1:45 PM
Many organisations do not have a corporate policy which requires all departments to use the services of procurement professionals for their purchasing needs. Each department is entitled to purchase on its own behalf. This forces procurement professionals to market their services.
Even in organisations where there is a policy for procurement professionals to manage all procurement, there is still a need to gain the support of internal customers. Supportive internal customers make the procurement process more effective in any organisation.
The starting point for all marketing is to understand the market. This means analysing and categorising the internal customers. Very few procurement professionals study their internal customers in the way that a commercial organisation studies its external customers.
However the tools used for marketing to external customers can be adapted to the needs of procurement professionals vis a vis their internal customers. Understanding why internal customers might not wish to co-operate with their procurement colleagues and how they perceive procurement and the procurement professionals are key steps.
Procurement professionals need to identify what value procurement brings to the process, there are six such values. In addition, the procurement professional needs to identify how much support it will receive from senior management and there is a technique for doing this. Finally, as with all marketing messages, the procurement professional needs to consider the marketing message, both its content and how it should be delivered.