The Point

People do business with people they like. We have all heard that phrase before and know it holds a great deal of weight. In this economic climate, the financials have to be the key driver in decision making. However, with that being comparable, the strength of the relationship will seal the deal.

The process is basic and simple but since not everyone does this, it can be quite a differentiator. This has a lot to do with procurement since you have internal customers and also constantly working with suppliers and salesmen.  

Thanks to the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, one of today’s largest procurement/sales challenges is easy to put into words. We talk about the need for partnerships and collaboration, but how often do we successfully take the effort beyond talk so that it includes open and productive conversation with our reps and supplier account managers?

If you read (or listened to) our event update on Monday, you know one of the events I was looking at seemed to be a re-run of a CPO Agenda webinar run last month. “Strategic Sourcing – Quick Wins to Boost this Year’s Savings Total” by ISM and CapGemini was anything but a repeat. Different speakers, different format, different message – but every bit as worth attending.

Last week I attended a ValueSelling Associates webinar on the C-Level Conversation. You can read my notes or listen to the archived recording at the source by clicking here.  We also got some additional thoughts from The Sales Guy - which are below.

What it really comes down to, is that ALL of us could use a little help being better prepared for those high level "sales" meetings, whether we are helping one of our potential suppliers prepare to meet a high level stakeholder or getting ready to sell the benefits and potential of procurement internally.