Last Updated on 15/03/2010
A good salesperson knows that unless the product being sold has to do with ‘purchasing’ or ‘supply chain’ or ‘procurement’ then he or she is not ultimately selling to the Purchasing Department. The purchasing agent or manager is shopping or buying for another group within the organization.
This can be empowering for the seller. For one, the purchasing department has rules and regulations it needs you to follow. Ask what those are, follow them and you have a level playing field of sorts (more on the “of sorts” in a moment). Secondly, if the purchasing department is speaking with you then the decision to buy has likely already been made. The purchasing agent is simply relaying the information and seeking to fulfill a request. Whether the action was prompted through your activities or in the background is a different matter. At this juncture, one can stop selling (not in the need creation sense) and concentrate on following the rules set forth. One of these might be the procurement of the lowest price possible; however, this requirement is usually offset by minimum quality standards imposed upon the product and the vendor. Countering a lower price request with information on the quality, reliability and service of your company is sensible at this juncture.
With all due respect to the Purchasing Department, which has an important role to play in ensuring various rules and regulations are followed and that the organization takes delivery of the correct service or product it requires, selling to this department is often not fruitful. The needs are determined by the various lines of business and relayed to the company’s buyers. Spending time to create needs and describing a product or service’s pay-off does not belong to this part of the organization. Neither does excessive price negotiations because, at the end of the day, this branch of the buying firm has to be, and is, concerned with taking timely delivery of the correct product without subsequent deficiencies or defects. The price negotiation, if any, is simply the methodical processing of a buyer’s duties.
