Procurement and Their Customers – The Big Fallacy
I just finished reading a Big 4 consulting report on Procurement Organization Performance, based on surveys from a range of…
Latest Blogs
Why Procurement Doesn’t Have a Seat at the Table
Let’s not talk about why procurement doesn’t have a seat at the table. I want to talk about why procurement…
The Master Negotiator who Disrupted the Music Industry Forever
Peter Grant was the manager for the British Powerhouse Led Zeppelin. He was an untrained negotiator. In fact, he was…
Procurement’s Fatal Flaw is Confusing Negotiation with Influence
Let me be bold and pull no punches: The procurement function has possibly the least experience with driving influence of…
The Fatal Flaw in Negotiations Strategy
Both procurement and sales organizations have been suffering from the same fatal flaw since the invention of currency. And It’s…
Procurement Leaders – Take This Performance Test
If you are a procurement leader, the onus is on you to make a difference. I’m seeing a lot of…
Negotiating with Suppliers that have ALL the Bargaining Power
I have more and more clients that are struggling with pandemic negotiations with suppliers who hold all the bargaining power. …
Negotiating with Rainmakers
There’s an existential crisis in procurement. One we never talk about. The crisis is this: companies invest probably 10,000 times more…
Writing the Other Party’s Negotiation Victory Speech
Something we focus very little on in negotiations is how to make the other party look and feel successful out…
Here’s Why Your Legal Dept Holds Up Negotiations
I’ll cut to the chase on this one: The problem is not the legal department. The problem is you and…
Preemptive Concessions in Negotiations
So many procurement professionals, and sales professionals for that matter, make the fatal flaw of making preemptive concessions in negotiations.…
Sunk Costs in Negotiations
You’ve all heard of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. It’s a killer in negotiations. But usually in INTERNAL negotiations – with…
The Fallacy of At The Table Negotiations
I saw an article just this last week in LinkedIn describing different scenarios for buyer and seller to go back…
Purchasing Negotiation Training – Get Out of Dark Ages
Get Your Negotiations Out of the Dark Ages No matter what industry or geography I get contacted by, the request…
Purchasing Training ~ Validation of Demand
Are You Performing “Validation of Demand” With Your End Users? Ok, you’ve heard me say before that I prefer we…
Purchasing Training ~ Bribery, Corruption & Kickbacks!
It Happened Again! Bribery, Corruption, & Kickbacks! It happened again. It happens all the time actually. I just read the CNN headline:…
Purchasing Negotiations Training
Purchasing Negotiations – Is Your Style Adaptive? You’ve been doing a lot of things the same for a long…
Purchasing Training ~ Breakthrough Negotiation
Getting Breakthrough Negotiation Results Suppliers are pretty smart. They are smarter than you think actually. Did you know sales people spend up…
Purchasing Training ~ Managing Currency Risk
Are You Managing Your Currency Risk? I’m vacationing in Italy and France right now with my wife, but being the…
Purchasing Training ~ Issue #57
Who’s Managing Who With Your Suppliers? What would you think if you entered a cruise ship and found out that…
Purchasing Training – Specifications and Scope of Work Analyst
Watch this purchasing training that picks up where last weeks left off about why you need to STOP buying goods…
Purchasing Training ~ HUGE Secret
This week Omid delivers his purchasing training blog on YouTube from his man cave. This one purchasing tip alone will…
Purchasing Training
Let’s Agree to Kill the Word “Customer” From Purchasing Lingo I did a seminar just recently where kept hearing…
Purchasing Training
The Opportunity Cost of Purchasing’s Time My passion is making this profession better. One person, one department, one company, and one…
Is Your Purchasing Organization a “Back Office” Function?
I’m going to keep this week’s blog short due to my very hectic travel and training schedule. Why is it? Why…
Purchasing Training – Expenditure Analysis
Expenditure Analysis – Are You Doing It? I remember so clearly going to a client facility once in Puerto Rico.…
The Purchasing Organization’s Biggest Enemy
We talked earlier about purchasing professional’s biggest enemy being a lack of contract knowledge, thinking a contract approved by the…
Purchasing Negotiation Training
How Much Time Are You Spending Preparing for Negotiations? I’m here to break myths and to kill bad practices. We…
Your Purchasing Contracts are Killing You – Here’s Why
I’m going to keep this one really short. I want you to look in the mirror and ask yourself how…
The #1 Deadly Mistake Purchasing Pros Make
After twenty years of doing thousands of hours of purchasing training and seminars and consulting in 15 different countries, I…
Supplier Negotiation Strategies, Part 4
This is the last in this series for now – a series about supplier negotiation strategies. It’s all about counter-intelligence,…
Supplier Negotiation Strategies, Part 3 – Supplier Time Pressures
We are doing a blog series here focused on supplier negotiation strategies. This is an appetizer for the kind of…
Supplier Negotiation Strategies, Pt 3: Location Control Strategy
So we are talking about supplier negotiation strategies. This is a counter-intelligence series. Instead of talking about what strategies are…
Purchasing Training – Supplier Negotiation Strategies, Pt 2 – “Puppy in the Window”
Puppy In The Window Trick OK, so this series is about counter-intelligence. In this context, that means knowing exactly what…
Supplier Negotiation Strategies, Pt 1: Nibbling
You’ve heard me say it many times before: I’ve virtually stopped reading books on purchasing negotiation strategies, mostly because there’s…
Purchasing Training ~ Are You Managing Contract Spends?
Just about the worst thing that happens in our profession every minute of every day is the overspending of contracts.…
Are You Operating in Your Comfort Zone?
