As the economy rides the rollercoaster on the morsels of hope and despair on hour by hour news releases, let's look at vendor awareness of the procurement process. Procurement of what does not really matter, but knowledge and of the basic tenets does. If we are to help companies understand what we can do for them in these stormy times, we need to know about the thoughts of procurement teams and where they are coming from.

Procurement is a balancing of three major goals, the cost of the item or service, the quality of the item or service and the efficiency the product or service brings. Is your product based on a reasonable pricing model and what kinds of cost reductions does it bring to the buyer? What qualities make your service valuable-is it faster, more reliable or easier to use? What gains are to be made with your service or product in making the buyer more efficient? These must be clearly defined and communicated to the people or committee with whom you are working with. Credibility is vital here, how fact based is your data and what can we compare it to. In other words, how much will be spent, on what, by whom and what is the total cost of the package or service for the company? Asking questions of the customer or procurement team is essential to understand where they are experiencing difficulties. You must listen to the problem closely to be able to craft the solution to the problems. The key here is to make the change in product or service a low-risk move. And articulating the end result of your solution is vital, does it meet the need, provide a better end result and will it be relevant in the near future. The use of a trial or pilot process works well for this, as long as there are clearly defined goals and cost comparisons to be analyzed at the end of the process. Once these goals are set and agreed upon for the specified time period you can now provide your service.

Ok, you've gotten to the point of actually having a company try your product or service. It is now time for flawless execution on the tactical side (read operations), and for you to coordinate the account setup between your company and theirs. Managing the expectations and the issues that invariably creep in can be trying. This is where you need to understand the dimensions of the process itself, and if you have asked the correct questions and understand the problems, it is easier to manage. Are the issues personal and political or are they based on the company's structure and IT technical restrictions?

Understanding where the expectations or issues are being generated can help you deal with them individually or corporately, and who you might need to include on your side of the equation such as an executive officer or the IT guru of the shop.

The skillful handling of the issues makes it painless for the company, and thus easier for the long term outcome to be favorable. This is what we are all working for on both sides of the equation, the procurement side and the vendor side, both coming to a place where all are satisfied with the results.