{"id":3227,"date":"2012-12-27T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-27T21:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2012\/12\/27\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-over-reluctant-internal-customers-part-i\/"},"modified":"2021-03-29T02:32:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T06:32:19","slug":"how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Procurement Professionals Can Win Over Reluctant Internal Customers, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"procurement<\/a><\/div>\n

It\u2019s a common scenario: a procurement department seeks to take or expand its control over an area of spend but is thwarted by internal customers\u2019 refusal to cooperate.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss updates on Procurement & Supply Chain, Subscribe here!<\/a><\/p>\n

Your management knows that the procurement department should manage that spend. You know that you should manage that spend. Consultants tell you that you should manage that spend.<\/p>\n

But all of that collective wisdom is defeated by the internal customer. They have no desire to work with you and, without that desire, you don\u2019t stand a snowball\u2019s chance in you-know-where of influencing that spend.<\/p>\n

You: \u201cBut trade journal articles say that this area of spend should be managed by the procurement department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Them: \u201cSo what?\u201d<\/p>\n

You: \u201cOur competition\u2019s procurement department manages this spend for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Them: \u201cI don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

You: \u201cThe procurement department has been charged with saving the company ten million dollars this year and we won\u2019t reach our goal without managing this spend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Them: \u201cToo bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you do? How can you win over reluctant (read: stubborn) internal customers?<\/p>\n

Well, it takes at least two very important things to convince these people to let the procurement department get involved\u2026<\/p>\n

BENEFITS<\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

PROOF<\/p>\n

Let me address these one-by-one. First, benefits.<\/p>\n

Now, I know there\u2019s a chance you may be thinking \u2013 or perhaps even screaming aloud in your office \u2013 \u201cThis is easy! We will save the company two million dollars!\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s common procurement thinking.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the thinking that will get you absolutely nowhere with reluctant internal customers.<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

Yes, really.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Well, saving money may be a benefit to the company. And it may be a benefit to you as it is among your goals.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t mean diddly-squat to your internal customers.<\/p>\n

They care about themselves. Their goals. Their problems. Their work. Their days.<\/p>\n

And there is a chance that a little bit of money saved for the company will not impact them or their goals one bit. It won\u2019t solve their biggest operational problems. It won\u2019t make their work any more pleasant. And it won\u2019t make their days any easier.<\/p>\n

So, when you think about using \u201cbenefits\u201d to win over reluctant internal customers, you have to think about \u201cbenefits to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

How is the procurement department\u2019s involvement going to benefit them? Will it make them happier or more successful? Will it move them closer towards their goals? Will it solve their problems? Will it make their work more efficient? Will it make their days easier?<\/p>\n

Being able to answer these questions involves some assumptions. It assumes that you actually know them and their interests. That you know their goals actually are. That you know what their problems are, etc.<\/p>\n

Do you?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

If not, learn these things first. Only then, can you offer suggestions on how procurement involvement can benefit them. It may benefit them by giving them more time to focus on core competencies. It may benefit them by switching business to suppliers whose performance will cause fewer interruptions to their workday. It may benefit them in a number of ways but you can only know what the benefits to your internal customers are if you\u2019ve done your homework to understand your internal customers and their situations.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll talk about \u201cproof\u201d in Part II next month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a common scenario: a procurement department seeks to take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Procurement Professionals Can Win Over Reluctant Internal Customers, Part I - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Procurement Professionals Can Win Over Reluctant Internal Customers, Part I - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s a common scenario: a procurement department seeks to take […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-27T21:13:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-29T06:32:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/11\/nlpa-images-086.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Galo Matagay\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa\"},\"headline\":\"How Procurement Professionals Can Win Over Reluctant Internal Customers, Part I\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-27T21:13:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-29T06:32:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":577,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Procurement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-procurement-professionals-can-win-2\/\",\"name\":\"How Procurement Professionals Can Win Over Reluctant Internal Customers, Part I - 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