Global Leaders in Procurement & Negotiations (PSCMInstitute.com)
If you are a procurement leader, the onus is on you to make a difference. I’m seeing a lot of CPOs getting better results at traditional activities, but is that what we really want? Just meeting and exceeding cost savings goals is a very 1990’s accomplishment. Here’s a quick questionnaire (Yes = 3 points, Sometimes/Maybe …
Procurement Leaders – Take This Performance Test Read More »
There’s an existential crisis in procurement. One we never talk about. The crisis is this: companies invest probably 10,000 times more in the sales function than they do in the procurement function. And procurement is negotiating with sales. If you pay really close attention, your sales negotiation counterparts, when coming from a company of similar size, will …
Something we focus very little on in negotiations is how to make the other party look and feel successful out of the deal. All of our focus is on how to make ourselves look, feel, and actually be successful in negotiations – and letting our management chain know. But the other party has a management …
Writing the Other Party’s Negotiation Victory Speech Read More »
So many procurement professionals, and sales professionals for that matter, make the fatal flaw of making preemptive concessions in negotiations. It just happened to me last weekend. I was at a simple kiosk at a beach boardwalk. I told the proprietor that I wanted to buy 4 of a particular item. I knew the price …
Are You Performing “Validation of Demand” With Your End Users? Ok, you’ve heard me say before that I prefer we not call anyone inside of our companies the “customer”. The only customer we have is the Board of Directors, Taxpayers (for public entities), Shareholders (for private companies), and Internal Audit (for all companies!). So the right …
Watch this purchasing training that picks up where last weeks left off about why you need to STOP buying goods and services and instead, start buying PERFORMANCE RESULTS. Eliminate almost all of your procurement problems becoming a Specifications and Scope of Work Analyst. Email readers, click the video image below or Click Here to watch now.
After twenty years of doing thousands of hours of purchasing training and seminars and consulting in 15 different countries, I think I’ve seen it all. There are so many lingering opportunities in our profession to do things better. Purchasing pros are deeply disconnected with what’s not working however. How do I know? People only want …
One of the most misunderstood clauses in any contract is the warranty clause. Purchasing professionals everywhere get it wrong. And the reason why is really simple: the standard warranty language in your contract doesn’t know what you are buying, so it’s not written to help you. Think about it! Your standard contract template doesn’t know …
Purchasing Training ~ Are You Killing Yourself with Your Own Warranty Clause? Read More »
I taught a full day public seminar this week on the topic of “Catapulting Your Cost Savings Results”. There are so many opportunities buyers leave on the table. It’s my job to get purchasing professionals past that and to help them see all the big TCO areas they’ve never even looked at. For instance, purchasing professionals …
Is Asking Suppliers to Reduce Price All You’ve Got In Your Bag of Tricks? Read More »
I just recently had lunch with one of my business partners. He’s a sales executive for a major IT company. He was telling me that in his sales positions for the various companies he’s worked for, his customers (I’m not talking about purchasing mind you, I’m talking about the internal customer who is generating the …
Are You Watching Your Customers? This Will Get Your Attention! Read More »
