When procurement and sales collide

A recent survey has found that procurement and sales executives both recognise the value of being strategic, yet both continue to focus on tactics that prevent them from engaging with each other for mutual benefit.

The survey, conducted by Greybeard Advisors, explored the knowledge, experience and perceptions of executives from both functions through an online survey of 161 procurement professionals and 106 sales professionals.

The survey results revealed that both sides view the other as knowledgeable of market and company requirements.

This seeming mutual respect, however, was not reflected elsewhere in the survey. For example, nine in ten (92 percent) of the Sales executives were sceptical of procurement's willingness to share company requirements, business plans, processes, and product usage, including information regarding current forecasts/trends.

Conversely, the study also found that sales views procurement as being receptive to recommendations that have a positive impact on working capital and/or cash flow, but procurement doesn't view sales as capable of delivering these types of proposals.

The disconnect between procurement and sales extends to perceptions about the appropriate first point of contact when selling into a company. Procurement professionals are mostly neutral (46 percent) in their view of whether sales professionals make procurement the first point of contact for a sales call, with 29 percent believing that sales frequently or always first calls on procurement, 53 percent saying that sometimes happens, and 24 percent believing that it seldom or never happens.

In sharp contrast, 62 percent of sales professionals do not accept procurement as the "first point of contact." Another 21 percent are neutral (answering "sometimes") and only 17 percent agree that procurement should be the point of entry into an organisation. These numbers suggest that while procurement believes that sales respects Ppocurement as the "first point," the sales numbers prove otherwise, pointing toward a belief that there are better places to start the selling process with a potential customer.

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