Procurement Is a Marriage, Not a One-Night Stand
If you've got a business that deals with Procurement, it's important to recognise that there are three phases to your relationship with the Procurement team:
Getting past the selection process and becoming the preferred supplier
Negotiating the contract
Post-contract-signature - building the relationship
Becoming the preferred supplier. Research shows that the procurement decision is often based on the buyer's fear of getting it wrong. See FOMU v FOMO. The shape of your contract is just one of the many factors at play, but it says a lot about you. If your contract is reasonable, balanced, easy to read, and not full of one-sided legalese, then it makes the buyer more relaxed about doing business with you and increases your chances of becoming the preferred supplier.
Negotiating the contract. Negotiating the contract is primarily about understanding the buyer's concerns, boxing clever, and working to put the discussion onto a human-to-human footing (and here humour and charm are the key levers). For more on this see the "On Being Battered by a Large Bank" series.
Building the relationship. Of the three phases, the post contract signature phase is the most neglected - but there are huge benefits from building a relationship with Procurement. Not only does it increase your chances of upselling, cross-selling and getting early notice of upcoming opportunities, but by establishing your relationship with Procurement on a human-to-human basis, you will get treated better further down the line. The easiest way to get these benefits is by setting up regular monthly or quarterly meetings where the primary (nominal) objective is to review KPIs, but which will naturally give you the opportunity to build the relationship.
12th May 2026