By Troy Harrison

When I started in sales, I heard about purchasing managers. It sounded like a perfect situation: I wanted to sell stuff, and they wanted to buy it. The trouble is, that this isn't exactly what happens with purchasing managers.

In most cases, other departments within a company specify whatever it is the purchasing departments buy. These other departments are headed by the people who are either using the product or reselling it.

Therefore, make an appointment with a purchasing manager to talk about how much better your product is than their current product, and it will fall on deaf ears. Why? Because the purchasing manager doesn't really know much about the product they are currently buying. Those specifications have been set by someone else in the building-usually the end user or reseller.

What Purchasing Agents Really Value

• The Status Quo-Purchasing managers are not normally agents of change within their organizations (and, of course, to sell something new, we need agents of change). The status quo is always safer because buying a new product comes with some risk.
  
• Price Savings-Purchasing managers love it when they have a product spec that sets up competition between multiple vendors. That means they have leverage to beat the vendors up on price, which is never a winning situation for the salesperson. If you're looking for a pure "bid" opportunity, this is it. But why look for that opportunity? Typically, purchasing managers are rewarded not on growth, but on cost savings and efficiencies. Other people in the building are rewarded for growth.
• Gatekeeper Power-Like it or not, purchasing managers function as intermediaries between you and the ultimate buying power. That makes them the gatekeeper. For this reason, if you start your selling with the purchasing manager, you typically stay with the purchasing manager forever. You will never, or at least rarely, see the people who are really making the buying decisions.
  
• Long Selling Cycles-Heavy reliance on purchasing managers tends to extend the selling cycle. First of all, it takes a long time to get on their calendar. Second, because they tend not to trust salespeople, it takes a longer time for them to accept you and your products. Finally, they have to advocate internally for the purchase of your stuff, which they tend not to be aggressive about. The selling cycle, if it does not get derailed completely, gets extended significantly.

I must point out that the above does not apply to all purchasing managers. There are some-not a lot-of proactive purchasing managers out there who will see value in your product or service and advocate its use within their companies. However, those people are few and far between. In fact, I was fortunate enough to deal with one such purchasing manager early in my career, and much of what I've just told you came straight from him. He contributed greatly to my success by telling me that I shouldn't be starting my sales process with him.

Dealing With Purchasing Managers
The ideal situation is to be handed down to the purchasing department by someone who has seen you, investigated your stuff, and found it (and you) worthy. In that case, the purchasing department will be responsible for the details. When you are handed down to the purchasing department, you have some level of power. The key is to not abuse it.

Be nice, be respectful and be helpful. Don't treat the purchasing manager like a lesser being. They hate that and will do whatever they can to place obstacles in your path. Treat them as if they have decision power, and you will be fine.

The ultimate selling tool: When you are selling to someone who makes decisions based on some sort of growth or comparative advantage, you can effectively sell change.

Troy Harrison is the author of Sell Like You Mean It-Outselling Your Competitors By Understanding Your Customers, and the owner of SalesForce Solutions, a Kansas City-based sales training and consulting company. You can get more information about SalesForce Solutions and subscribe to the free "HotSheet" weekly e-zine by visiting www.salesforcesolutions.net or calling (913) 645-3603.