The Procurement "Chess Match": Escaping the Price Trap to Win on Total Value

Sales teams often treat procurement as a final bureaucratic hurdle to clear before the end of the quarter. This tactical error is fatal. Procurement professionals do not care about your quota or your "boat payment". They care about risk, "elegant negotiables," and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). 

In this episode, SBI’s Ray Makela joins Caldwell Hart to open the "Procurement Playbook" and expose the reality that products no longer compete—supply chains do. They dismantle the "one-size-fits-all" pitch and explain why treating negotiation as a price war is a losing strategy against a buyer who treats the process like a chess match. 

Key Talking Points:

• Supply chains compete: Why the lowest price loses to the lowest risk and most comprehensive supply chain.
• The "Chess Match": Procurement has a playbook and preparation that often exceeds the sales team's—do not be outgunned.
• "Elegant Negotiables": How to trade payment terms, training, and council seats to save the deal's margin.
• Quota irrelevance: Why "your sales goals are not my responsibility" and using false urgency kills credibility.
• Total value > Price: The critical shift from sticker price to TCO and solutioning.
  

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