Procurement Isn't Trying to Be Difficult: Paul Kennedy on Selling

Aug 5, 2014

5 min read

Updated: Oct 29

When a deal stalls in procurement, it is easy to turn the buyer into the villain. Paul Kennedy, CEO of a company working around the world in fiber optic networks, wrote a different idea on his paper napkin: "they're not trying to be difficult, they're trying to do their job." A buyer's job is to protect their company from spending money badly. Once you see that, the stress drops and you can start working on the real concern. For founders and sales leaders selling large, considered purchases, this matters. The same blocker mentality shows up inside big companies too, where service departments get seen as obstacles. Paul's answer is to stop taking it personally and start getting personal. Ask what is worrying them. Pick up the phone. Get on a plane when it counts.

Inspired by Paper Napkin Wisdom Episode 94 with Paul Kennedy.

Why buyers seem difficult when they are protecting their company

Paul has watched people get frustrated with the buyers on the customer side and start taking it personally. His view is simple. People in procurement are doing what they think their job is. Sometimes they come at every purchase with a skeptical or negative view. They are still trying to protect their company from silly purchases.

So the first move is internal. Paul catches himself when his own team starts talking about the other side as if it were us and them, someone holding things up on purpose. He calls it out and recognizes it.

Then he looks at the risk that person is trying to manage. Underneath the resistance there is usually something specific. The product may feel unproven. The contract may carry uncertainty that makes them nervous. Once you can name the worry, you can look again at what you are selling. Maybe you pitched it wrong. Maybe you simply have not addressed their concern.

Does this apply inside your own company too?

When I pushed Paul on whether this only applies to buyers, he said it goes wider. He works in a small company now, where personal relationships beat organizational structure. In large corporates he saw the same pattern. Service departments get treated as blockers, not enablers.

The fix is the same. Get in their head. What did their boss tell them? What do they think their marching orders are? That is usually what drives the behavior that looks disruptive from where you sit.

His advice is direct. Stop thinking about yourself. Think about how the two of you are going to solve this and what the other person needs. You do not have to give it to them. You do have to understand what is driving them, instead of treating them like an automaton in your way.

Why a phone call or a visit beats another email

Paul's tools are physical, and they are in order. Phone call over email. Visit over phone call. Face to face beats email every time.

When something is stuck, he goes to the person and asks what about the offer is not working for them. He is careful about one thing. Ask them what their concern is, not what the solution is. You might get a solution you cannot deliver.

His customers make big commitments. They will meet you because of the brochure, but they will not buy until they see numbers and capability. They also want to know the people behind it. Will you be there if things get troubling? They work that out by seeing you face to face. People buy from people they know and trust, and Paul does not like getting an email when a call was possible.

How to build the relationship before the value proposition closes the deal

Paul's rule is that every email gets a phone call. His team also checks through the workflow whether they have made the call, and keeps asking when they are next in the area so they can visit. Some of his sales take months, so they touch the customer many times before the decision.

He does not skip the value proposition. You need one to get the first response at all. Once you have their attention, they want more than dollars saved. In an industry with real technical risk, where things do not always work the first time, they want to know you will help them through the second pass.

So the sequence looks like this:

Value proposition to earn attention.
Relationship across their organization, learning how each side works and what they need.
Back to the value proposition and dollars saved at the end, and close the deal.

By the time the customer has their ducks in a row, they are sold on the people and the company. The decision comes down to value alone.

What a satisfaction guarantee does to the relationship after the sale

Paul's pricing means a customer who is not happy does not pay. That is how his company states confidence in the product. Take the money after the customer has used it and is happy, not before.

It forces the team to stay close after the sale. It looks like cost. Paul says it has become a source of referrals, follow-on work and good ideas. Customers have pointed him to markets he had not considered.

There is a side effect he finds interesting. Customers do not begrudge his success. They are pleased for him and congratulate him. Expanding to new customers while looking after the first ones tells the first ones they were right to get on the bus early. Their endorsement is worth more than any claim he can make himself.

When a relationship turns difficult, he sees two causes. Either you made a mistake, so you own it, fix it and apologize. Or their needs changed, so you ask what changed on their side and how your product is no longer fitting.

How to build customer touches into your team this week

Paul runs daily, weekly and monthly meetings. The daily one asks whether the team has touched a customer today, and which ones. The start of the week asks who they need to touch this week. People who do not own customers still hear the commitment.

He tracks touches, not outcomes. Once a touch happens, the feedback drives itself. An unhappy customer surfaces straight away. A happy one gets shared with the whole team by email. I described it to him as positive inertia, and he liked that. The touch gives the push, and momentum carries the rest.

For this week:

Next time a buyer stalls, write down the risk they are trying to manage before you respond.
Replace one email to a key customer with a call, and one call with a visit.
Add a single question to your daily huddle: which customer did we touch today?
Ask one current customer whether they are happy, and listen to what changed on their side.

You cannot personally reach every customer at every scale. You can make sure a human reaches them some way.