Understanding the Relationship Between Procurement and Marketing

April 8th, 2021

Are your company’s marketing and procurement teams working together to find the best suppliers?

 

Todays post is from our SafeSourcing Archives

The relationship between a retailer’s Marketing and Procurement Departments has been one struggling to maintain cohesiveness in many companies for quite some time.

While the Marketing team is continually trying to find creative and cutting-edge ways to increase sales within a retail organization, Procurement is constantly looking for ways in which to not only reduce costs, but find the best fit of suppliers with their company.

In many cases, marketing will expend a good deal of effort to find vendors to work with them on projects that when turned over to the procurement team can’t even be considered because their price is too high.  In the end this costs the company money, creates continued division between departments, and causes unnecessary lost time and sales.

Studies and reports have shown, and we at SafeSourcing agree, that the involvement of the Procurement department, even at the most basic level, into marketing projects can reap huge benefits as both departments work toward finding partners in their suppliers to achieve both their marketing and procurement objectives.

Retailers whose Marketing departments can leverage the database of the Procurement department’s suppliers will find a positive effect on their spend while achieving the ROI they are looking for on their campaigns and will create a better team environment within the company to achieve like-minded goals.

For more information about how the SafeSourcing database of known suppliers can help your company’s marketing and procurement departments work together to achieve these goals, please contact a Customer Service representative today.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Sustainable Seafood and Lake Food Practices You Should Be Aware Off.

April 7th, 2021

They say our oceans could be empty within 50 years. So if you eat seafood and lake food or source it for your business. Please, do it sustainably.

 

Today’s post is from Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

Whether you like to go fishing, eat seafood and lake food or source it for your business. Please, do it sustainably.

I always liked to go fishing as a kid. It didn’t matter if it was freshwater or saltwater as I could walk to both. The interesting thing is that I didn’t really like to eat fish. My mom was not about to clean and cook what I caught, so the only time I ate any non-shellfish, it came from the store, was not fresh and tasted terrible.

Once I met my wife and became used to eating fresh seafood, I began to like it a lot. I still like to fish today, mostly catch and release. That’s probably a good thing as our fisheries worldwide are severely stressed. Unfortunately, three quarters of the world’s fisheries are fished to capacity or overfished. That’s a really a shame for both sports’ fisherman and our ever-expanding global population in search of sustainable food sources.

A couple of organizations you should know about and visit that are helping in this capacity for seafood, lake food and shellfish are Alaska Seafood where you can learn more about FAO-Based Responsible Fisheries Management Certification. You can also learn more about Best Aquaculture Practices for shell fish at this link.

It’s nice to benefit from our fisheries and to be able to go fishing in our oceans, lakes and streams. Doing it in a sustainable way will preserve it for our future generations.

If you’d like to learn more about how SafeSourcing can help you source your sea and lake food and how we hold our suppliers accountable to local and global standards, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

 

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The Nine Deadly E-Procurement Objections!

April 6th, 2021

I've posted this a few times. I'd love to give the HONEST non BS rebuttal! Reach out in person!

 

 

Todays post is by Ron Southard CEO at SafeSourcing

This is a repost from a couple of years back because I just came out f a discovery session with a roomful of buyers and heard at least 5 of these. Fortunately the company CFO who was in attendance asked the following “If this is so, why does Ron have so many examples of products and services we buy every day at lower costs than we pay”. 

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. We already get the best cost.
2. We’ve done business with this supplier for years.
3. We don’t have product specifications.
4. We don’t have time for this.
5. Switching costs will be too high.
6. We can’t insure the same quality.
7. We need to adhere to certain standards.
8. We are aware of all of the sources of supply in this area.
9. Our business is different!

Often the real reason for these objections is a lack of understanding as to the services being provided which actually extend the productivity of financial and procurement knowledge workers. An underlying reason is that these same knowledge workers believe they are already doing a good to great job. They believe they understand the detail of the category, the supplier community and the leverage point for driving quality results.

