Ever struggle to share sell procurement’s value?

Me too, especially early in my career.

Back then, I fumbled through my words. I knew I had impactful data and valuable information but couldn’t explain it well. Even worse, I focused too much on the wrong things.

It got in my head, made me overthink and created unnecessary anxiety. I started to feel I wasn’t as good as I thought and questioned my abilities. That made things worse. I didn’t have a great approach or methodology.

Then, one day, I was within ear shot of an executive meeting in a conference room less than 10 feet from my desk. Every C-suite member was there. The door was wide open and they weren’t worried about anyone hearing them. We had a transparent and open culture. So, I listened in.

Here’s what stood out. Much of their conversation was about growing the business and revenue generation. They shared how their departments impacted growth. The majority of the dialogue was about making money.

That tracks. Most companies are in business to make a profit. No secret there.

Procurement functions are often perceived through the lens of cost savings. A back-office department deeply embedded within finance. Considered an extension of the numbers and mostly administrative. Pushing purchase orders, collecting contracts, organizing them, chasing approvals and signatures, and beating up vendors and suppliers with combative negotiation techniques. Sad, and way too often, true.

I always considered the function more valuable and insightful. Every day is spent working with the organization to procure the necessary goods and services it needed to be in business. I helped my colleagues get what was helpful for them to do their jobs.

So, I wasn’t surprised that I was aware of most the discussion in that executive meeting.

Take the topic on marketing for example. Sure, I didn’t know the exact campaign the CMO mentioned, but I was aware of the new tool they were using because I worked with her VP to procure it earlier that month. I also knew it was automating much of the manual work and set to double the number of campaigns marketing was doing because of its functionality, something the old tech lacked. And those campaigns were going to generate more leads for sales, which was expected to increase prospects and revenue. Full circle moment.

And you know what? She didn’t mention that we negotiated 5 free additional seats for her team or that we saved 40% off the list price by benchmarking it and partnering with the new vendor for a long-term relationship.

You know, “procurement stuff.”

From that day forward, I had a new approach to sharing (and selling) the value of procurement. I tied our function’s work to revenue generation. Cost savings and reduced process cycle times still mattered, but the conversations always started with profit.

I adopted the language of the C-suite and spoke in terms they cared about and paid attention to—making money.

Now you can, too.

See you next week.

Mat

ps. If the “Always be closing” reference missed you, check it out.

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