Long time readers of my blog know that I love to study sales strategies and determine how procurement professionals should deal with them. So, when I received the below-linked sales training video clip in my very overloaded inbox today, I couldn’t save it for later. I had to watch it right away!

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One part of the video – around the 2:00 mark – teaches how a salesperson should react when a buyer says “This looks good…I’d like to think this over. Why don’t you call me in a couple of weeks?” The trainer instructs salespeople to try to convince the buyer to make a decision right there or at least to uncover any potential obstacles by asking “What is there to think about?” After all, as the instructor points out, “The longer we go through that think-it-over process, the less likely they are to buy.”

So how should we, as procurement professionals, answer this question?

Well, there are a few angles to consider. A couple of those will be addressed in an upcoming PurchTips article of mine. But here is one additional tidbit that’s worth thinking about…

If you “think it over” before starting a true negotiation, when you do finally show more of an interest in formalizing a commitment, the supplier will feel more certain of getting your business and will be less willing to make concessions to earn your business. It can be to your biggest advantage to create the perception that it’s the supplier’s job to make you decide by giving you the right concession sooner rather than later.

Now for that video…

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Why Your Suppliers Don’t Want You To Think It Over
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Categories: Procurement

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Published On: May 24th, 2011Comments Off on Why Your Suppliers Don’t Want You To Think It Over

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