RedLightning

Mid-Market AE

About to deal with Procurement- looking for advice

Hi all,

It's the last day of November and an inbound lead who I haven't been able to get in touch with booked a call with me with a 90 min heads up.

The person who booked it is in procurement, specifically for software. My gut says they're going to tell me what I want to hear to leverage a price against a competitor who they want to go with/ get an EOM deal from.

Any tips on being able to spot those kinds of signs? Context - it's a disco call.

👑 Sales Strategy

☑️ Qualification Calls

14 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

"What are we doing on the call today?"

Simple, effective. Are they looking to get pricing and start the procurement process (weeks long, no doubt), or are they looking to leverage you as a bargaining chip against your competitor that they are trying to shake?

Qualify them out faster than you usually would.

1nbatopshotfan

Politicker

Sales

Ask for an agenda for the call. Easy.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This is the right answer.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Great advice!

My gut tells me no serious buyer sends procurement to do discovery calls/demos. That's what analysts and interns are for. I'd be wary unless you sell procurement related software.

If they're just looking for a quote ASAP and can't tell you about project requirements, who is owning the tool, who is implementing it, etc. then you may be getting played.

Tell them it's not in anyone's best interest to provide a quote if they're not properly evaluating your solution.

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

Setting expectations at the beginning of the call (both your expectations and theirs)

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

What outcome would you be happy with?

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

@CuriousFox Ideally, an interaction with someone who's going to evaluate us in earnest.

If that's not the case, I want to be able to suss it out and not waste my time helping them negiotate against a competitor of mine

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

@RedLightning do you sell procurement tech?

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

No, they're not ever brought into our deals.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

I'd be tight lipped. Let them do all the talking. Promise nothing. Procurement are the dementors of sales.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

say exactly what you have written here. "I've been burned in the past by situations like this and the timing of this can be construed as a way for you to leverage us vs x competitor. Is that what you are looking to do here?"

TheOverTaker

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

honesty is the best policy. ask them what they are looking to accomplish and let em know what you can do

ColdCall

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Often procurement have targets for reductions in costs- understanding if this is the case can be helpful.

Don't be afraid to say no.

If they want lower costs or changing of terms try and understand why this is the case. Are they targeted on this, or have they had bad experiences in the past.

Have they made a business case yet? If not i'd hold of quoting as you're not sure its the right fit for them/will work!

Good luck!

buckets1

Politicker

I had a similar situation last week. Painfully obvious what they were doing...I just told them our list price which is the same as our main competitors. Haven’t hear from them since lmao.

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RedLightning

About to deal with Procurement- looking for advice

14 comments

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