Should Purchase Managers Take a Page Out of the Sales Training Handbook?

Whether you’re speaking to a purchasing professional or someone in another department of an organization, most people agree that the role of procurement has noticeably expanded in recent years. One of the reasons that procurement has changed is because companies have realized that when handled correctly, procurement can have a noticeable impact on a company’s bottom line. While purchase managers have more on their plate than ever before, that doesn’t mean training has kept up with the demands of this job. A common theme across companies of all sizes is that the current training for procurement just isn’t reflective of what’s required of this type of job on a daily basis. The Importance of Soft Skills One of the key areas where there’s generally a lot of room for purchase manager training to improve is in regards to the types of skills that are often regarded as soft or less tangible. Specifically, engagement and communication are two skills that are essential for procurement success. Since it’s clear that the role of procurement has gone through a shift, it doesn’t make sense for its training to exclusively revolve around processes and technicalities. Instead, training needs to take into account the full scope of skill sets that someone in procurement is going to utilize throughout the course of their day. Although it does require some work for companies to properly update their training, it’s an effort that will definitely continue to pay off. Using Sales Training As a Guide So, how can companies ensure that their procurement leaders and newcomers are receiving the type of training that they need? A great starting point is to use sales training as inspiration. While this type of training definitely covers the various hard skills of the job, it also puts a lot of emphasis on nurturing communication and related skills. By looking to this type of training for guidance, companies shouldn’t have any trouble updating their procurement training and steering it in the right direction. Empowering Procurement with the Right Purchasing Software Not only do purchase managers deserve the type of training that will help them flourish, but they should also have tools that allow them to be as efficient as possible on a daily basis. Of all the various tools that purchase managers may use, purchasing software can have the biggest impact on their workflow. At Bellwether Purchasing Software, we create purchasing software that is specifically designed around the needs of purchasing managers for small and mid market businesses. Because our software provides everything from customized work flows to vendor negotiations, it’s the optimal way to maximize procurement productivity. If you’d like to learn more about what our software can do, don’t hesitate to contact us.