I want to divide this small post into two since during procurement flow vendors have their superstitions, while procurement professionals have their omens. Right?
Last week, one of my vendors attended a final presentation and brought along with him an old and crappy-looking laptop, something like a Pentium 4 model from 2005 or so, lacking battery and with a scratched keyboard. Luckily, we could connect it to our projector. The notebook ran on Windows XP but could run a PDF presentation in slow mode. Hmm, I found this to be very interesting. After the meeting, I approached him and asked, “why did you use this laptop, I saw you with a MacBook during the briefing last time. The answer he gave was, «it is our company’s superstition. This laptop is like our small amulet». We have won many tenders when we run final presentations from this notebook. I could only say «Wow»! It is a really new «small world» for me. Of course, I couldn`t skip the same kind of question during other meetings over the course of last week. And what I was shocked to learn is that — many have some rituals they perform during tenders. Some of the stories I heard include:
- We print all related emails, RFPs and briefing information from the client and keep it in the same folder with the printed proposal before the meeting. This is so request and proposal can have «engagement» together.
- We do not wear green clothing to meetings with clients.
- I sing a favorite song three times in a car before the meeting.
Some of them had a couple of funny revelations, but I cannot disclose it because it sounds foolish 🙂
But on the other side of this — procurement professionals have their omens about how to complete or win tenders or procedures as efficient as possible. I have a couple… But I see it is as a great theme for a small research on the psychological aspect of dealing with procurement function. Will continue with this topic soonest.
@olegremizov
17-07-2017