It’s been a while since we checked in with our friends in the Vendor Abuse department, also known as Procurement, and it seems their lot is improving at last. According to Harvard Business Review, we’re finally spending again and external suppliers are seeing four percent more of revenue than in 2011.
We have also, apparently, run out of road on solution selling. If you have also spent the past decade of your life trying to convince your Sales Squirrels that solution selling is a) a real thing; b) something they should do; c) possible with the large number of tools you’ve created, then this is rather good news. It’s that nice feeling you get when you stop banging your head against the brick wall.
With the end of solution selling, Corporate Executive Board suggests that the P-Cube is back in the game and “actively trying to disintermediate the customer-supplier relationship” at the same time that it is rapidly professionalizing. Now I don’t know anyone who does procurement as a hobby, so I am assuming this means they are about to become less focused on the nasty details in the purchase agreement and more interested in what is being purchased and why.
Matthew Eatough’s excellent blog post on the subject reveals that poor old P-Cubers are on the brink of becoming (gasp) strategic after decades of neglect by the C-Suite. Why, with a little empowerment, a defined role, a few metrics, some training and a whole lot of leadership, they will soon be shining beacons of innovation and thought leadership.
We all remember what happened when HR became strategic, don’t we? Lots of webinars about diversity and not so much support when you wanted to do something as mundane as hiring an employee. On the optimistic assumption that the P-Cube will actually remain helpful as well as strategic, I think marketers may have a fantastic opportunity.
First off, as your Sales Squirrels begin to figure out that long, boring conversations about “analyzing customer needs” are about to be replaced with long, boring conversations with the P-Cube about analyzing contracts, they may be inclined to get out of the way and let us marketers push in with some content.
We know that P-Cubers are all about the details and have a strong interest in matching up the thing you’re selling with the thing they’re needing. Now that they are Strategic, our friends also need context and a strong value proposition, and that’s up to marketers to deliver if Sales Squirrels are being nudged out of the conversation.
So what does this look like? I’d say the first order of business is making sure we know who these folks are. I’ll bet your prospect and customer database is full of functional executives, but how many P-Cubers are in there? You’ll want to get them on your list.
Next, we need to take a good look at the content we’ve been stuffing into the sales funnel all these years in support of the solution sale. We don’t get to make vague promises about a shiny future anymore. These people need to understand why our thing is a thing they need above all other things and why buying our thing is a seriously good form of job security.
We also, I think, have a nice opportunity on the leadership front. Mr. Eatough suggests that in addition to some hard skills like project management and measuring things, what the P-Cube is most lacking is decent leadership. Smart companies will start with the leader problem and that’s where we come in.
New leaders have a short window in which they will believe pretty much anything, even marketing twaddle. This means we have both the opportunity to provide some context about our role in their organization and the chance to educate them about the areas of their business we serve with our stuff. If we can demonstrate some tenure as a necessary bit of their business, and help them understand some element of what actually goes on, then we have a genuine shot at grabbing some more wallet share and a reduced risk of being kicked to the curb.
Competitively, we also have a good shot at unseating an incumbent vendor who isn’t on the ball. This is where your Squirrels will need to pay attention for a few minutes. New leaders like to have a few quick wins under their belts, and nothing is quicker or easier than finding a complacent vendor who hasn’t offered a new idea in years.
If your Squirrels can convince a new Prince or Princess of Procurement that the simple act of cleaning out an old vendor will score immediate perceived benefits you may have a great opportunity. If you follow that up with Subject Matter Experts who can help them sound credible and work with them on their 90-day plan, then you are probably going to be wearing your Trusted Advisor Hat before the existing supplier knows they’ve lost the business.
Related Posts:
Coming Soon to a P-Cube Near You
Of Elves, Innocents & Line Dances
The Outsourcerer’s Apprentice
BizMarketer is Elizabeth Williams
You can reach me at escwilliams@gmail.com
or follow me on Twitter @bizmkter
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