Improving Purchasing Performance

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ROWE ASSOCIATES INC.

Chester, NH

Telephone: 603 887-2200--- Fax: 603 887-7200

Improving Purchasing Performance^sm "Developing New Skills For A Changing Profession"
Technical knowledge on its own is useless, unless the buyer has the skills to put the knowledge into action. Today, buyers must have the organizational skills to play a larger role in the strategic dimensions of their business. They must sell their ideas, interact with and serve their internal clients professionally, negotiate long-term, complex agreements with sole or single sources, and report their results in terms that top management understands. Buyers must advance the interests of their firm by their every action. Moreover, they must do it more quickly and effectively than ever before while minimizing costs. This program has been developed to address the single biggest impediment to progress for the professional buyer -- the high degree of purchasing done by nontraditional purchasing personnel. According to a study done by C.A.P.S.¹, a purchasing research organization, 59% of purchases are made by nontraditional purchasing staff. This program is designed to help buyers to identify, understand and manage the involvement of nontraditional purchasing personnel in the purchasing process. The business environment is becoming increasingly more unfriendly for buyers. On one hand, the trend to time-based management means that there is less, rather than more, time to perform the full array of purchasing functions required by the organization. Yet, there is also a trend toward fewer supplier relationships. By necessity, those that are left require more skill in balancing the needs of their own firm and those of the supplier. With more time-based demands, and more time-consuming activity, is it any wonder that buyers often feel like they are caught in a vise? ¹Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies 2055 E Centennial Circle Tempe,AZ, 85282 This Program: provides material to help you become a key consultant to your clients covers buyers relationships with internal clients as well as suppliers reflects the changing role of buyers answers the needs and demands of those changing roles is for those who want to become more proactive and less reactive advocates managing the process of relationship building and maintenance is aimed at making better, more productive, buyers who can regain control of their professional lives WORKSHOP OUTLINE 1. POWERFUL CLIENT SERVICE Buyers should worry as much about their clients as they do about suppliers. Unfortunately, the emphasis has been misplaced for too long. This section is designed to define client service from the perspective of the buyer. It will show, through exercises and examples, how buyers can achieve their own goals while satisfying the demands of their internal clients. 2. COMMUNICATION SKILLS A recent survey of top purchasing executives sought to elicit their views on the most important skills for buyers in the year 2000. The most frequently given answer was: communication skills. These are the fundamentals that are so often left behind when the day begins. Power and control over situations begin with the way in which people communicate. If buyers are to manage their work, instead of the other way around, communication skills are at the heart of the solution. 3. NEGOTIATION SKILLS Negotiation is everything. We do it every day, in thousands of different situations. Although buyers do a lot of negotiating, they rarely take the time to approach a negotiation systematically. And they are often less successful than they might be. This session is composed of several segments that tie the rest of the other sections together. 4. TIME MANAGEMENT Again, the fundamentals are critical. This brief session is designed to illuminate the possibilities when we begin to take charge of the way we spend our time. Realizing that buyers do have and should exercise control over their time is the first step in becoming more productive and effective. 5. CONSULTING SKILLS Historically, as a profession, purchasing has asked its clients to bring their needs to them. In most cases, when they do, most of the work where we could add value has been done. In this new environment we must work with our clients at the inception of the need. To get them to access our skills we must rethink our mission as one of their key internal consultants. This section addresses the three key roles we can play as a consultant and equally important, how to gain their confidence and eliminate the high level of back door sales that is prevalent in most organizations. 6. UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT IN THE ORGANIZATION No matter what we do, when more than one person is in the room the potential for conflict exists. We use a model that focuses on conflict at "organizational interfaces," to help buyers understand the origins of conflict, methods to manage it, minimize it, and avoid it. Again, this session is designed to raise the awareness of the participants about the dynamics of the environment in which they operate. 7. STRESS MANAGEMENT Dealing with clients and suppliers is one of the highest generators of stress. In this session, we provide a little perspective about the causes of stress in the workplace and some possible solutions for relieving, if not avoiding stress. Stress is a fact of life. Too little is possibly as bad as too much. Getting the right orientation is the key. Changes in Mindset -- A Closing Note Our aim in developing this program was to initiate the process of changing the perspective of the traditional buyer. We are striving for a revamped buyer orientation that is nothing less than this: From reactive to proactive From tolerance of status quo to higher standards From tradition and safety to experimentation and risk From service provider to client consultant From turf protection to teamwork across organizational lines From pessimism to optimism

Improving Purchasing Performance^sm "Developing New Skills For A Changing Profession"

Technical knowledge on its own is useless, unless the buyer has the skills to put the knowledge into action. Today, buyers must have the organizational skills to play a larger role in the strategic dimensions of their business. They must sell their ideas, interact with and serve their internal clients professionally, negotiate long-term, complex agreements with sole or single sources, and report their results in terms that top management understands. Buyers must advance the interests of their firm by their every action. Moreover, they must do it more quickly and effectively than ever before while minimizing costs.

