In our last two Tips (August, 2011 and September, 2011) we talked about the value associated with bringing two different groups together during the sales cycle - your buying department and the procurement organization. Here is another opportunity to bring them together - the relationship review presentation.

In a business relationship review presentation, you are periodically presenting to the customer a formal review of the relationship, which can include the following topics:


An update on your understanding of the customer's business direction (from your ongoing research efforts)
An update on your company
A review of the relationship between the two companies - the activities you've been conducting, the successes you've experienced, the challenges you've encountered (and how you resolved them) and the value created by your joint efforts.
The business fit
Your recommendations and suggested action steps.


These presentations are typically delivered to the departmental executives you work with, and can be very powerful. The best of these presentations go the deepest on the value assessment topic. The more you can quantify the value and the business fit, the more compelling your presentation becomes.

By inviting the appropriate people from procurement to these presentations, they can better understand:


the value you bring to their organization
the strength of your relationship with their counterparts (who, of course, are their customers)
your commitment to their success
the proactive approach you have to managing the relationship.


These presentations can really help you move from vendor to strategic resource. Will they totally negate the efforts of the procurement department to drive your prices down? Probably not, but if they help take the heat off a little then they are worth it!