PROCUREMENT STRATEGY
LVG : “ So , we ' ve gotten to my favourite question . Maybe because I ' ve found myself in this position before , and it ' s a tough one to be in , but due to the pandemic , many are finding themselves in the unfortunate position of being late on payments while at the same time having to ask for it all , the best possible price and all the value adds everybody is asking for . Do you feel it ' s possible to negotiate our way into having it all ?"
MJ : “ That ' s a really good question . A lot of people in procurement believe that concessions are something that are not required . One of the biggest things that I teach first is that one of the initial things you have to understand about yourself and about the negotiation that you ' re going into is what am I willing to give away ? Because you are not going to get everything that you want , which means that you have to know what it is you ' re willing to give away . “ The response that I get from a lot of procurement people is , ' well , I ' m actually not planning on giving anything away .' The downside to that line of thinking is that when you think that way , you end up giving away a lot more than you actually should . A lot of procurement people believe that they ' re getting it all , but they may have conceded on things that they shouldn ' t have conceded on . I would be very cautious with having those people lead any types of negotiations whatsoever , or just bring me in to train them because they don ' t know what they ' re talking about .”
LVG : “ Procurement is reskilling , but as much as the function of procurement is changing , negotiating , and SRM will always be critical . Advice on hiring during these times ?” I ask .
MJ : “ If I ' m looking for the right type of person when it comes to negotiating , I ' m looking for someone who ' s curious , and I ' m looking for someone who asks really good questions and also has good listening skills . Those are the three main traits that I would look for within someone that would help me to understand whether they have the natural inclination to be good negotiators .”
LVG : “ So we ' re almost the end , a couple of quick ones for you . Biggest negotiation mistake ?”
MJ : “ I ' ve personally made so many that we would sit here for another half an hour to go through all of them , but the biggest negotiation mistake that I see consistently over and over and over again , with all the teams that we train is the lack of preparation . Most people think that they can wing it . This might sound shocking to a lot of people , but for people who have been in the game for like 15 plus years , they ' re still winging it purely because they ' ve done it that way for a long time . The problem with that is you lose track of the fundamentals that are required to produce good results .,
“ I ' m a big fan of John Wooden ' s approach to basketball where he focused on the fundamentals with top-tier athletes . He retaught them how to dribble and even how to tie their shoes . And that ' s not an exaggeration . He was reteaching people how to tie their shoes so that they wouldn ' t get blisters and could play for longer . That ' s the kind of stuff that a lot of people forget about in negotiation , and so they ' re missing out on massive opportunities as a result ."
LVG : “ I love that . Ok . And lastly , guilty pleasure ?” I ask . MJ : “ Scotch and fried chicken ,” he answers … I knew I liked this man .
42 September 2021