Alright, Dave. How are we doing?
Doing good. How are you?
Good. Good. Look, whether you like it or not, I don't wanna be overly dramatic, but, kinda making history, at least for me, history for me because I've I've wanted to do a a podcast for a long time, never wanted to, like, commit fully to, you know, the the podcast concept. And so this this idea of a summer series popped into my head a few months ago, and we've got an awesome lineup over the next few weeks with, you know, I think Cassie's next week and and, Ruth after that and then and then, Dorinda. But this will be fun season one. You are the first, guest here on Procurement Chronicles. So thanks for being here.
Happy to be here. I'm excited. I think, yeah, I think this is a brand new thing and love you know, the more we can talk about what we do with our peers, I think it's just better for everybody. So really happy that you're doing this, and happy to be the first, first guest and, hope people really get a lot out of it.
Oh, that's awesome. So thank you again. And I agree with you. Like, I, you know, I've been ahead of procurement three different times now.
And the first time I was doing it, I I feel like I was making every mistake I potentially possibly could make.
And the ability to, like, listen to a call like this or or call you know, if I could have called up, you know, Dave, you know, seven years ago or eight years ago and be like, hey. I wanna pick your brain. That would have been invaluable. So, hopefully, hopefully, it is invaluable.
And we're get gonna get to know you throughout the call. So rather than do a a long, lengthy introduction, we'll kinda get to know you throughout. And so I just kinda wanna jump into it. But, you know, you, you just passed the one year mark as the, first procurement hire and the head of procurement at Vivint Seeds.
And, you know, I I I have no doubt that you've already seen some success. But I'm also sure, because I'm convinced this is true for pretty much any procurement role, that, you know, there have been some challenges along the way. So so maybe just kinda start us off. Right?
But, like, what what was a a big challenge that, you know, you ran into initially? And and, yeah, tell us about it.
Yeah. So, yeah. So I've been here at Vivid Seats for just over a year as the first procurement hire and head of procurement. Been doing procurement for over twenty years.
And, we had we have had some great success. We're saving money. We're, you know, getting involved. We're creating process.
All of those types of things are great.
But, yeah, it's not without its challenges. Right? And I think that's the, you know, thing to keep in mind as, more and more companies are seeing the need for procurement.
They tend to start off with really narrow focuses. Hey. We need procurement to come in here and do this really small thing, and then we'll have a procurement team and and everything will be great. Right?
And we as procurement professionals know that that's just not always the case, that we're not narrow focused. We can we do lots of different things. We look at all of the spend throughout the organization.
So that's been the challenge here at Vivint Seats. It's that, hey. We wanna focus on IT procurement. And and, you know, I've I have really good relationships with folks here. That's kinda what brought me here.
And so they said, hey. Come in here and and help us with this IT procurement stuff. We have a a need to get better control of our spending, better processes, and, you're the guy that I know that can that can do it. And so, I said, great.
I I can do that. And, as I started looking at our spend and started asking questions, you know, it's been, well well, don't look at those other things. Right? Just you're you just focus on this thing.
And so, you know, one of that is the the challenge is that, well but I can help you on all these other things. Right? We can we can do other good stuff. But, no, just just focus on on that. And, Michael, I'm sure that you've also had some of those types of experiences if you've gone in and been head of procurement at a couple different places as well.
Yeah. I you know, it's interesting you say that. I, certainly. I I you know, coming in coming into tech, I don't know what's worse.
Someone who, you know, doesn't know fully what procurement is, right, or or doesn't know at all what procurement is. And I'm certainly one of those people that I know now what is procurement. Right? Right.
Or or maybe it's worse. Someone who thinks they do, but it's it's a subset of what procurement does or it's a misconception. Right? And you and and I I do remember and I don't know if I handled this right, wrong, or or or poorly or badly, but when I was interviewing for head of procurement like Qualtrics, this is in twenty sixteen, and during the interview process, I'm like, they have a very different vision of this role than I do.
And I kinda had this moment of, like, do I challenge them on the role of of or do I or or is it a waste of breath? And instead, do I just come in, show them what good procurement looks like, and then over time, like, kinda convert them that way? And that's the approach I took. I'm not sure I'm not saying that's right, wrong, or different.
