Procurement Intelligence Unit

From 40 years of first hand experience I now recognise that every buyer should understand the principles of structured commercial selling to see & read what is coming across his / her desk. Also the more you can take time to sell the full features & benefits of your company or organization then the less time you will have to take to negotiate.

As both internal and external stakeholder management becomes more of strategic dynamic within procurement/supply chain/operations it is essential that procurement leaders are able to create, influence and effectively sell ideas and strategies up and down the business. It is the ability of procurement to effect change in many parts of the organisation that makes its leadership a core component to any boardroom, however for CPOs to be part of that club they must have wider leadership attributes than purely purchasing.

To answer if Procurment should be "salesy," I'll offer this. I think back to every idea I wanted to make a project, every process I wanted to implement, all the behaviors and attributes I wanted my suppliers to exihit and all the times I needed buy-in from other departments/ sites to get a goal accomplished. I had to sell every single agenda item to a target audience and demonstrate the value of what I wanted to be done so that projects would be funded, processes (which drove change in standard work) would be accepted and vendors would align to my strategy. So Procurement shouldn't be "salesy"....I believe it already is.

Procurement definitely sells. Every day you sell your services to other internal customers.
If you can't do a good sales job with engineering, operations, maintenance HR and finance then selling your value to senior management is going to be tough sledding.
Even though you appear to be on the buy side every time you meet a supplier it is a sales meeting to convince them that you act ethically. As a professional you are selling yourself every time you interact with another person.

I have found that i have to be able to 'sell' procurement to my clients on a regular basis. I have to 'sell' them on the functionality of the procurement process, that a process can ensure outcomes that will benefit the client not only in the bottom line but in sustainability, innovation, quality and whole of life costs. Change Management has also become part of my skillset. To present changes within procurement to the executives and to obtain signatures on briefs/Ministerial memo's is a skill that is necessary. I have become skilled at the implementation phase of the procurement. Working closely with suppliers, negotiation with clients/suppliers and even supervisoring the unloading/delivery of the product/service or the trial of a product and preparing of the report. My 'end to end procurement' has explaned over the years and still the client demands more.

I have found that i have to be able to 'sell' procurement to my clients on a regular basis. I have to 'sell' them on the functionality of the procurement process, that a process can ensure outcomes that will benefit the client not only in the bottom line but in sustainability, innovation, quality and whole of life costs. Change Management has also become part of my skillset. To present changes within procurement to the executives and to obtain signatures on briefs/Ministerial memo's is a skill that is necessary. I have become skilled at the implementation phase of the procurement. Working closely with suppliers, negotiation with clients/suppliers and even supervisoring the unloading/delivery of the product/service or the trial of a product and preparing of the report. My 'end to end procurement' has explaned over the years and still the client demands more.

Another perspective is that as we accept more and more the idea of mutually beneficial, long-term, supply relationships it is critical to the success of the relationship, therefore your end customer, to ensure your supply base fully understands the benefit of doing business with your company. By doing this you receive first class service and pricing. It is not that different than selling your customers on what you have to offer them.

Folks,
I agree with all the comments. To reinforce the above comments, no matter what discipline or structure we are working within business we all are selling something at sometime. An additional thought. I have been involved in some form of procurement within distribution most of my career. It all starts with a sale. We have nothing to buy if there is nothing sold. Supporting the sales effort to achieve continued prosperous growth sure makes this a lot more fun.

in support of all the above comments, I have been a supply chain/ materials management professional for 20 plus year, in both the private and public sectors. From my prospective this is not a new transformation in procurement, this is standard operating procedure. In my opinion it’s not typically the supply chain (base) that has to be “sold to” ***, I my experience I have spent more time in internal meetings promoting and selling; commodity strategies, product enhancements, manufacturing improvements, new technology and equipment and the addition or removal of suppliers. Typically a procurement professional must have buy in with most or all of the following areas to deviate from current process, strategy or policie; supply chain/purchasing management, business/product development, legal, product, manufacturing and quality engineering and its management.. Having the ability to identify, validate, develop and essentially sell recommendation to improve productivity, amend or replace policies and procedures in regards to the above listed items at/ or in a global business environment, is instrumental to adding value to not only your organization and supply chain but to yourself as a professional.
*** Given the supplier is gaining something from the change their alignment usually isn't as tumultuous "i said usually isn't".