339: How to Use Sales Techniques to Ace the Stakeholder Introduction Meeting

Art of Procurement

Although procurement professionals don’t usually think of ourselves as making ‘cold calls,’ we do it all the time. If you’ve ever sat down with a stakeholder for the first time and immediately realized they either don’t understand procurement’s role or don’t particularly care for our processes, you’ve survived a cold call.

In that moment, you can either explain or listen, and although listening is the better way to build understanding and rapport, most procurement professionals aren’t prepared to structure this kind of conversation.

In this week’s podcast, Host Philip Ideson discusses how to master this type of first meeting using an approach that sales professionals use - and have no doubt used on you - called the discovery call. He explains:

• Why discovery calls are important and how they set the tone for the long term success of the relationship
• The three components of a typical discovery call: the planning, the call itself, and then the follow up
• How to prepare in advance to ensure your discovery calls are productive for procurement and for your stakeholder(s)