In fact, I've had some healthy logical debates, but I just kinda so I I went through the interview process saying, okay. Sure. Fine. Like, if if that's kinda what you want me to do, I will start there.
And so, like, for just to give you one example, they never had a vision for a a team at at Qualtrics. Like, it was like, hey. One person who could come on and do some very narrow stuff and and make an impact there. By the time, you know, I left five years ago, we had a team of fifteen people, and we were basically touching everything within the organization.
Right? And so, once again, I I kinda took the approach of, hey. I hear you. I'll come in.
Do what you want, but I'm also gonna, you know, show you what I can do more. Others, I think, maybe, approach it a little bit differently and and try to kind of build the consensus at the beginning. But, it's good to know that I'm not the only one who kind of struggles with, you know, the misconception or the the narrow focus.
So, yeah, really quick. But I I guess, like, you know, stakeholders, for me, were important to, like, find a champion, build a champion. Right?
So maybe talk to me about, like, you know, how you kind of address this challenge, this this narrow focus that they kind of try to maybe pigeonhole you in whether it was intentionally or not.
Yeah. And I I think the so your Qualtrics example and and my experience here are very similar. And and I agree with with that approach of, like, hey. Let's show what what good procurement can be, and and they'll be, you know, convinced and and things like that.
So, what I what I've done is is started off by doing what I know works well, to do that. Right? To show them what what good procurement is. And, the title of this is no one loops in a stranger.
And the first thing that I've done is not be a stranger to people. Right? Is make sure people know who I am and what I'm here to do and such like that. So, to find that champion, you have to go out and talk to people.
So we said, alright. You know, you know, very similar to to what you were saying there earlier is, you know, hey. Yes. We can we can do this, and I can do this. Right? And and and that's been really, successful.
And so I went out and I started talking to, to different people throughout the organization. Started with technology because that's where we wanted to to focus and started building those relationships.
And not just going in and saying, hey. I'm Dave. I'm the head of procurement now. Like, we're here's how we're gonna do things, and we're gonna do things this way. I have done that before, and it does not work.
I've been invited in previous roles. I've gone in there and said, hey. I know what I'm doing. I've been doing this for a long time.
We're gonna do it this way. And I had a team revolt on me. And I said, never ever again will I do that. So ever since then, I've started saying, tell me how this works for you today.
You know, Vivid Seats has been around for over twenty years.
We didn't just start buying things, you know, a year ago. Right? We've been buying things and doing procurement, for, you know, that entire time. And, so I I wanna ask people, hey.
How are you doing this today? Help me understand where this works for you today. And using that information to then figure out what a good process for this organization and for this time will be, which is different than previous roles I've been in, different than a credit union, different than a travel, company, different than in other marketplaces that I've worked in, and so on and so forth. So, it is going out there and talking to people through those conversations, you'll find that champion.
And I I have found that, in in surprising places, throughout the organization, saying, yeah. I'm so glad that you're here. This is great. Let's do this.
And, when you have that champion, then people are really apt to work with you and say, hey. Here's this opportunity. Here's that opportunity.
And then it makes things a lot easier to say, okay. Well, now, hey. I wanna change some things. I wanna adopt this process that I think will work really well. What do you think about that? And then they're part of the conversation.
They're part of the process and they don't feel like, oh, so and so decided to bring in a procurement person, and they're just gonna come steamroll me. Or why is this function even here? I have no idea what they're doing, and they're just telling me I have to do all these different things that I thought we did well already or what. You know, I don't understand. So telling people the why is really, really important, and building those relationships is super important.
Yeah. A couple things you said really resonate with me. Number one, you know, I I start off my career as as a team of many. Okay?
You know? And I was a cog in a wheel, and and requests came to me. You know? I was like, hey.
This request came in. You know? Michael, you go work it. Right? Go do it. And and being, like, a first procurement hire, I remember I similar, I stood up in front of the organization, said, I'm here.
