How Not to Get Screwed By Your Supplier and Save Millions! by Jill Button
If you think you are getting screwed by your business suppliers or don’t know for sure, then chances are that you are!
But not to fret, or plead ignorance or embarrassment. That’s because business, procurement and supply chain expert Jill A. Button is here to help with her new book, appropriately named How Not to Get Screwed by Your Suppliers and Save Millions.
It’s not that suppliers are out to get you — they’re not. They have their own needs and goals. But in managing to meet those objectives, it would only be natural for clients to wonder whether their best interests are always being considered.
How Not to Get Screwed was not written solely for procurement professionals — add to the list CEOs, even suppliers themselves, or anyone running a business “big or small, lean or bloated, CEO or clerk,” small business owner, private companies, sole shareholders or corporate officials.
The truth is not all suppliers are created equal, and there is no cookie-cutter formula on how to work with them. Yet Button, who among her credentials has been named one of the “100 Influential Women in Canadian Supply Chain,” believes companies must be “agile, practical and sustainable” in their relationships with suppliers. It’s why she developed the Agile Procurement method, which treats procurement in “a simplistic, interactive and flexible way that offers value and savings.”
The author points out the need to identify and focus attention on “strategic suppliers,” the ones that provide recurring products, solutions and services to an organization, as opposed to “tactical” suppliers that may have the ability to address a given need at a given moment but not much more. She also notes the importance of applying the 80/20 rule and focusing on the 20 percent of suppliers that provide 80 percent of the business.
Button devotes considerable space to the planning process, living by the credo, “fail to plan, plan to fail.” She breaks down the process to its roots, calling attention to everything from the need to engage shareholders and get their buy-in, to forecasting, trend analysis, market competition and more.
The need for collaboration is essential. “We all want to save the day,” she writes, “but that doesn’t bode well for a well-run company … Understanding and analyzing isn’t fun or sexy, but it’s far more important in the long run.”
Like many in business, Button’s favorite step is the negotiating process, which she introduces using a quote from John F. Kennedy: “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” If you are like me, well, I’ve never met a conversation about negotiating strategy and technique that I didn’t like or didn’t take something away from. Button’s discussion is no exception — even explaining the ability to use uncomfortable silence to your advantage.
Button’s book, like the title, is written in an engaging, easy-to-understand manner, but don’t mistake it for just a glossy overview — it is chock full of detailed information on processes, steps, strategies, negotiating tips, where you have leverage and where you don’t, different options and opportunities and more.
“My ultimate goal is that you come away with a better understanding of the entire process and how to source or procure effectively,” Button writes, regardless of your company’s makeup or your position in it.
Button invites readers to proceed enthusiastically, and quotes the entrepreneur Jim Rohn, “It is important to learn from your mistakes, but it’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes, and it’s best to learn from other people’s successes.”
Jill Button is President & CEO of ProcurePro Consulting, a boutique sourcing, project management, and IT consulting firm specializing in implementing ERP, Finance, HR, Payroll, Supply Chain, and Procurement systems. A Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain executive with over 30 years of supply chain, technology, business and leadership experience, Jill was honored to be named one of the “100 Influential Women in Canadian Supply Chain.”
She is an avid speaker, business coach, blogger and author and is currently writing Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will. Jill is a passionate advocate for girls and women. She is the former President, Board of Directors for Girls Inc. of Durham. By far, her most important role is being the mother of two beautiful children: Shannon,22, and Sam, 19. Jill, her husband Peter, and their two children currently live in Ajax, ON, Canada. Visit her website here.
