I considered using a clickbait title like “Three conversations every procurement professional MUST have!” but that felt inauthentic and cheap.
Throughout my career, these three conversations have genuinely transformed my approach to procurement relationships and delivered breakthrough value:
The “what keeps you up at night” conversation with stakeholders – Understanding their broader challenges beyond just the immediate purchase
The “what would make us a better customer” conversation with suppliers – Turning the evaluation lens around to improve how we work with them
The “what are we measuring and why” conversation with your team – Ensuring our metrics drive the right behaviours
When I started having these conversations, the results were transformative.
The stakeholder conversation revealed that for a major education project, classroom disruption was causing more pain than costs—leading to prioritising offsite manufacturing to minimise on-site disruption.
With suppliers, this approach uncovered opportunities we’d missed—from payment terms hindering innovation to communication gaps adding costs. One supplier helped us reduce component reject rates, creating benefits for both organisations.
By reassessing our procurement metrics to focus on relationship quality rather than just “number of suppliers reduced,” we fundamentally changed our approach to supplier management.
These conversations require vulnerability but create genuine breakthroughs in how we deliver value.