You know? This is what I'm gonna do, expecting people to be like, oh, awesome. I'm so glad he's here. And guess what?
That phone didn't ring. You know? Like and but but to your point, like and I've seen procurement people struggle with this as they they kinda sit there, find their spreadsheet, behind their computer.
No. Like, you gotta be out there. You know? Yeah. I know. And and this is where I it's a little bit harder, by the way, in in the remote world.
Right? You know? Because, you know, back in in in person, like, I could wander around and and talk with people and and but, like, I do think it's still important to grab that time with them. And I love those questions you're asking because, ultimately, you know, if we kinda put our our sales hat on for a second and and even though we're not in sales, we get to work with a lot of salespeople.
Right? And so what do they do? They do a lot of discovery, and then they from the aspect of discovery, they try to pinpoint problems. Right?
They're not telling them what their problems are. But what you were saying is you're asking, hey. You asked that question of, how is this working today? Well, if you can figure out how it's working today and maybe even some pain points, and you can say, hey.
You know what? I have an idea that can potentially solve that pain point.
But but also then dig into, like, what are their goals and what are they trying to accomplish? And and so, like, make it about them. That's where you're gonna have, you know, a lot of success. So get out there, talk to the people, and then make it about them by understanding, like, what's going well, what's not going well, potentially where you could offer some value.
So that makes a lot of sense. Let me let me dig in a little bit deeper because finding a champion is phenomenal. If you can convert one person, you can use them as a use case to convert other people type of a concept. But but maybe talking to me about the nuances of building relationships with executives and and maybe, like, how that's been for you and and, maybe how that's a little bit different than potentially even working with, like, a, you know, a head of role or something like that.
Yeah. So, that that's a great question. And it's very important that you build that relationship with the executives as as well because getting them on your side and to understand your role. Right? They the some executives will end up being your champion, and those relationships work super well.
And, my fun story on that is in a previous role, I had a, chief marketing officer, who wasn't necessarily a champion at first.
And then as we started having conversations and we started talking more about, hey. What are your, you know, savings opportunities? Right? At that role, it was, this was at the credit union I I used to work at.
We had savings targets come down from the top. And so that was helpful in that, the execs were like, hey. How am I gonna do this? And when I said, hey.
I can help you and and started digging into that, that chief marketing officer, became one of my champions. Because he's like, oh, wait a minute. You can yes. You can help me.
Hey. Oh, you're bringing ideas to me. You're like, we're talking we're having this two way conversation that they think are you know, they're they're looking at it from one perspective. I'm looking at it another, and we're bringing these things together to say, this is feasible.
This isn't feasible and and such like that. Then that person for the next new thing says to their team, hey. Is Dave involved in that? Or is Dave's team involved in that?
And then that's where you get more, of that. So but how do you get to that point? Right? And and, as, you know, if you're coming in as a head of procurement, you're probably coming in at that senior manager director level.
So it's super easy to have the conversations with your peers because you can say, hey. I'm your peer and let's talk and all that and they're really good. When you start to have those conversations with the executives, it's a little bit different because executives' calendars are super busy.
And to get on their calendar is difficult.
And, frankly, you know You mean, you're not just gonna be like, hey.
Let's let's have a coffee chat for fifteen minutes or something like that. Like, that's great. How does next, yeah, how does next, you know, March sound? Right?
Right. Exactly. Hey. I'm focused on the you know, I gotta focus on earnings or I gotta focus on the next, you know, board meeting or whatever it is. And, like, I don't want time for you. I don't know you.
So why should I spend any time with you? Right? And so, I I found that two things are really important for getting that initial conversation.
One is tie the procurement message to one of the strategic goals of the company that that executive either a, owns or b, is most likely to be closest to.
Because then you're again, you're making it about them. Hey. I wanna talk to you about this particular strategic goal or whatever it is.
And they will, oh, that's the one I own or that's the one I'm working on with this other person or such like that. And then secondly, have a specific, simple agenda, that relates back to that that you can say, hey. In I'm gonna call a thirty minute meeting, but I only really wanna take twenty minutes of your time because I know you got five other things to worry about.
