Purchasing Managers, Training Managers, Personnel Departments - When TO and NOT to Begin With Them
Purchasing managers, you might assume if you're new to sales, are the folks who decide what and when to buy.
But that assumption is usually wrong.
In reality, the purchasing manager will be more of an obstacle than a help...
provided that is, that you are selling anything other than commodities.
More often than not, the purchasing department will have clear authority only to say No - at least with respect to any kind of novel product, service, or idea.
In most organizations, purchasing's actual role is to coordinate buying of known commodities.
If you're selling copy paper, or paint, or any other kind of standard item, then the purchasing manager, or someone in the purchasing office probably is the place to begin.
But if you're selling something innovative (either because it's a new idea or new product, or because it accomplishes the job in a new way), then you'll be best to find your way to the actual potential user and create the sense of need at that level.
Unconvinced? Project yourself back a couple of decades, and imagine that you were selling one of the first personal computers.
If you had started with the purchasing, the people there might have said, "Well, we do have a mandate to buy a dozen Selectric typewriters, and a dozen adding machines.
But this strange-looking box you're offering clearly isn't a Selectric, and it doesn't fit the specifications we've set up for the adding machine, so we're not interested.
Sorry.
" But suppose, instead, you had found your way to the head of the engineering department, or to someone in the legal department who had endless versions of the same form to grind out, and had shown just what your little computer could do, then they probably would have found a way to open the necessary doors for you.
That's why I suggest you use the Purchasing Manager and Purchasing Department only as a last resort.
The same goes for the Personnel Department, if you're marketing your services.
Instead, find your way to the person or department with the actual need for what you offer.
For anything innovative or novel, Purchasing and Personnel Managers probably lack Authority to buy.
Purchasing certainly lacks Need, unless your product happens to be relevant to the Purchasing area.
And that department has Dollars only within prescribed limits.
However, there are some occasions when it IS good sales strategy to contact the purchasing manager.
Contact the purchasing department if you cannot otherwise find the person who has AND (Authority, Need, Dollars) to make a positive decision in your field.
You can generally best do this by telephone, as you are less likely to be drawn into making a full presentation of what you are offering.
This phone contact should be as short as possible, generally not more than about 30 seconds.
Here's a model to adapt: "My name is Greta Ross, and I'm with 21st Century Containers.
We've developed radically new types of safety containers for shipping fragile or especially valuable items.
I know that you firm manufactures computer drives, which are exactly the kind of product suitable for our containers.
Who in your organization would you suggest I talk to?" If necessary, further clarify as you "negotiate" your way to the proper Decision Maker: "From our experience, the shipping department is generally not appropriate, as the packaging choice is usually made earlier in the process.
" Contact purchasing if you know that the wheels are already in motion to buy what you are offering, so the Purchasing Manager has the Authority and Dollars, and the Need has been communicated from another part of the organization.
Contact purchasing managers to get on the organization's approved list of bidders.
(But don't sit around waiting for them to solicit you: continue taking active steps to meet with the appropriate managers, regardless.
) Training Directors, Personnel Departments and the like: When TO and NOT TO begin there.
If you are selling "packaged" training products, such as DVDs, or seminars in this year's hot topic, then it will probably be productive to start with the organization's Director of Training, or Personnel Director, or Human Relations Coordinator (or similar titles, depending on the organization).
They may have Authority, Need, and Dollars for things like that, particularly if your product focuses on areas that have had a lot of publicity, such as employee safety practices.
But suppose instead you are selling not packaged products but rather your consulting services as an expert on this topic (for illustration, employee safety practices).
Or suppose you don't think much of the packaged (or "canned") safety training programs that are on the market, and propose to develop custom training specifically for this organization.
In that case, the Training Department might be a dead end.
The Training Director probably does not have the Need to improve safety - at least in any novel way.
Thus your most productive approach will usually be to bypass the Training and Personnel Departments and find your way to the manager who does have a real reason to be concerned with safety.
