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Why your procurement department is your biggest enemy

  • 28/06/2017
  • Written by Lawrence Flude

Do you often find yourself wondering why the final product doesn’t look as fabulous as the design you approved?

Well, there’s a simple reason for that and it’s your procurement department.

I’m going to explain to you exactly why your procurement department is your brand’s worst enemy.

Worst of three.

It’s industry norm for procurement teams to request three quotations for the same item/service, to ensure they are getting the best value for their money.

However, going for the cheapest of the three quotes is definitely a way to save money but NOT the way to deliver a spectacular brand! This is, of course, assuming that the most expensive supplier is delivering the best product.

You cannot create a great brand but not pay for its implementation. Going with the cheapest option most often leads to bad quality, which leads to bad brand perception.  

We often see companies that have to redo prints because they went with the cheapest of three and did not get what they were expecting. As a result, they will have to redo it with the second printer, having already spent time and money on the first ones. Not to mention that the deadlines don’t ever change, so now the correct printer is under pressure to deliver the right specs in a limited time and we all know what happens when people are under pressure…

Wouldn’t it be easier to just give it to the printer who can deliver on quality even if it was a little bit more expensive? You’re thinking, common sense, right? Wrong.

Who’s to blame?

I don’t blame the procurement department. Their job is to save the company’s money in every way possible. The problem is not with the department but the description of the department. The procurement department should be about getting the best quality at the best rate and not just getting the best (or lowest) rate.

But, this is the ideal world definition and the only way this will become a reality is if it comes from the leadership team. Unfortunately, because all they are asked to do is save money most procurement departments are only chasing after saving money.

The Ripple Effect

I’m sure most of you know what a ripple effect is, but for those who don’t, it is a situation in which one event causes a series of other events to happen.

This one decision of going with the cheapest option and therefore the worst quality affects many events.

 Let me take you through the brand journey:

  1. A spectacular brand is created
  2. The brand strategy + visuals are approved by the leadership team
  3. The brand collateral (letterhead, business cards and so on and so forth) needs to be delivered. Procurement is briefed.
  4. Procurement is usually confused about the specifications and call the agency that created the brand, a million times. Although better recommended as well as tried and tested, they won’t go with the Agency’s printer. They already have pre-approved printers that have worked in the past and getting a new printer approved through the approval process will take forever!
  5. They will ask their pre-approved printers to deliver the brand collateral even if they don’t understand the requirements.
  6. They will then obtain three quotes and go with the cheapest option to save money (never mind the quality).
  7. The Procurement department often doesn’t understand the specs of the product but won’t allow the agency to talk to the supplier directly and therefore there is a series of Chinese whispers between the agency, the procurement department and the printers. The end result is massive confusion and this shows in the deliverable. The final product looks nothing like the design that was approved.
  8. This leads to disappointment to everyone who had a vested interest in the brand – the leadership team, the marketing department and the agency. Guess who walked away unscathed?
  9. Now at the end of this unfortunate journey, we have a great brand concept but an awful brand implementation which leads to an average brand that doesn’t stand out, doesn’t excite people, nothing.
  10. When this brand is launched, because of the amazing brand concept the digital work looks great, everything is awesome! People expect great things from this brand and then when they step in through the doors, the promise falls flat on its face. Why? Because we went with the worst of the three.
  11. The ripple effect doesn’t stop here. Now that you have delivered a below average experience, audiences don’t trust you as they feel let down. Read this article of When you promise someone a lion don’t give them a cat: (https://www.fludium.com/posts/promises-are-meant-to-be-fulfilled.html). 
  12. This leads to a negative experience leading to negative word of mouth. Your brand might as well have died. 

The casualties of the catastrophe

Making one wrong decision was the reason of disappointment for the following:

  • The brand itself – your brand is like your baby. You are its caregiver and you did not stand up for it. Your brand never had a chance because it never had an even playing field to begin with. Your brand can be great at what it is meant to do if we give it the chance to grow.
  • The brand team – The team invested time, energy, money and effort to come up with a brand like no other. Everything was going as planned but one miscalculation along the road led to disappointment and failure. The emotional stress of a brand not working out is awful, especially when you knew you had a winning brand at hand. 
  •  The audience that paid for the experience – They believed in your brand. They believed that it would give them an experience of a lifetime. They believed you enough to pay for the experience. You let them down. You promised them spectacular but delivered ordinary. They will never believe in your brand again and they will tell everyone else not to.

Lastly, I would like to appeal to every decision maker, please change the definition of the procurement department in your organization. Make them responsible not only for saving money but the quality of the deliverable. They should be the gatekeepers that only allow high quality and best prices. No matter how amazing the concept of any brand… if it is not brought to life with the best possible means it will never live up to the concept and your audience’s expectations.

Paying for a great brand but not for its implementation is a battle you will most definitely lose.

At the end of this blog, I would just like to say that there are three easy things that you could do to avoid this drama of a bad brand and they are as follows:

  • Allow the brand/design agency to talk to your suppliers
  • Let them select the supplier based on their capability not on the price
  • Don’t argue with the agency – they have an invested interest in the brand doing well, they will not recommend the wrong option.

Lawrence Flude

Founder and MD. A strategist who specialises in translating business strategy into effective brand marketing strategy. Obsessed with creating structure out of chaos.

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