So what does it mean to your procurement knowledge workers when based on the above the very first e-procurement event you run returns dramatic savings from your incumbent as well as several other suppliers you were not aware of? Does it mean your team is not doing their job? Does it reflect poorly on them as individuals and or a team?

This author does not believe so, what it simply means is that they are not aware of how much more they can accomplish, how much further they can extend their reach and how much more time they will have to evaluate data instead of collecting and assembling it based on the use of modern strategic sourcing tools that extend their knowledge base.

If you would like to learn more about how your team can accomplish more in a shorter period of time, please contact SafeSourcing.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Why should retailers be concerned with evergreen contracts?

April 2nd, 2021

Because they can cost you a fortune if the original contract was not properly negotiated.

 

Todays post is a rework by Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

This author has been asked on numerous occasions why I am so concerned with evergreen contracts. First, let’s discuss what an evergreen contract is. A simple definition is that it is a contract or an agreement between two parties (you and your supplier) that is automatically renewed or rolled over after each completion period which is typically a year, until canceled by the either party.

This does not sound so bad at first glance, particularly if the current terms of the contract such as price, performance, quality, service or service level are all being met and are to your advantage when they automatically renew. However this is not normally the case, particularly with contracts that are driven by commodity markets such as oil, chemicals, resins, pulp, steel and many others. In addition you can bet if the advantage is in your favor in the initial contract that your current supplier will notify you in writing within the specified period which is usually 60 days that they are going to let the contract expire or want to renegotiate.

In large parts of the retail trade, there are very few sophisticated contract management solutions deployed, the cost to the industry annually runs in the billions of dollars. This is because the original contract normally has language that includes price increases above the current contract when it auto renews and the auto renewal is normally for a year if the supplier is not notified in writing prior to the anniversary date. Once renewed you are stuck. This happens because most buyers or executives think they will remember in time to notify your supplier when in fact this almost never is the case. As most retail companies have thousands of contracts in the place the amount of data requiring review is unmanageable.

The worst case I ever reviewed was a contract written nine years earlier that had renewed every year. The customer was actually paying the uplifted prices and substantially more than a much smaller company was paying for the same type of service at significantly lower volumes. This did not even include newer technology benefits.

Contract management solutions that offer alert subsystems based on contracts Meta data are the best solution to this problem and typically provide near immediate ROI based solely on the cost avoidance associated with evergreen contracts.

SafeSourcing offers an easy to use solution called SafeContract™ to help our customers with this problem. Ask your solution provider how they can help you. Or contact SafeSourcing.

 

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How does your organization ensure that every award of business is implemented or delivered as awarded?

April 1st, 2021

This is probably one of the most difficult steps in the entire procurement lifecycle.

 

Todays post is by Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

I wrote this a while ago, it’s still true today. If you miss any of these steps your sourcing efforts have been wasted.

Stopping contract leakage is one of the most difficult tasks in the entire procurement lifecycle. To begin with, you need to understand where the data to be measured is kept. Good luck if you do not have a contract management solution. Once you have a clear idea as to the location of the data, it needs to be looked at on a regular basis in order to insure leakage is not occurring. The question here is what constitutes leakage and how often it should be reviewed such as monthly depending on contract language. Most contract management systems have alerts that can be triggered as frequently as required.

If you had a contract management system, most of the following list speaks too many of areas in which contract leakage can occur and can also be measured. These discrepancies happen in all companies large and small. If you are aware of them, capture them and report on them there is a reasonable possibility of controlling them. Again, you can’t do it without a contract management system

1. Buying without a contract.
2. Expensing something outside of a contract
3. Having multiple contracts in place:
4. Executing a new agreement when one is already in place
5. Paying a price different from the contract
6. Delivery variances
7. Quality specifications variances
8. Making payments at a prices different from the contract
9. Scope creep of the product or service purchased without change control
10. Resulting Invoice discrepancies
11. Missed volume discounts
12. Insurance discrepancies
13. Shipping discrepancies
14. Expired contracts resulting in price uplift (evergreening)
15. Overtime Violations
16. Material discrepancies
17. Sub Contractor discrepancies

Don’t work hard to drive benefits from your procurement organization and then lose much of what you have gained due to contract leakage. Ask your e-procurement solutions provider how they can help.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Freight Tendering 101

March 31st, 2021

The cost of oil is ever-changing; there is a limited temporary driver pool; so how can companies contain their freight costs.

