Managing Indirect Spend - Joe Payne

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the level of centralization within your organization, this can be a very tedious process and, without an army of interns at your disposal, could extend the sourcing timeline substantially.

      The most efficient way to gather the requisite line‐item detail is to request reporting from your suppliers directly. While most companies do not keep good records of the items they buy (particularly for nonproduction purchases) all organizations keep excellent records of what was sold.

      Almost all of your suppliers have line‐item details for everything they have sold to your organization and can provide reports in spreadsheet format detailing those purchases. Some, however, are naturally reluctant to do so. Suppliers understand that a customer looking for data of this nature is typically seeking to reduce prices, either through a one‐off negotiation or as part of a bidding and sourcing process. With that in mind, you should consider this request for information as the first step in negotiations with your incumbent supplier. Be prepared for one of three responses to your request: acceptance, avoidance, or pushback.

      Response 1: Acceptance

      Depending on the category you are sourcing and the quality of the relationship that exists with that supplier, often a request for historical sales information is perceived as business as usual or even an opportunity to partner more closely with your company. The supplier gladly gives you the information you need and even follows up to make sure you understand the data. This is the ideal response.

      Response 2: Avoidance

      It is often possible to confuse the avoidance response with the acceptance response. A supplier may initially appear agreeable to meeting your request. Weeks later, however, you may realize that you have not received a response. Once the data do eventually arrive, they could be incomplete or not comply with the level of detail the supplier committed to. If the sales representative seems to be saying all the right things but ultimately can't deliver what you have requested, the supplier is using the avoidance response. You can take several steps at this point.

      First, when making the request for data, provide a template that shows the level of detail you are looking for. Review the template with the supplier and make sure the representative understands what the template means and agrees it can be populated. Then agree to a due date for completion.

      As the due date gets closer, follow up with the supplier and ask for a status update on the reports. If your sales representative appears unsure of the status (or does not appear optimistic about the outcome), request to speak directly to the IT contact responsible for creating the report. This demonstrates that you are serious about your request. It can often help overcome the supplier's stall tactics or help the supplier overcome other challenges, such as time constraints or other priorities (e.g. selling to other customers) if they do legitimately intend to come through on your request.

      Response 3: Pushback

      Sometimes, a supplier flat‐out refuses to provide a line‐item detail report. This is typically the exception and not the rule, but when this issue does arise, it is important to understand why.

      Second, the report may truly be unavailable. While this is highly unlikely in most industries, small businesses often do not have access to the same reporting capabilities or sales tracking systems as larger organizations. The push‐back may be due to the great deal of time and effort necessary for creating a custom report or to have someone enter data into a spreadsheet for you.

      Third, the relationship between your company and the supplier may not be very good. A supplier who has not been paid on time, has experienced numerous account management issues, or simply does not value your account may decide that a request for reports is the last straw and may even decide to terminate the relationship.

      The last reason a supplier may not provide line‐item detail is the most obvious and the most common. The supplier knows they are not competitive, and they want to prevent you from discovering that fact. Similarly, the supplier may realize that negotiations and sourcing are imminent, and the longer they can withhold the data you are looking for, the longer they can bill at current rates before discounting in order to retain the business. In an industry with a limited supply base (one or two predominant suppliers) or situations where the supplier feels the business is secure and can't easily be moved to another supplier, this is the most common type of response.

      The pushback response is the most difficult to overcome, but as you can see, the supplier might take this position for many different reasons. It is important to understand your supplier's rationale before formulating your response. If a supplier truly does not have access to the requisite reporting, you may need to look for other ways to collect the data. If a supplier has decided the request is too much of a burden on an already strained relationship, you can look for ways to improve the relationship first and get the data you need later. If you find the supplier is taking an aggressive posture to protect their high margin, you may need to take one yourself to get the supplier to honor your request. You can employ several tactics, including going around your primary sales representative, working with your own internal end users to find a better contact within the supplier organization to get the data you need, requesting a new primary sales representative, letting the supplier know that competitors would be willing to provide the data, or suggesting that an agreement might not be renewed if the request is not met. These aggressive tactics should be used only as a last resort and with a supplier that you are confident has access to the data you need.

      You should note that many contracts already include language stating that a supplier agrees to provide reports or to be audited, yet many times these contractual obligations are overlooked when requests for reports are made. If you are experiencing pushback, the first thing to do is determine whether or not these contractual obligations exist.

      Handling the Responses

      First, you should never make an initial request for line‐item detail via e‐mail. An e‐mail request is often perceived as informal and therefore not as important as requests made face‐to‐face or over the phone. This will be the first of many requests you make of your suppliers over the course of the project. Kicking it off in an informal manner sets a tone that will not be acceptable later on.

      Even if an e‐mailed request is given the appropriate amount of attention, it is much easier to avoid: Oh, I must not have gotten that e‐mail. Or it is often simply forwarded to IT, with little thought given to the data being requested or a timeline for getting the information back to you.

      Making a request either over the phone or face‐to‐face is the preferred method for the request and gets a better result than an e‐mail. It takes a partnering approach and gives both parties the ability to communicate and understand the broader context of the request. As a best practice, requesting the information as part of an overall account review (rather than as a one‐off request) can get a supplier not just to comply with your request, but also to see it as a positive step in the relationship. The account review can also be a good platform for the next step in the Data Collection phase, the supplier interview.

      The rationale for interviewing incumbent suppliers is the same as that for interviewing end users.

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