And and really kinda come in with that. Here is what procurement can do to help you with this strategic thing.
How can we partner together or how can I best partner with your team to help you accomplish this goal?
And for some people, that's gonna be, you know, how do we save money? For other people, that's gonna be, how do we be, you know, number one in the market or number two in the wherever you're gonna position yourself, right, or or whatever it is. Procurement can help with that. And that's where you start to expand out of that narrow focus, and you start to not become a stranger to everyone in the organization.
And then when you have that executive level, they're gonna say, oh, okay. I have that meeting. And then don't just stop there. Right? You wanna make sure you're continuing to keep them in the loop and continuing those conversations.
Sometimes that means cc'ing them on something or sometimes that means, hey. I'm seeing this from, you know, your other executive peer that kinda relates to the thing you talked about.
Can we come together and and talk about this together? And, you'll start to get more of those conversations. And then people will start to see, oh, wait. The procurement person is bringing all these things to me, and we're then we're having these dialogues, and, hey, they can do this thing.
And then eventually, you're gonna have one or two executive, you know, executive champions that are going to make sure that their teams are engaging you and so on and so forth. So I I think, Michael, when you were saying earlier, like, hey. You stood up in front of the company and said, I'm here. You know, procurement's here.
We're we're all cool. And then, like, okay. Like, sitting back, you know, hey. When's the phone gonna ring?
It never does. Right? This is when the phone starts to ring, and this is when it starts to get busy kind of fast. Right?
And and I will tell you a year, you know, and fourteen months into this, it's it's following a similar pattern. I've done this, you know, like you. I've I've done this a couple times where, hey, I'm now getting really, really busy because of all that front end work that we did to start. So it starts slow.
And for those of you that are, you know, starting a new role and and maybe rolled off one and starting another one, enjoy that time because it doesn't last long. It's really busy, really fast, when you do that the right way.
That little lull can be nice and enjoyable to kinda allow you to focus on on things that are, you know, otherwise you wouldn't have time for. No. I I really like what you said about, like, hey. Find out, like, what is their main goal, what they're trying to accomplish, and tie it back to that.
So a a a quicker side, one time, you know, I was trying to get in touch with our engineering organization that was new to the company because they spend a lot of money. Right? And I and I had struggled to get, like, brought in roads there. And and so but I was sitting, and interestingly enough, we had we had a big, like, like, hiring was a big deal for us.
The company was growing really quickly, and and we also had a high hiring bar. And so there was essentially a shortage of engineers because we we couldn't hire qualified engineers fast enough. Right? And and so, anyway, I was I was in a big meeting, and that was the one thing the CTO was talking about.
He's like like, we have all these priorities, and, we just can't hire fast enough. And so a little light bulb clicked for me, and I did a quick outreach. And I said, hey. Would love ten minutes of your time to talk about how I can take some, of the tasks that your team's currently doing, and I'm aware of one, off your team's plate.
And, essentially, is when they were procuring stuff, you know, they were trying to do it themselves. Right? And and when you're buying something, it takes time. It takes time to, like, vet a couple options.
And and one of two things is happening. Either number one, they're doing a very good job of properly vetting the right suppliers and negotiating good prices, set the contracts. And, oh, by the way, that's taking a lot of their time.
Or number two, they're rushing through the process, maybe not aligned with the best providers, and and suboptimal results. And so I basically walked him and said, hey. Here's what we're con procurement can offer, and and let's ignore savings for a second because I didn't get the impression they really cared about that. I said, we can make sure we're doing a thorough job, but I can take a lot of this off your team's plate.
Keep still keeping the driver's still seat, still keep them Yeah. You know, involved, but allow them to focus more time on, like, building the product. And he was like, oh my gosh. Abs absolutely.
And so he's like, here's four or five deals that, you know, we're currently doing. And so I got in, made sure, like, I did as much of the heavy lifting as I could. Well, fast forward a few months later, and I'll wrap this up, but it's a good story because fast forward a few months later, the CTO basically said, hey. Anytime someone comes to me and said, hey.
I wanna buy this and say, go work with procurement. Go work with my Microsoft. Admittedly, like, procurement was a one team a one person team. Right?
