I am at the end of my rope. Any tips for haggling with procurement people?
Customers of all kinds are increasingly utilizing procurement personnel, or corporate buyers, to help them ensure they are spending their money wisely. This can be frustrating for salespeople because the buyer may not be the end-user of the product or service you are selling. As such, they may not be interested in many of the features which benefit the end-user (and which you believe differentiate your product from the competitor’s.)
When dealing with procurement departments, remember to:
Be organized, and prepared and have all your supporting information at your fingertips. (Be especially prepared to discuss the nuances of any pricing schedules)
Spend time anticipating what questions will be asked during your meeting. (You can expect to answer a ton of questions in these situations!)
Be able to link every feature of your solution to an organizational need such as financial or performance (‘reduces downtime which costs $X’, ‘increases production by x%’, ‘cost $x less than current solution’, ‘save X days in fulfillment time’ etc. )
Recruit end-users within the buying organization to speak to the procurement department on your behalf. After all, they have a vested interest in making sure the solution purchased is one that is going to help them succeed.
Be prepared to demonstrate how various components create value as part of an integrated solution. Procurement may wish to explore unbundling solutions to look for cost savings. (e.g. stripping out services from products). So, be prepared to discuss the value of the whole solution as well as the individual value of any identifiable components.
Try to reach some small agreements quickly. This creates an atmosphere of progress and helps set the stage for mutual success.
Take personal needs into account too. The buyer will have a number of personal factors which will influence their decisions (do they have safety needs? Power needs? Etc.).
Sales Tools
Analyze your Losses
It is often worth a follow up call with a client to see why you lost a particular opportunity. Be sure not to take it personally and to be very thankful for the feedback. These follow up calls can produce valuable information such as:
Skills for you to work on
Opportunities for product improvement
Insight into knowledge gaps regarding customers, market segments, product sets, or the competition.
After you collect this information, share it with Marketing, Research and other stakeholders who may benefit from it. Also, determine how and when to continue to follow up with the lost account. This might include:
In cases, asking for referrals might make sense (if they thought your solution might work best for a larger organization, ask them if they know any)
Periodically send along value added information such as industry insight, market trends, research publications, invitations to events etc.
As their implementation progresses, you may want to check in to see if they are satisfied with their chosen vendor
Keep the account informed of changes within your own organization
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