The comfort zone is, well, comfortable. That’s why it’s so easy to stay in. I was speaking to a large…
Have You Completed Your Purchasing Expenditure Plan for 2014?
It’s a new year, and everyone is setting their annual goals. You need to be doing the same. But first,…
What Purchasing Professionals Have to be Grateful For
It’s the holiday season, and I’m going to keep this short. What you have to be grateful for is working…
Purchasing ~ Are Your Single/Sole Sourced Suppliers Price Gouging You?
I was presenting at an International Purchasing Conference in South America this week. This is for one of the organizations…
Purchasing Training ~ Are You Killing Yourself with Your Own Warranty Clause?
One of the most misunderstood clauses in any contract is the warranty clause. Purchasing professionals everywhere get it wrong. And…
Look at What Currency Risk is Doing to Your TCO!
We talk a lot about TCO. That’s our business. But there is a huge currency risk issue rumbling and I…
How Suppliers Let Themselves Off the Hook for Poor Performance
Suppliers perform poorly everywhere. Sometimes it’s their fault, sometimes it’s not. Ever see a sports star go to another team…
Are You Buying Performance Results From Your Suppliers?
“Pays for Performance” Purchasing Training Go look at your corporate contract templates. I can already see them in my…
Are You Smarter Than the People Selling To You?
Supply Chain Management Counter Intelligence I think I’ve mentioned to you before that I’ve stopped reading purchasing books. At…
Is Asking Suppliers to Reduce Price All You’ve Got In Your Bag of Tricks?
I taught a full day public seminar this week on the topic of “Catapulting Your Cost Savings Results”. There are…
Purchasing Contract Training
Is the Purchasing Contract Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy? A friend of mine recently was going to…
Fatal Practices That Drag Cost Savings to a Halt
Purchasing Training ~ Fatal Practices I was teaching a couple of seminars this week at a purchasing conference in…
It Happened Again! Are You Watching Your Customers?
I have to tell you guys, I was completely out to lunch, asleep at the switch for 20 years as…
Data Analysis to Catapult Your Cost Savings – Are You Doing This?
Purchasing Training ~ Data Analysis I’ve spent over two decades making a living off of the fact that our…
Selecting Negotiation Team Members – Are You in Control of the Process?
Purchasing Negotiation Team Training Are you struggling with too many people wanting to be a part of your negotiation…
Purchasing Negotiation Training
In a Time Crunch? Use This Negotiation Technique! If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed in 20 years of my…
Are You Managing Your “Under the Radar” Spends?
Purchasing & Supply Chain Management Training Managed Marketplaces Purchasing professionals put so much energy into managing their top expenditure…
Do You Cost Model? Why Not? Part V
Supply Chain Management Training If you liked this training, please give Omid a ‘Thumbs Up’. Thank You!
Do You Cost Model? Why Not? Part IV
Supply Chain Management Training “These activities have to take place. If you don’t do them, you are making yourself irrelevant in…
Do You Cost Model? Why Not? PART III
Cost Modeling Purchasing Training OK, so we’ve talked about the importance of cost modeling and why this is something…
Do You Cost Model? Why Not?
Procurement, Purchasing & Supply Chain Management Training Last week I wrote about cost modeling as an overall activity that…
Do You Cost Model? Why Not?
That’s one of the questions I’m going to ask at a 2 day public seminar I’m leading in Singapore next…
Are You Watching Your Customers? This Will Get Your Attention!
I just recently had lunch with one of my business partners. He’s a sales executive for a major IT company.…
Purchasing TCO Strategies are Changing – Are You Ready?
I was doing work for a client last week on the East Coast. Someone there asked me if today’s strategic…
PROCUREMENT TRAINING ~ Are Your Suppliers Changing Your TCO Value Proposition?
One of my great joys is to go out to my orchard and take care of the trees, eat the…
Procurement Training ~ Supplier Nibbling
I took a long weekend and went to Carmel and Monterey with my wife and brother in law. I just…
The Most Powerful Little Word In Purchasing
I bought my wife a new tv for her recent graduation. She got her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. I’m…
What Camels Can Teach Us About Purchasing Success
Procurement Training By Camel I spent the last 10 days in Egypt on a purchasing training and consulting assignment…
Purchasing Negotiation – Don’t be a Stooge
I’m a huge fan and history buff of the original Three Stooges. Back then, they would produce two-reel 20 minute…
Tying Supplier Payments to Performance
Purchasing is the school of hard knocks. A really good purchasing professional is one who’s made a lot of mistakes,…
Procurement Training: Do We Want Our Internal Customers to be Delighted or Disinterested?
How interested are you in the starter in your car? How about in the motor in your hair dryer or…
Procurement Training Video ~ Contract Negotiation Best Practices
Watch Omid G Live On Stage As He Teaches Procurement Contract Negotiation Best Practices Watch this procurement training video of…
You Don’t Really Know TCO Until the Purchase Life Cycle is Complete
I was in Houston this last week teaching procurement negotiation seminars. There are two quotes I distinctly remember from…
Taste Meaningful Change in Procurement
While in the beautiful country of Bali, Indonesia, I went to a coffee plantation and tried a rare type of…
Even the Best Companies Pour Supply Chain Costs Down the Drain
Are you a coffee drinker? I’m a big latte drinker. Years ago, I did a Make-vs.-Buy analysis, comparing the horrific…
Is Urgency In Purchasing Negotiations Always Leaving You With The Short End Of The Stick?
Do you seem to see a purchasing correlation in just about everything? I find this personal habit highly interesting, maybe…
Purchasing Contract Law
I was in the Bay Area the other day doing a purchasing contract law seminar, and was talking to one…