This program has been developed to address the single biggest impediment to progress for the professional buyer -- the high degree of purchasing done by nontraditional purchasing personnel. According to a study done by C.A.P.S.¹, a purchasing research organization, 59% of purchases are made by nontraditional purchasing staff. This program is designed to help buyers to identify, understand and manage the involvement of nontraditional purchasing personnel in the purchasing process.

The business environment is becoming increasingly more unfriendly for buyers. On one hand, the trend to time-based management means that there is less, rather than more, time to perform the full array of purchasing functions required by the organization. Yet, there is also a trend toward fewer supplier relationships. By necessity, those that are left require more skill in balancing the needs of their own firm and those of the supplier. With more time-based demands, and more time-consuming activity, is it any wonder that buyers often feel like they are caught in a vise?

¹Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies
2055 E Centennial Circle
Tempe,AZ, 85282

This Program:

provides material to help you become a key consultant to your clients

covers buyers relationships with internal clients as well as suppliers

reflects the changing role of buyers

answers the needs and demands of those changing roles

is for those who want to become more proactive and less reactive

advocates managing the process of relationship building and maintenance

is aimed at making better, more productive, buyers who can regain control of their professional lives

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

1. POWERFUL CLIENT SERVICE

Buyers should worry as much about their clients as they do about suppliers. Unfortunately, the emphasis has been misplaced for too long. This section is designed to define client service from the perspective of the buyer. It will show, through exercises and examples, how buyers can achieve their own goals while satisfying the demands of their internal clients.

2. COMMUNICATION SKILLS

A recent survey of top purchasing executives sought to elicit their views on the most important skills for buyers in the year 2000. The most frequently given answer was: communication skills. These are the fundamentals that are so often left behind when the day begins. Power and control over situations begin with the way in which people communicate. If buyers are to manage their work, instead of the other way around, communication skills are at the heart of the solution.

3. NEGOTIATION SKILLS

Negotiation is everything. We do it every day, in thousands of different situations. Although buyers do a lot of negotiating, they rarely take the time to approach a negotiation systematically. And they are often less successful than they might be. This session is composed of several segments that tie the rest of the other sections together.

4. TIME MANAGEMENT

Again, the fundamentals are critical. This brief session is designed to illuminate the possibilities when we begin to take charge of the way we spend our time. Realizing that buyers do have and should exercise control over their time is the first step in becoming more productive and effective.

5. CONSULTING SKILLS

Historically, as a profession, purchasing has asked its clients to bring their needs to them. In most cases, when they do, most of the work where we could add value has been done. In this new environment we must work with our clients at the inception of the need. To get them to access our skills we must rethink our mission as one of their key internal consultants. This section addresses the three key roles we can play as a consultant and equally important, how to gain their confidence and eliminate the high level of back door sales that is prevalent in most organizations.

6. UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT IN THE ORGANIZATION

No matter what we do, when more than one person is in the room the potential for conflict exists. We use a model that focuses on conflict at "organizational interfaces," to help buyers understand the origins of conflict, methods to manage it, minimize it, and avoid it. Again, this session is designed to raise the awareness of the participants about the dynamics of the environment in which they operate.

7. STRESS MANAGEMENT

Dealing with clients and suppliers is one of the highest generators of stress. In this session, we provide a little perspective about the causes of stress in the workplace and some possible solutions for relieving, if not avoiding stress. Stress is a fact of life. Too little is possibly as bad as too much. Getting the right orientation is the key.

Changes in Mindset -- A Closing Note

Our aim in developing this program was to initiate the process of changing the perspective of the traditional buyer. We are striving for a revamped buyer orientation that is nothing less than this:

From reactive to proactive
From tolerance of status quo to higher standards
From tradition and safety to experimentation and risk
From service provider to client consultant
From turf protection to teamwork across organizational lines
From pessimism to optimism

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