Procurement & Career Guidance
The Request for Proposal (RFP) is one of, if not THE most important tool in a procurement professional’s toolbox.
In this high inflation period which is driving up costs, the RFP is the best way to test market pricing and understand price points.
This video discusses why it is so critical to leverage and the issues customers and suppliers have with organizing a proper RFP.
Companies are trying to turn everything into a monthly software subscription.
You can’t be fooled by the hype, step back and understand what the product is, and what you are actually purchasing.
Just because a supplier calls their product SaaS or PaaS doesn’t mean it is. If a company is performing a service for you and spitting out a document or a product, that isn’t software.
A good relationship with a vendor sales representative can be transformational. You can save your company money and they can grow their business.
But there are times when people don’t click or someone is having a bad day and good thing can go wrong.
What can be done to salvage the relationship and when is it time to walk away?
Negotiation is a major element of the procurement function, but people treat it as a battle.
Someone doesn’t have to lose to have a successful negotiation. Instead of viewing it as a fight, treat it as a dance… and sometimes you are dancing with multiple people.
As you coordinate with your business customers, your legal team, the other company’s sales team and lawyers – this dance can get complicated, so learn how to better prepare in this video.
Recommended Reading:
One of the most frequently asked procurement questions is… “how does procurement get a seat at the table?”
For non-procurement people, this means:
This video covers 5 techniques to improve procurement and business engagement: