Procurement has expectations of how we should sell to them. They set the rules and think that we should follow them. What they want is a level playing field. What we want is anything but a level playing field. We want to tip the odds in our favor and position our superior value so we don't have to win by having the lowest price. These expectations are very different, so how do we bridge the gap? There are a number of ways, such as avoiding procurement and selling to the business functions directly.

Another option, to be used in certain situations, is to sell directly and effectively to Procurement. We can utilize the IMPAX Process and "sell them well". This means doing our research on the business and also on the Procurement organization. Understand their objectives, strategies and issues, the organizational structure, and the identity of the key players. Then we need to determine the business fit between our company, the Procurement Department, and the business function. We want to show procurement how we can help them exceed their customer's expectations.

In order to do this, we need to make sure we're telling our story to someone who can appreciate it, in most cases a senior level procurement executive who is a business executive first, and procurement executive second. Our success with this strategy depends on our ability to find this type of person and position ourselves effectively. If we don't want to be considered a vendor, then we need to exceed their expectations, earn their respect as a business resource, and get them thinking that we really do bring value above and beyond our product specs and our prices.