Maarten Erasmus is a partner at Kloepfel Benelux and specializes in direct sourcing for the industry
Imagine this: You have a fantastic product and you know that a company could be very happy with it. In your mind’s eye, you can already hear the feedback, “If only we’d had this sooner…”, and in a good mood you contact the potential customer. You are connected to the purchasing department via the reception desk. Halfway through your introduction, you are told to send an email to the info@ address, and for the next few weeks there is radio silence.
Why is this not uncommon? A purchasing department is always busy. If a company calls in between claiming to have a unique product, then as a purchaser you surmise that there are probably a few more of these. Discussions ensue with colleagues, who all start asking questions. Then come tenders, tests and contracts. But this often doesn’t happen because the buyer doesn’t have the time: “Now is not a good time, I don’t have time for that. Maybe later in the year, thank you very much.”
So, day in and day out, opportunities to learn about new, innovative vendors fall by the wayside. That’s a great shame. The likelihood of new business opportunities increases in proportion to the number of contacts with the market. The buyer who doesn’t take the time to learn about new developments is depriving his company of an important source of improvement.
As a salesperson, you can deliver a fantastic elevator pitch, but if you keep ending up in the wrong elevator, that presentation will have little impact. Of course, there are buyers who know very well what their company needs, but it helps if you can make your case to other elevators that include responsible parties such as R&D engineers, marketers, and product managers. The prospects of your product’s added value being recognized increase with the number of elevators in which you pitch.
Organizations that make this happen see their procurement as a process, not a department. Here, almost everyone contributes to discovering new opportunities in the marketplace. The procurement department is not a gatekeeper but encourages colleagues to maintain contact with suppliers. Both with existing suppliers and with new ones. These organizations are averse to the “not invented here” syndrome. For any new development, they first research whether there is already a solution on the market before they start working on it themselves.
So when you contact a company and are directed to the info@ address, you are dealing with a gatekeeper type. You must submit to the closed view of the buyer, which, by the way, often means lower prices.
However, if you are assigned to another department, you will be dealing with a company that has organized its purchasing well and is open to innovation. That’s the company you want to be with. And a nice perk: This is the company where the buyer will take the time to meet with you.
Contact
Kloepfel Benelux B.V.
Maarten Erasmus, Partner at Kloepfel Benelux
Tel: +31 6 19039288
Email: m.erasmus@kloepfel-group.com
www.kloepfel-benelux.com