The Course

This course is aimed at improving the skills of the Procurement Professional and Senior Buyers in organizations. Advanced negotiation and procurement techniques, business continuity and contingency planning for procurement are discussed and practised in simulations. The course examines the strategic importance of procurement departments by using concepts and ideas in order to maximize the procurement department’s effectiveness and thereby reducing costs throughout the supply chain.

The program is an opportunity to develop leadership skills that will assist in working better together, learning to handle conflict situations, implementing time management techniques and understanding the need to have an attitude that is accepting of change. This program is furthermore designed to provide Purchasing Professionals with not only the best practices generally viewed as leading to World-Class performance in procurement activities, but also to provide practical tools and guidance. It is an essential course for the Purchasing manager and Senior Buyer, and delegates will return to their organisation with actual realistic plans on how to make considerable cost savings. Senior managers will also benefit from attending this course as they will be able to make savings in their organisations by ensuring that the tools are implemented.

The Goals

The goals of the program are to allow the participants to:

• Review critical supply strategies
• Be provided the concepts of activity based costing
• Discuss current forces of change
• Learn how to create rapport, build trust and establish credibility in a work group
• Understand that communication is vital to successful, productive work groups
• Learn skills required for good supplier relationships
• Study business continuity and contingency planning for procurement
• Be taught a category segmentation process
• Learn how to plan in successful negotiations
• Study different approaches in negotiations
• Examine standards of ethics
• Learn how to rate a supplier
• Evaluating strengths and weaknesses of suppliers

The Benefits

The organization will benefit by:

• Better forward planning to accomplish the organisation’s objectives
• Better outcomes in transactions with contractors and suppliers
• Reduced total cost of materials & services
• Higher productivity of personnel involved in procurement activities
• Improved contractor/supplier relationships that bring higher performance
• Learn to develop others as leaders
• Learn leadership techniques to develop ownership and establish priorities
• Develop skills in interpersonal interaction to better team work
• Acquire useful interpersonal and communication leadership skills

Participants will gain by participation in this programme as a result of:

• Better knowledge of how procurement can impact the organisation’s finances
• A greater sense of professionalism and being able to contribute to the organisation’s strategic objective
• Greater ability to protect the organisation from supply disruptions
• Increased recognition by the organisation due to improved performance
• Increased skill sets in advanced phases of strategic procurement
• Develop skills in procurement professionals which will raise capability, skill and morale

The Results

The participants will be able to return to their organizations with a skill set and objectives that they can implement immediately that will demonstrate significant savings to the organization when correctly implemented.

The Core Competencies

Attendees will gain in the following competencies as a result of the program:

• Supply risk mitigation
• Critical supply strategies for the future
• Performance Based Service Contracts
• Advanced negotiation techniques
• Shrinking the supply base
• Transforming the supplier relationship
• Activity-Based Costing
• Change Leadership
• Communication Leadership
• Negotiation Countermeasures
• Advance ways of controlling negotiations
• Taught by a consultant with years of actual experience in working with major corporations to guide the implementation of best practices

The Programme Content

Day One :  Performance Purchasing

• Introduction to Purchasing and its contribution to the organisation
• The Supply Chain and its influence
• Influence of the External Environment
• Purchasing Organisations
• The Procurement Cycle
• Purchasing Systems
• Critical Supply Strategies
• Category Segmentation Process

Day Two : The Supplier Relationship

• Transforming the Supplier Relationship
• Specifications
• Working with End-users
• Supplier Evaluation Criteria
• Appropriate Supplier Methodologies
• Total Cost Approach
• Defining the Organization’s Mission In Building Supplier Relationship
• How to be A Good Customer
• Communication, Trust, and Credibility as Key Elements
• Shrinking the Supplier Base

Day Three : Advanced Negotiation Skills

• Avoiding Confrontational Negotiating
• Developing Active Listening Skills
• Negotiating with an Angry Person
• Dealing with Back Door Selling
• Power Closes that are used on the Buyer
• Understanding the other Negotiator’s Power
• Negotiating Pressure Points
• Negotiating with Untrustworthy Counterpart
• Negotiation Tactics and Countermeasures

Day Four : Leadership Skills for Procurement Personnel

• Communication techniques of verbal, non-verbal and written
• Methods of communication lead to more productive work and minimize stress
• Communication and interaction openness develops trust
• Identification of interpersonal interaction methods
• Recognizing response to and perceptions of change
• Analyzing and preparing for the human reaction to change

Day Five : Advancing Procurement Contribution

• Attract And Retain Supply Management Talent
• Supplier Measurement
• Vendor Rating
• Steps In developing Performance Based Contracts
• Action Planning
• Business Continuity and Contingency Planning for Procurement
• What Is Activity-Based Costing?
• Price Cost and Value
• Ways that Advanced Procurement can Improve Organisation’s Finances
• Course Review and Evaluation