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When you are involved in an RFP process to fulfill a specific business need, one of the most critical factors while negotiating agreements with shortlisted suppliers is the duration of the contract. The business could be awarded for one year or for multiple years. While there is the obvious benefit of a one-year contract (“What […]
Multi-year contracts: What’s in it for procurement? Read More »
Certain professionals are expected to adhere to higher standards for behavior: doctors, accountants, and country presidents are a few that come to mind. Procurement professionals should also “be presidential” in their behavior. Over the past year, there has been a lot of conversation and debate about what presidential behavior is. I’ll home in on what
How To “Be Presidential” In Procurement !!! Read More »
Recruiting, developing and keeping the very best talent in your function is no easy task. To clarify your thinking around the issue, there are a few questions you should be asking yourself to get where you want to be. 1. Who are you?It’s natural to take pride in your company’s brand and to sell a
Attracting and retaining procurement talent !!! Read More »
Talent is one topic that is always on the radar of CPOs (chief procurement officer). Sometimes procurement chiefs discuss a ‘shortage of talent’, which can refer to a lack of appropriately qualified candidates for open positions or headcount shortages. Other times, they talk of a ‘talent mismatch’ between the people in their teams and the
The hidden talents within your procurement team !!! Read More »
When it comes to running competitive events and soliciting suppliers, electronic sourcing (e-sourcing) tools can be a procurement professional’s best friend. With so many e-sourcing tools on the market, selecting the right tool can be a challenge and requires a firm definition of what your company is looking to get out of its e-sourcing tool.
E-Sourcing: Finding The Right Solution for Small & Medium-Sized Businesses !!! Read More »
In today’s business world, there’s a desire to have your good suppliers stay in business. This desire often tempers how aggressive procurement professionals are when negotiating with certain suppliers. Most suppliers could remain solvent even if they anointed your organization the one customer they no longer charge. But some suppliers’ viability could be threatened by
How Much Negotiation Mercy Should You Give To Spineless Suppliers? Read More »
People are often surprised, and a little intimidated, when they learn that my research expertise is in negotiations. They remark, “but you are so personable … transparent… straightforward.” And I think, “It’s too bad that’s a surprise. . .” This is probably because most people think of negotiators, and by extension negotiations, as showy and
6 Ways to sharpen your every day Negotiation Skills !!! Read More »
Ah, after summer breaks. It’s that glorious time when kids go back to school. Time for them to refocus on improving skills related to the “three R’s” of education: Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic. It might also be a good time to pay attention to the reading, writing, and arithmetic involved in your procurement. Here are
How Procurement Can Go “Back To School” Read More »
By 2020, millennials, or Generation Y, will make up over half of the global workforce. Attracting the best and brightest of this group is key to procurement’s future success, yet many of this generation still don’t know what procurement is or what it does, making it more challenging to bring those people in.Procurement must begin
How can procurement become more desirable to Generation Y? Read More »
One thing procurement has often struggled with is selling itself to the rest of the business. While the temptation is to focus on facts and figures that demonstrate value, perhaps it may be better to take a more creative approach. Marketing teams have tended to use stories rather than statistics to help raise their profile
Selling the story of procurement – Tips for reporting purchase activities !!! Read More »
