I have met clients who value technical knowledge of a category above all things.  "If you want to buy well then you must understand the category."

Is this true? Certainly it helps to understand the issues but do you have to be a category expert to buy things effectively?

Our view is that the client should be the category expert and Procurement brings process expertise and commercial skills to the table.  There is little value in procurement people trying to duplicate the know-how of the subject matter expert.

So what are the key capabilities of a successful procurement person?  Here is our Top 10:

1.  Ability to Influence Internally
Presence, impact, credibility...there are many words to describe the ability to gain respect among peers - or more senior executives - and then influence their behaviour.

Internal influence is a combination of impact times power plus message.  You may have a fantastic song to sing but if no-one is listening it will not make any difference.  Your network or power base may open the door, your personal influencing skills will open the listener's ears and then the way you deliver the message will determine the degree to which you can influence a change of behaviour.

2.  Ability to Build Relationships
The traditional stereotype of the dogged buyer who bullies suppliers to get what they want is rapidly fading.  Such people are resented internally and reduce the credibility of purchasing.

What most managers value is an ability to create rapport quickly and maintain effective working relationships both inside and outside the business.

3.  Determination
There are often more barriers to unlocking value within the organization than there are outside the organization!  Sometimes procurement people need to perservere in the face of internal inertia.

People don't want to change but we need to provide the energy and drive to keep pushing towards the goal.  This won't always happen easily but persistence can often pay off.

4.  Creativity
A strange choice?  Well, diamonds aren't found on the surface of the earth, they have to be mined.  So it is with opportunities in procurement.  They are often located in new and different ways.

So a keen, enquiring mind, a sense of curiosity and an appetite to learn more are all keen attributes for buyers but the ability to come up with a fresh approach is often the key.

5.  Mental Flexibility
Procurement is a job full of variety...the same approach we use to buy products may not be used for services.  Buying high value, high risk acquisitions demands a different approach than when we are buying low value, low risk purchases.

Effective buyers need to quickly diagnose the nature of a situation and select an appropriate course of action contingent upon the circumstances.

6.  Negotiation Skills
Golfers carry a selection of clubs and buyers need to have a range of negotiation styles which reflect the different relationships that most organizations now have.  Effective buyers have a range of persuasion methods and can deploy these appropriately.

7.  Commercial Avareness
This is the avareness of what value is available and the ability to judge how that value should be shared in a commercial relationship.  I can remember a company quoting a "standard" 10% restocking fee for the return of goods ordered in error.  However, I don't think that too many companies would consider this to be "standard".

Commercial awareness is the ability to sense when the other party is trying to mislead you or get away with something which might be to your detriment.  It is the ability to ensure that you only pay what is appropriate.  The flip side of this is that we need to value what suppliers offer us and not just try to drive the toughest possible deal on every occasion.

8.  Information Skills
Data, information, knowledge, wisdom.  All very different things but most buyers are constantly seeking out information so that their decisions are made in the light of as much relevant information as they can get.  That implies an ability to access information sources and interpret as well as apply that information.

9.  Planning & Organization Ability
Most large sourcing events take months to organize and execute.  We have to plan the "what" and the "how".  This requires a forward looking, proactive mindset and the ability to energize others to participate.  If procurement wants to be thought as "strategic" we need to be good at developing and executing plans with a broad "footprint" and a long timescale to achieve results.

10. Procurement Understanding
Yes, I am making a point by placing this last!  We must be able to manage the process and understand issues about specification, markets, the law of contract, incentives and sanctions.

This is probably the easiest capability to acquire, so I have put it last.  The diagram below illustrates that the mix of these capabilities varies depending upon the role that you are fulfilling.  At the start of your career in procurement the "pure" functional capability is more important as you will usually be in an operational reole.  But as your career progress, it is likely that in order to make an impact, you will have to understand the business and influence others.  In the leadership role it is likely that you will leave procurement to others.