… we’re going to make it even clearer in today’s post.
Let’s start by reminding you that your organization depends on goods and services provided it to by suppliers — suppliers who have also invested heavily in sales and marketing, and sales especially, in an effort to make sure they gouge as much cash out of you as they can. They’re always on the hunt to find those organizations with the least educated, experienced, and supported buyers that they can take the most advantage of while you are focused on marketing, sales, and revenue increase. And the more successful you are at fattening the revenue stream, the more successful they feel they can be. After all, they know the Rules of Acquisition as well as you do, and they are going to apply them to your fullest.
Those MBAs selling to your organization live by the first rule of acquisition which says once you have their money, you never give it back, so you better do all that you can to make sure you hand over no more than you need to, because even if you have what looks like an iron-clad contract that says you handed over too much, good luck recovering any funds without spending additional funds to get the lawyers involved. That will quickly wipe out any recovery you might realize. This means that you need to support Procurement in strategic sourcing to identify deals with value, support Procurement in their efforts to negotiate solid contracts, and support Procurement in their efforts to implement best-in-class e-Procurement software with m-way invoice match that insures that an invoice is not allowed to be placed in the payment queue unless the goods have been received and the invoices amount matches the contract or purchase order amount without an executive override that leaves a full, unalterable, irrevocable audit trail.
A properly supported Procurement department is in the best position to ensure that the third rule of acquisition is enforced. Their job is to make sure you never spend more for an acquisition than you have to . Similarly, as they are often charged with risk management, they are naturally in tune with the eight rule of acquisition, small print leads to large risk and are not likely to accept seller paper unless it has been thoroughly vetted by legal, even if it means that Engineering or Manufacturing or Marketing have to wait a little longer for their goods or services.
Plus, a great Procurement organization knows the eleventh rule of acquisition by heart, even if it’s free, you can always buy it cheaper. They know that every initial quote has a considerable margin built in, any value add that is “free” is included in that margin, and that if it really is “free”, it’s probably not worth anything, and the reason it’s free might just be because it would cost the seller more to pay someone to take it away or haul it to the recycling depot than give it to a customer as a “thank you” for the deal, on the condition the customer pays to have it shipped.
You know deep down the tenth rule of acquisition is the truest of all the rules. Greed is eternal and your suppliers are as greedy as you are, so while you’re out there doing what you do and living by the second rule of acquisition, the best deal is the one that makes the most profit, you need someone minding the fort making sure that deal is not undermined by a an even more cunning supplier. Remember the sixty-sixth rule of acquisition, someone’s always got a better sense for business, and only Procurement stands in the way of them getting the better of you.