For almost the whole of my career I had been involved in Purchasing and Logistic Support to different company support groups. Whereas, the major task of our group is to be liaison between the requestor (from the operations group) and suppliers. I had been doing this task for almost 15 years now and I am still loving it since I got to interact with different people in the organization and even vendors / suppliers. Since my group also provides logistic and transport support, I just love it when the requestor’s request was accomplished and I receive a warm “Thank You”
I may not be that expert in this field but I would like to share to the newly graduates or those who would like to shift careers I would like to share to you some of the tricks of the trade which works for me and might work for you as well.
For purchasing support:
- Be familiar with the request / Determine the needs of the requestor – Being a purchaser, we don’t really know everything, so when in doubt ask the requestor or search the Internet in other words Google it. (i.e ingersoll rand compressor parts and air oil separator – for someone who has been office based, I am not familiar with this but since the Internet offers a vast net of information at least I can have the idea of how it looks like and its functionality)
- Ask if they have preferred brand or generic brand will be acceptable. The requestor at times has preferred brand that they have already used and trusted.
- Don’t always go for cheap price, go for quality too. But of course it is a plus if you can negotiate a quality product at a cheaper price.
- Develop a strong negotiation skills since you are one of the company’s instrument to cut company expenses / cost – Learn the art of negotiating with suppliers and vendors. More often than not, the suppliers would charge you in their budgetary cost with 20 to 30% higher of the price of the item since they know that as a buyer you would still negotiate the price.
- A preferred vendor list is advisable to have. This is to obtain the best leverage available to your organization. This way you can also negotiate with the vendors to have certain items at locked price scale at a certain period of time.
- Go for green and earth friendly products.
This are just some of the tips that I would like to share for you and I hope it helps. Next in my tip list will be to be effective in Logistics Support to an organization….
