Something has slowly been changing in the world of Procurement. And it impacts you as a B2B sales person. Procurement continues to slowly, but surely, gain more and more importance and influence in large and medium sized companies. In fact, Procurement has now become an unavoidable stakeholder, with the power to obstruct or facilitate a sale. They also form closer relationships with Economic Buyers. They influence more areas of spend and they have more of a strategic impact. So how do you respond effectively to that changing environment? Those are the questions I’ll be answering in this article.
Meet strategy with strategy
I mentioned before that Procurement is having more of a strategic impact. That’s because large companies have implemented some form of Category Management. That’s a strategic approach of managing all external spend. So, there is a wider strategy behind everything Procurement does, including how they deal with the supply market and how they deal with you.
So, if Procurement has a strategy for dealing with you, doesn’t it make sense that you should have a strategy for dealing with them? Or, at least, factor a few approaches into your existing strategy? I think taking a strategic approach to counter Procurement’s strategic approach makes a lot of sense.
No single action in isolation will make enough of a difference
It’s easy to feel disempowered when you’re faced with Procurement departments in large companies, because whatever single action you take in isolation is unlikely to make enough of a difference. And that’s exactly why a strategic approach is needed. It’s a coordinated way of orchestrating lots of little actions that in combination will stack the odds much more in your favour.
The 6 things your strategic approach must cover
So, what kind of “little actions” are we talking about? Well, they broadly fall into 6 areas. They’re actions that:
- influence Procurement to truly appreciate the unique value you are offering;
- ensure you engage with Procurement at the right time, and in the right way;
- ensure you do the right kind of research to prepare better for negotiations;
- enable you to respond effectively to Procurement’s negotiation ploys and tactics;
- stack the odds much more in your favour when bidding on RFPs; and
- help you shorten the last part of your sales cycle.
I talked to the sales team at Pangea about this approach during one of their internal Pangea Perspectives sessions. Pangea helps accelerate companies that are scaling into new markets.
We had a very engaging session which lots of excellent questions and discussions. I want to give you the same opportunity to access those insider insights and ask your own questions. I’m, therefore, repeating the session as an open webinar. Just click on the button below to register. But grab your seat quickly! After 10 January 2023, the webinar will no longer be available.
The timer indicates when the next session is starting. There are multiple time slots available daily, as well as an option to watch a replay of an earlier session. If you choose a scheduled session, you’ll be able to ask me questions via live chat while the session is running.
The Pangea sales team found the session very helpful and sent me this great hamper after the session! THANK YOU.
If dealing more effectively with Procurement is important to you, then you could really benefit from subscribing to my LinkedIn newsletter called, “Selling to Procurement”. I share new tips and insights every week and you will NOT be asked to enter an email address to subscribe. Just click here, and once you are on the LinkedIn platform, hit the subscribe button.
