Keith Eades comments featured in Selling Power Magazine...

Want to know more about the role of procurement and purchasing managers in the sell cycle? Need to have a better understanding of who the buyers are and how their influence can ‘bend trends’ in the current economy? Confused about titles like “Global Supply-Chain Manager” and “Chief Procurement Officer”?

In a recent article by author Heather Baldwin, “The Rebirth of the Purchasing Manager: How to harness the power of the new (and much more important) purchasing manager” (Selling Power Magazine - May/June 2010 issue - Vol.30 No.3 - pages 50-53), this trend in titles and responsibility structures is examined and scrutinized to the overall conclusion that they not only play a vital and important role in the sales cycle, but to overlook their influence is to potentially lose the deal.

Baldwin’s article sites interviews with key sales leaders including SPI’s own, Keith Eades.  Eades’ take on the importance sellers need to place on procurement is included in the following excerpt(s):

…page 53

Sales Performance International (SPI) CEO Keith Eades states it even more strongly: “It’s almost insane for sales organizations not to make procurement a part of their normal calling cycle or not target this department as people they need to sell to. If you wait until the RFP comes out and that’s the only time you talk to procurement, you’ll lose, statistically, more than 90 percent of the time.”

…page 53

SPI is doing just that. It’s sales force now embraces procurement as a key player in the buying process, connecting with this group early in the buying cycle, treating procurement personnel like business people, and educating them on SPI’s value. The strategy is paying off: SPI recently won a multimillion-dollar opportunity, and CEO Keith Eades credits the salesperson’s work with procurement as a major contributor to the win.

“The role that purchasing team members are playing now is probably broader, deeper, and has more influence than ever before,” says Eades. “Rather than just administering a purchase, they’re answering, ‘Does this solve the business problem? Does it work? Is it right?’ And they’re staying involved longer after the purchase. I would describe them now as more internal consultants to the business functions they’re supporting.”

For the full written article, click here to go to Selling Power Magazine’s website.

To read more on the topic of procurement, buyer-aligned selling and getting to power, look at the following articles:

A Short Chat with a Procurement Manager about RFP’s

A Question of Power

Power Buys From Power

Collaborative Sales Negotiations

Comments

[jens edgren]

I agree with Keith but would like to clarify the role of the purchaching manager - If the product or service are in the eyes of the customer so mature that the only things that differs are the price and terms - then it is a perfectly understandable behaviour. But often problems arise because the solution to the needs asked by the users (the organisation) are wronly translated by the prurshasing department all the bad things can happen. Often the users think they know what product / service they want (as a solution) but are not well informed enough. Since the procurement dept have a project view of the RFP they dont care enough to verify the users demands. They just fulfill (like santa claus) a wish. But in order for us salesmen to win we must talk to the right people (the organisation) and make sure we also follow the rules of the purchasers.

But according to a research we did last year are many sales organisations not really to concerned about above. They turns in proposals that misses both the needs of the buyers and the needs of the purchasing officers.

best
jens

[Bob Firestone]

Purchasing managers play an important role in the business. But sometimes we got some issues on that part. Thank you for posting this. I agree with Keith.

Bob Firestone

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