 

Todays post is from Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

This author has been in and around the freight business for years. Actually for 40 years. Just like the unrelated movie, I have seen it all. Planes, trains and automobiles (trucks really) to be sure but also ocean bound freight. The ships and planes get bigger, but at the end of the day the same issue exists. How do companies get their products to where they need to be efficiently and at a cost that is acceptable in order to satisfy customer demand?

This is not necessarily about your internal optimization models; it is more about the data that feeds your internal optimization models. That is of course if you even have one. The basis for collecting that information is not all of the math calculations and pivot tables; it really is the following types of data.

• Lane data in distance for your delivery model such as Plant to DC.
• Volume discount data from carriers
• Lane rate per mile
• Fuel Surcharge rate
• Human resources rates for loading and unloading (Lumpers in the US)
• 3PL storage rates
• Load balancing charges for LTL versus FL

There may be other data that is required for your individual model, but the above will cover most of what you need to come up with a well rounded format that freight companies can easily bid on.

Relative to who should be bidding; this authors recommendation conducting a three step process that includes a detailed RFI, followed by a detailed RFP and then ultimately the RFQ data compression piece or a reverse auction.

• RFI  – Incumbent and other participants selected from a quality sourcing  database
• RFP – Participants include a reduced number from the RFI process
• RFQ – Includes all RFP participants unless otherwise indicated by the host.

The terms and conditions of the reverse auction or RFQ can cover the balance of information needed by providers that relates to quality, certifications, payment terms, safety, insurance etc.

If you want to get control of your freight costs, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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The Supplier Selection Process

March 30th, 2021

How do you go about vetting and selecting new sources of supply?

 

Today’s post is from our archives at SafeSourcing.

In brief, here are few steps to selecting  the proper suppliers   in order to provide the best goods or services at the best prices and in the right time frame and location for your specific business needs. This process is broken down to a few select categories to assist you in doing so. While there are certainly others, this will get you off to a good start.

Price – A key consideration for choosing suppliers is affordability. Competitively priced suppliers are usually the most attractive option. Affordability does not always represent the best value for money. If the quality of your supplier’s product is subpar, you may incur additional costs for returns and replacements, and risk losing business. If you decide to pass poor quality on to your customers, you risk damaging your business reputation.

Reliability – Reliable suppliers deliver the right goods or services on time. Large suppliers are generally more reliable because they have enough resources and systems in place to make sure they can still deliver if the unplanned happens, which it usually does.

Stability – You will want experienced suppliers with a proven track record. Stability is important, especially if you are entering into a long-term contract with a supplier or they are the only supplier of a particular item critical to your business.

Location – Consider location when selecting suppliers. Dealing with distant suppliers might mean longer delivery times and extra freight costs. When lead time is the most critical, a local supplier might be a better option. I recommend investigating freight policies of distant suppliers. Bulk orders, for instance, might get you free shipping or you might be able to combine different orders to reduce costs.

In addition, your might  also want to consider financial strength, existing user references, specific industry certifications and programs that support your companies social responsibility initiatives.

SafeSourcing would like to assist you with your supplier selection process.  Our SafeSourceIt™  Global Supplier Database already contains much of this  information. In order to learn more as to how we can help you with your specific procurement needs or about our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

 

 

 

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What’s important to you in the development of your negotiation strategy?

March 29th, 2021

Much to often procurement organizations don’t even have a procurement strategy let alone a supportive negotiation strategy!

 

Todays post is by Ron Southard, CEO of SafeSourcing Inc.

