As procurement professionals, we often see our peers across the negotiating table as adversaries. However, there is a lot that we can learn and apply from the art of Sales, particularly when it comes to influencing others.
This week’s guest on the Art of Procurement is Stan Garber, President of Scout RFP. Stan is a proven sales and business development leader, and I wanted to tap into that experience to focus on two specific use cases where procurement can lever Sales techniques to increase their sphere of influence. First, we explore ways of selling the procurement value proposition internally, and then shift focus and consider how you can convince larger suppliers to provide “customer-of-choice” status when your level of spend alone may not merit such treatment.
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“Stakeholders always want to see success before they give you anything more. Just like with your own team members you’re going to want to hit layups, then hit some great two pointers, then go for the three pointers.”
In this episode, you will learn:
- How Stan and the Scout founding team made the leap from the online restaurant ordering business to procurement.
- The five steps to sell your internal stakeholders on the benefits that you can provide.
- How to think like Sales and use customer relationship management software to develop and manage your project pipeline.
- How to sell suppliers on why they should care about your company, and the benefits of partnering with you.
- Stan’s perspective on the concept of being a “customer of choice”. It is a real concept?
Links and Resources:
- Subscribe to the Art of Procurement podcast.
- Stan Garber on LinkedIn.
- Scout RFP, the procurement software company co-founded by Stan.
- Stan’s book recommendations:
- How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.
- Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, by Guy Kawasaki.
- The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results, by Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, Pat Spenner and Nick Toman.
