Tendering, proposing, and pitching to procurement specialists is now intrinsic to the mix in the professional services sphere.
Procurement specialists often operate with agendas which are very different from end-clients and in-house technical specialist teams.
Procurement specialists are there to ensure that their corporations contract:
- with the right suppliers
- on the right terms
- at the right price
- at acceptable risk levels.
Specialist procurement departments and consultants are just as concerned about doing a good job for their clients as you are as a professional practicing in your domain.
If you are going to adroitly navigate a competitive selection process facilitated or driven by procurement, here are some things to keep in mind.
Procurement is likely to seek from you information already widely known by those "in the know". You may think it blindingly obvious, but it's in your interests to help procurement see.
You may be required to provide financial and intimate business details which are both unfamiliar and downright uncomfortable to you. Little point in being offended, outraged, or obstructive, if you wish to succeed.
Procurement will put a barrier in your way to accessing key individuals and more information about a prospective client. In the quest for transparency and a level playing field, you will probably need to work through procurement with any questions and can expect that access to end-clients will be substantially "locked down". This heightens the advantages of incumbents.
Any deviations from the rules, standards, and formats required of your tender or proposal may be harshly dealt with by procurement. You can still get a strong sales story and creativity into your proposal without transgressing procurement's "rules of the game".
Pricing matters to procurement specialists but don't assume that price will decide the competition. Make certain your pricing is robust and well-conceived, and that you can substantiate structure and justify quantum in the context of wider market dynamics.
The good folk in procurement don't understand - and won't accept - that your work, credentials, process, and pricing can't readily be distilled to a series of common denominators. Last week, last month, and so on, the procurement department sourced all manner of other widgets and services for their corporation or government agency, and they won't be persuaded that your professional services are so different and special that proven procurement principles don't apply.
If it's a reality in the competitive landscape of your professional services domain, don't waste your time fighting strategic procurement. Instead, take time to understand and work with it to find the way through to win.
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