What is your procurement organizations overall procurement strategy? All to often, when this author asks this question, the response I  get is  that deer in the headlights look that says to me there either is not one in place or the person I’m asking the question of has know idea how to answer the question. If there is no procurement strategy, there certainly is no supportive negotiation strategy because how companies negotiate should support their overall procurement strategy or at least it should.

The cause for the above is quite often that there is no formal procurement organization in place to begin with or the function is lost within a supply chain organization, logistics organization or finance organization. And sometimes it is even located in operations and as a result spread all over the place depending on the size of the company.

It’s a good bet that  if there is no well defined procurement organizational structure within a company that there are many maverick negotiations going on and that many of the associates conducting these negotiations are not skilled at doing so and don’t  have any advanced tools other than spreadsheets, email and telephony to conduct the negotiations with.

The result of the above is a lack of collaboration and well thought out aggregation, maverick buying, expired and or ever greened contracts and much higher than needed cost structures.

So before you can negotiate effectively you will have to go back to the drawing board and develop a procurement strategy. Once that’s in place negotiation best practices can follow.

If you’d like to learn how to do this quickly with executive office support and begin reducing costs in the current accounting period, please contact a customer services representative at SafeSourcing.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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What Procurement KPI’s are on your dashboard?

March 26th, 2021

There are all types of dashboard promises out there. Is the data really useful?

 

Todays post is by Ron Southard CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

At a minimum the following data fields; start date, event date, award date, letter of intent date, contract date, initial delivery date, total low company quotes, total all low quotes, award of business quotes are the basis for e-procurement KPI’s that will help to measure how your procurement department is performing and progressing over time and where opportunity for additional savings exist.

Wit the above data you can measure the following daily by department and associate assigned to that project. You should be able to actually click on any of the KPI’s to drill down for further analysis and causal data.

1. Opportunity lost cost results
2. Timeline analysis of a project launch to event, letter of intent and contract
3. Low quote company versus all low quotes or missed savings
4. Average days to complete event
5. Average days to complete award
6. Average days to complete LOI
7. Analysis of supplier count and line item count versus where savings were maximized.
8. Number of events occurring above and below average.
9. Average or mean performance by KPI
10. Deviation or the best and worst events by KPI

If you had these KPI’s on your desktop of mobile dashboard, how much easier would it be for you to manage your business? If you don’t have this data please contact a SafeSourcing?Customer Services Account Manager to find out just how easy it is to retrieve.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Sourcing Music

March 25th, 2021

Commercial music licensing basics

 

Today’s post is from our  SafeSourcing Archives

There isn’t an organization on earth that doesn’t use music for its business in some capacity. Offices without any background music are awkward, phone lines without hold music makes customers think no one is actually holding for them, and video marketing is incomplete without song. Even though you may feel that the latest hit would be a perfect fit for your multimedia needs, without following the right procedures you could be on the hook for damages much larger than the actual licensing fees. But where do you start?

The rights to any musical composition’s distribution are typically managed by the publishing company under what are known as “mechanical licenses”. Sometimes the rights can be released directly by the copyright holder, but typically only under special circumstances such as when the request comes from a source with strong cross-promotional influence, or a friend of the artist themselves. The major Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) are ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. All commercial artists will be affiliated with one or the other organization. However, obtaining a license to use the music of one organization does not give you legal access to the libraries of all three PROs. There are, however, several third party companies who have licensing agreements with the PROs, and will grant access to specific works within their libraries for a fee. If you need to be able to customize how you use the creative work, such as by editing a song to fit within a TV commercial or radio jingle, obtaining licensing through a third party is usually the easiest way to go. However, if all you need is elevator music, obtaining licenses specific to your organization is probably unnecessary.

Typically, the best route for a company to take is to purchase systems with pre-existing music libraries already integrated. For example, many VOIP providers either have their own content created exclusively for their organization, or have purchased rights to creative works themselves. This places the burden of working through the licensing issues on the service provider you are using. However, if you want to make sure your service provider is compliant, you should ask for documentation proving compliance with current copyright laws identifying the corresponding PRO.

Please leave a comment or for more information on how SafeSourcing can assist your team with your procurement process or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

 

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