real examples from their world:

• Shipment delay that cost a day of production.
• Service improvement that cut error rates.
• Redesign that reduced waste.

Data proves but story persuades and together they justify your business, your relationship and your profit.

When you help procurement explain the decision to finance, operations, sales and marketing, you make them look competent.

Everyone loves a supplier that makes them look competent.

Takeaways

Procurement is not impressed by enthusiasm. They are impressed by clarity, discipline and commercial intelligence.

If you want their respect, act like a partner who understands their world. Bring relationships, insight, structured options, operational rigour and a narrative that makes sense of the numbers.

Do that consistently and the tone of the conversation changes from demanding compliance to discussing options.

​Here is a LinkedIn post with more about how learning to buy is a great way to become a successful seller.

I spent many years as a procurement director, supply chain director and at one point I actually sold procurement services (that was confusing).

Many sales "gurus" preach that procurement is the enemy, this isn't just wrong, it doesn't help. Follow the advice in this article and they become useful guides instead of the bogeyman.

Any questions - get in touch by email or on LinkedIn.

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​