This may be the company president, who has an incentive to lower insurance costs, or it may be the plant manager.
But that assumption is usually wrong.
In reality, the purchasing manager will be more of an obstacle than a help...
provided that is, that you are selling anything other than commodities.
More often than not, the purchasing department will have clear authority only to say No - at least with respect to any kind of novel product, service, or idea.
In most organizations, purchasing's actual role is to coordinate buying of known commodities.
If you're selling copy paper, or paint, or any other kind of standard item, then the purchasing manager, or someone in the purchasing office probably is the place to begin.
But if you're selling something innovative (either because it's a new idea or new product, or because it accomplishes the job in a new way), then you'll be best to find your way to the actual potential user and create the sense of need at that level.
Unconvinced? Project yourself back a couple of decades, and imagine that you were selling one of the first personal computers.
If you had started with the purchasing, the people there might have said, "Well, we do have a mandate to buy a dozen Selectric typewriters, and a dozen adding machines.
But this strange-looking box you're offering clearly isn't a Selectric, and it doesn't fit the specifications we've set up for the adding machine, so we're not interested.
Sorry.
" But suppose, instead, you had found your way to the head of the engineering department, or to someone in the legal department who had endless versions of the same form to grind out, and had shown just what your little computer could do, then they probably would have found a way to open the necessary doors for you.
That's why I suggest you use the Purchasing Manager and Purchasing Department only as a last resort.
The same goes for the Personnel Department, if you're marketing your services.
Instead, find your way to the person or department with the actual need for what you offer.
For anything innovative or novel, Purchasing and Personnel Managers probably lack Authority to buy.
Purchasing certainly lacks Need, unless your product happens to be relevant to the Purchasing area.
And that department has Dollars only within prescribed limits.
However, there are some occasions when it IS good sales strategy to contact the purchasing manager.
Contact the purchasing department if you cannot otherwise find the person who has AND (Authority, Need, Dollars) to make a positive decision in your field.
You can generally best do this by telephone, as you are less likely to be drawn into making a full presentation of what you are offering.
This phone contact should be as short as possible, generally not more than about 30 seconds.
Here's a model to adapt: "My name is Greta Ross, and I'm with 21st Century Containers.
We've developed radically new types of safety containers for shipping fragile or especially valuable items.
I know that you firm manufactures computer drives, which are exactly the kind of product suitable for our containers.
Who in your organization would you suggest I talk to?" If necessary, further clarify as you "negotiate" your way to the proper Decision Maker: "From our experience, the shipping department is generally not appropriate, as the packaging choice is usually made earlier in the process.
" Contact purchasing if you know that the wheels are already in motion to buy what you are offering, so the Purchasing Manager has the Authority and Dollars, and the Need has been communicated from another part of the organization.
Contact purchasing managers to get on the organization's approved list of bidders.
(But don't sit around waiting for them to solicit you: continue taking active steps to meet with the appropriate managers, regardless.
) Training Directors, Personnel Departments and the like: When TO and NOT TO begin there.
If you are selling "packaged" training products, such as DVDs, or seminars in this year's hot topic, then it will probably be productive to start with the organization's Director of Training, or Personnel Director, or Human Relations Coordinator (or similar titles, depending on the organization).
They may have Authority, Need, and Dollars for things like that, particularly if your product focuses on areas that have had a lot of publicity, such as employee safety practices.
But suppose instead you are selling not packaged products but rather your consulting services as an expert on this topic (for illustration, employee safety practices).
Or suppose you don't think much of the packaged (or "canned") safety training programs that are on the market, and propose to develop custom training specifically for this organization.
In that case, the Training Department might be a dead end.
The Training Director probably does not have the Need to improve safety - at least in any novel way.
Thus your most productive approach will usually be to bypass the Training and Personnel Departments and find your way to the manager who does have a real reason to be concerned with safety.
This may be the company president, who has an incentive to lower insurance costs, or it may be the plant manager.