Sales - Everything Counts

Sales

“If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles” Sun Tzu

How does the quote above help you to win more tenders? Well, whilst Sun Tzu's words may sound a bit over-the-top for the business world, the principle behind them is very relevant. At Everything Counts, we are the veterans of hundreds, if not thousands of purchasing projects and negotiations across SME’s and Multinationals. Trust us when we say, the number one reason why suppliers and salespeople lose out is because they did not 'know their ‘enemy’.

Salespeople looking to sell to procurement and win more lucrative tenders should first find out what purchasing processes and negotiation tactics trained buyers use.

Understanding trained buyers

We appreciate good salespeople do their research on the potential client’s business, its driving factors, etc, but it is imperative you know the person who will be awarding the business. Salespeople are generally good at understanding the frustrations of the people holding the purse strings, but when the client’s Procurement/Purchasing team get involved, things can quickly go off the rails.

We do not believe that salespeople and procurement people should eternally be at war, after all, the best deals are the ones where both sides win. Take it from us, procurement people are much happier working with salespeople who ‘understand’ them too.

Want to know the best way to truly get inside a procurement persons mind? Learn their ways, and then use it to help build trust & secure that all-important buy-in... and you will soon find yourself winning more tenders as a result.

Our Purchasing 101 training course teaches all of the key principles in good purchasing practice and supplier management, meaning it is a perfect way for salespeople to get into the mindset of existing and prospective clients to understand what their drivers are and how you can work best with them.

Our course is ideal if you want:

- an edge over your competition in tenders

- to better understand the strategic purchasing process

- to know what is going through a buyer’s mind when negotiating with you

- an insight into what buyers are told about your sales approach and the tricks they should watch out for.

As a bonus, we even provide a whole suite of tools and templates buyers use, which can help you to understand everything from how they go about planning negotiations to how they like pricing and service levels to be set out etc.

Alternatively, if you have any specific troubles you need assistance with, then our bite-sized micro-consultancy sessions allow you to deep-dive into the mind of a procurement professional.

Our consultants can help diagnose the root cause of your troubles, and provide bespoke actionable advice and guidance to help you fix whatever is keeping you up at night.

If you know what a trained buyer wants and how they want it, then you will be one step ahead of your competitors and give your business the best chance of winning new contracts and retaining existing ones.