Mike Lander is an expert at handling procurement and helping sales teams increase their win rates in the mid-market and beyond.

After years of founding companies, running consultancies and scaling teams, Mike took his experience as a buyer and started Piscari to help sellers better understand how buyers think and how to walk away from negotiations with their desired outcomes achieved.

The biggest mistake a seller can make when dealing with procurement is sticking their head in the sand and expecting the deal to go through. There’s a common myth that procurement refuses to work with SME’s - and that is simply not the case, as they value the flexible and entrepreneurial approach that smaller companies bring. To win over procurement, you need to understand what they value and be proactive with your approach.

One thing to always remember is that procurement aren’t the budget holders - they are the guardians of the budget, which means that their interests are aligned with mitigating risk and increasing savings. The best thing you can do is involve them early on - get added to their supplier lists, pass any checks and really introduce yourself so that you’re not starting over when the sales cycle looks to be almost finished.

Tune into the full episode to learn how to handle procurement and win upmarket deals!

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HIGHLIGHTS:
0:00 Intro
3:04 Who are procurement teams and what do they want?
9:51 How to prepare for procurement
13:20 How to quantify ROI
15:49 Challenge procurements thinking
20:36 Who does procurement report to?
23:04 Stop wasting time on unwinnable deals
25:55 The Incumbent wins most of the time
27:27 Winning in competitive bid processes
30:04 Get good at RFP’s

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Connect with Mike - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikelander/

Connect with Alan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-j-zhao/

Connect with Max - https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-greenwald/