Dealing with Procurement
1/23/2009 11:58:51 AM by Peter Gerritsen
Tim Williams and Ron Baker have been long-time advocates of our network. Both have spoken at past meetings. They are leading the charge in getting our industry to rethink the compensation models that exist today, and utilize Value-Based methods.
This past week, Tim sent out the latest email that addresses one of the issues that many agencies struggle in determining fair contracts with marketers. Procurement is taking an ever bigger role in negotiating. How do you manage that relationship? In Tim's article, he gives a great POV on this subject. Here is just the first paragraph....
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How to disarm procurement
By Tim Williams, Founder of Ignition
If clients employ professional buyers (procurement agents), shouldn’t agencies employ professional sellers? And shouldn’t it be the job of professional sellers to know not only how to deal with pricing objections, but how to structure a deal that will solve both parties issues?
Why do procurement departments exist?
a. To get the best possible price.
b. To get the best possible value.
What procurement is really trying to achieve?
It’s easy to assume that procurement professionals are interested only in saving money by getting your services as cheaply as possible. But procurement exists as a function to secure value for the company. Consequently, procurement departments drag agencies through a series of detailed, invasive questions about their process, cost structures, competencies, experience, financial strength, etc. all with one central goal in mind: to make sure the agency is capable of delivering what it says it can deliver.
(the rest can be found via the link below.)
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I am only posting part of his blog. If you wound like to read the rest, here is the link to:
How to disarm procurement
or, paste this in your browser:
http://propulsion.typepad.com/propulsion/2009/01/how-to-disarm-procurement.html
Thanks Tim. You always offer sage advice.