How do you manage your purchases? Have you defined a specific policy and strategies? Have you selected the right suppliers, and do you maintain relationships with them? Are you skilled at negotiating with your suppliers, and do you have reliable and secure contracts? In short: you have identified the potential added value associated with good purchasing management, but is this good management actually in place?
Purchasing policy and strategies
“There is no favorable wind for him who does not know where he wants to go”… This quote reminds us that no optimization can take place without general direction, objectives, and a good knowledge (known and shared vision) of the company and its general strategy.
From this policy and these strategic choices will naturally flow the definition of one or more strategies, depending on the nature of the purchases you wish to optimize. Mapping, analyzing, and structuring are the basic actions that will help to clearly define your strengths and weaknesses. A suitable policy and strategies will bring you the greatest savings.
Tender management
Defining the need, ideally in functional terms, and the volumes to be committed is particularly delicate and crucial for successful sourcing. But that’s not all; it’s then necessary to thoroughly analyze the market to pre-select the best potential suppliers and to be very rigorous in managing the tendering process to avoid any risk of contract failures, conflicts, or even unsuccessful tenders.
Knowing how to negotiate…
Negotiation skills seem essential for a buyer, although it’s sometimes forgotten that a good buyer/seller relationship isn’t just about “gut feeling,” but also requires analytical skills (to truly understand the other party and the various aspects necessary for a long-term partnership). Purchasing optimization plays a strategic role within the company, and a good buyer must know how to negotiate with external stakeholders as well as internal clients.
…and knowing how to draw up contracts
Even though the implementation of contracts should not be systematic and should be limited to cases where its added value is proven, it is nevertheless clear that contracts are a guarantee of sustainability and security in relationships, and the guarantee that a set of points beyond just a “price” has been seen and negotiated.
SRM: Supplier Relationship Management
Managing your suppliers within a reliable, sustainable, and efficient computerized system is a cornerstone for effective process control: managing the number of contacts (often varied and diverse in this role), managing incidents (payments, deliveries, delays, etc.), monitoring relationships during the operational or contractual phases, and more. The vast amounts of information generated by all these internal and external flows require a strong command of IT tools: dashboards, databases, and so on.