Like many other companies, you might wonder why you are not enjoying the many benefits listed at the bottom of this post.
The following are the objections we hear all of the time after we have presented to a prospect that has not been exposed to e-procurement tools in the past.
1. I already get the best cost.
2. We’ve done business with this supplier for years.
3. I don’t have product specifications.
4. I don’t have time for this.
5. Switching costs will be too high.
6. I can’t insure the same quality.
7. We need to adhere to certain standards.
Now please review the dozen benefits below and realize that while you are trying to answer these objections that your competition is reducing their cost by as much as 20% across the board.
1. They would continue to source high quality products.
2. They would continue to have great supplier relationships.
3. They would free up time to do other tasks.
4. They would improve their company’s net earnings by up to 100%.
5. They would support our fragile environment.
6. They would support global food and product safety initiatives.
7. They would have a larger audience of piers to converse with daily.
8. They would have a single source of information about their profession.
9. They would be instantly alerted to product recalls.
10. They would support a traceable supply chain.
11. They would have an endless source of new suppliers to review easily.
12. They would have product specifications at their finger tips.
There are any number of additional benefits to retailers and other companies when using Strategic Sourcing tools such as reverse auctions, online RFI’s and RFP’s. Not the least of which is that if a retailer were seriously to assign just twenty percent of their above the gross margin line spend to these types of tools, they could increase their net earnings by up to 100%.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
