In previous issues throughout the year, I have referenced the involvement Procurement Departments with the Meeting and Event Category of Spend. Thus I felt it important to devote an entire issue to the topic. Not too long ago many of us in the meetings department felt that Procurement was The Enemy, encroaching on our territory without a clue as to our world worked. Several years later, things have evolved, and I believe they have changed for the better! I believe they have changed for the better because everyone is seeking to understand. Procurement is seeking to understand the meetings business and meeting managers are seeking to understand the benefits of working with procurement.
I have found that the most successful marriages of meetings and procurement are when a Subject Matter Expert (SME) from the meeting or hotel side is brought into the procurement team, rather than a procurement professional moving into the space of meetings and events. I suspect that many of you reading this are part of a procurement department because of the purposeful design to bring SME's into procurement.
Procurement is not the enemy, but a very powerful partner to embrace for a number of reasons:
- Proven methodology that is accepted by senior leadership
- Sponsorship by senior leadership because of #1
- Rigor around Request for Proposal process
- Unbiased perspective with Supplier Relationship Management
- Ability to turn data into business intelligence for improved decision making
Another P word I use frequently is PROACTIVE! SMM leads, if you are not already working your procurement organization, I highly recommend that you proactively reach out to them before they reach out to you. Show them what you are doing; quantify the savings to the company because of the SMM program. Share your methodology; identify how you are reducing risk, demonstrate your holistic knowledge of the enterprise wide meeting and event spend.
Also, don't assume the procurement team understands the terminology, the nuances, and the challenges of the meeting and event universe. Take time to educate them so they will understand. It is interesting to go through this exercise, as often you get unexpected feedback and helpful advice because someone is seeing your business through new eyes that can provide a fresh perspective and new ideas.
In the past I have mentioned that many of the best practices we have seen embedded within Strategic Meetings Management Programs were founded in the standard methodology of Procurement. Activities such as:
- Stakeholder mapping and management
- Opportunity analysis- the basis of the business case
- Communication planning
- Identification of Business Requirements - the have to have, not the nice to have
- Development of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Managing the Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) process, analysis and scoring
A final word on partnering with your procurement counterparts, they can be a very helpful advocate in moving your SMM forward. They are in the business of saving money and they already have the attention of the Chief Financial Officer. Leverage this awareness to your benefit.
I would be remiss if I did not approach this topic from the Procurement perspective! Procurement Directors, if you are just starting to work with the meetings and events team, be sure to reach out and seek to understand their world. You should consider Meeting Managers as your powerful partner as they can provide a wealth of information such as:
- In-depth knowledge of clients and stakeholders
- Details of volume, who are planning meetings, and the types of meetings
- Understanding of business objectives for meetings and events
- Insight as to which suppliers are getting the busienss
- Ways to leverage spend
- Identification of Return on Investment (ROI) drivers
Bottom line, for those organizations that have both a procurement department and a meetings department, it is a two way street. You can both benefit from the knowledge and strengths of each other. Take advantage of these synergies if you are not doing this already!
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