How Can Influence Help Procurement?
Why do Procurement professionals need to develop their influence skills? Isn’t having outstanding technical skills in strategic sourcing, analysis or RFP design, sufficient? And anyway, isn’t being able to influence others more important for marketing and salespeople?
There are perennial surveys, like this CIPS one that show that the biggest gaps in Procurement capability aren’t in the technical areas, but in “soft skills” – those critical management competencies that are fundamental to success.
If Procurement decision-making, change management and supplier relationship management was done in a sterile vacuum of automation, then these core competencies wouldn’t be required.
But as of today, despite AI and automation creeping ever more into the Procurement sphere, Procurement professionals need to influence other people.
Facts and data alone (even if they show an overwhelming case for change) aren’t going to influence stakeholders to consider using a new supplier, going to get a supplier to accept a proposal in a negotiation or help Procurement pros develop and build a relationship with a supplier / stakeholder.
It’s the quality of interpersonal skills and particularly the level of influence that the Procurement pro can wield that’s really going to make the difference here.
Creating and ethically applying influence has been a topic studied by behavioural scientists for decades.
Dr Robert Cialdini is at the forefront of such research, having published a book called “Influence” that’s regarded as one of the best business books of all-time.
He distilled influence levers into 7 principles – liking, reciprocity, unity, authority, social proof, scarcity and consistency.
When combined with the knowledge of how humans actually make decisions – we take short cuts and use “gut feel” for up to 95% of the decisions we make – application of these principles to increase one’s influence can be learned by anyone. Find out how YOU can increase your influence.
Influence isn’t owned by Marketing or Sales people. Growing your influence within Procurement (or anywhere else) has never been more important.
Get in touch. I can help you become more influential and get better results for you and your business.
