Sourcing

Sourcing
Buy the right things, the right way, from the right people.

Negotiate Effectively by Category

Most companies see sourcing and vendor relationships as crucial to sustainability. Old-style category management and transactional vendor negotiations do not work as well for sourcing managers. Suppliers have more leverage forcing company procurement departments to collaborate with suppliers. Co-dependent relationships with suppliers need product assortment realignment, aggregating spend, and category reviews. These regular category reviews enhance negotiating leverage. Now may the time for SKU optimization to drop products that are not moving from inventory. Companies see the benefits of:

  • Better vendor vetting
  • Proper SKU selection
  • Strategic initiatives with vendor partners
  • Aggregation of spend
  • Streamlined vendor selection
  • Revised product specifications to optimize SKU management

Improve Your Sourcing Enablement Process

Sourcing Enablement Assessment of Current Practices

The first step in sourcing enablement is to conduct a sourcing enablement assessment. Strategic Aim Consulting can evaluate your sourcing department performance. To do this, we assess your resources, technical competencies, and internal best practices and policies. We also interview your vendors about your team's practices. These include:

  • Collaboration
  • Competencies
  • Skills
  • Relationship management

Customized Category Management Training Program

Strategic Aim Consulting offers category management training. Your team will learn strategic product management and efficient procurement best practices. For product resellers, we provide direction on SKU management. This training will assist you and grow sales revenues.

This training boot camp also covers CapEx expenditures such as:

  • IT systems
  • real estate
  • manufacturing equipment

We share our expertise in purchasing business services such as:

  • fleet management
  • risk management
  • HR services

We cover day-to-day vendor agreements of:

  • food
  • office supplies
  • office equipment

Learn vendor relationship strategies that impact the total cost of ownership. Learn best practices for recruiting, selecting, and managing supplier relationships for better ROI. Get direction for tactical action planning and formal metrics.