But but here's where it gets even better. He came to me and said, hey.
We want more of you. And I said, well, look. I'm I'm spread across the organization. So he's like, well, go hire somebody.
I said, well, like, admittedly, I've tried, and, like, I've gotten, like, shut down from that. Okay? And he's like, oh, okay. He put a call into the CFO and just said, hey.
I want someone dedicated to me as a procurement person.
The CFO literally called me the next day. He was like, hey. How quickly can you hire somebody? And that was the start of me building out a team.
Right? And so then get to your point exactly what happened. Now the engineering team has a dedicated procurement function. Well, guess what?
Next marketing calls me up. Hey. Whatever you're doing over there, I I I kinda want some of that too. And I was like, well, hey.
Let's chat. Right? And so once again, it kind of snowballed from there, but but really cool story.
So, yeah, it just really resonated with me.
So, yeah, thanks for sharing that.
Yeah. So let me ask you this. Like, what happens though in a situation where maybe you haven't converted them yet? They're they're they're not doesn't they don't necessarily want you involved, but maybe finance or leadership kind of expects you to be involved. Like, how do you how do you thread that needle?
Yeah. That is a that's a tough one. And I think we probably all have been there, where, you know, hey. You're you're trying to do all the right things. Everything I've talked about, and these aren't just things I talk about. These are things I do. And and that's kinda why, I think, Michael, you and I work well together because these are things we talk about, but also because we do them and then we know that they work.
But as as much as you try, it doesn't always work a hundred percent of the time. And there's one example where, I did all the right things. I have communicated all the right people, and I have good relationships with folks. And, you know, my boss in finance and I'm in the finance team is saying, you know, hey. I want you know, make sure you're involved in all these things. And all of a sudden, I hear about a major sourcing event that is moving super fast that I have no clue what's going on.
And I kinda hear about it through the grapevine of, like, hey. You know, Dave, you're involved in this. Right? And I'm like, what? No. What are you what are you talking about? I'm like, I should be, but I'm not.
And so in that case I've never been there.
Never been there, by the way.
Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And I'm sure everyone listening here too is like, okay. We're yep.
Been there. Done that. Let's you know? And if you haven't, you probably will at some point in your in your career.
Right?
So what what do you what do you do about it? Right? And and so, you know, Michael, you said earlier, like, hey. For kinda forget about savings for a minute. And and you kinda I gotta first of all, check your check your ego. And and and I've the immediate thing that that I did in that situation is to say, okay.
I need to get involved, so that at least I can understand what's going on, what the timelines are, and and what we're trying to do, so that it's not it doesn't get to the point where I'm really not involved. In the end, they just say, hey, Dave. Here's a contract. We need to, you know, go go process it. It needs to be signed in three days.
So I I got wind of it, and I said, okay. Well, who's in charge? Let me go figure that out.
And, so I said, okay, team. You know? Hey. I I understand things are going. My goal is not to slow you down. And, so I want to make sure that, I'm involved. Include me as much things as you can so that I can, help you when it comes time to the for the contract, that we're I'm aligning with your goals, and I'm negotiating the contract in a way that moves this forward as quickly as you want it.
And so I because part of what I see is our role is to enable the business to spend their money as wisely as possible. So when this happens and and say, hey. Okay. We're we're finding out.
Our goal is not to slow it down and say, nope. You didn't follow my process. You got us we're gonna stop this and make this. That that's the way to kill all of that goodwill that we talked about over the last twenty minutes.
Like, don't do that. Instead, say, just don't do that. Instead, say, hey. Okay. We're let's move this forward.
Tell me what let's make sure I understand and and go through and and do that.
And so in that process, I was able to work very collaboratively with everyone and say, okay. Well, let's put together the financial model. Let's make sure we understand how we're gonna be charged for this. Where is our offsets coming from?
How are we gonna fund this? Okay. We knew all that. Put all the financial models together.
And then through that, they were able to they were, they said, Dave, okay. You need to find get the final negotiation. We need to run this. And, also, at least I got the BAFO round on me, and we're able to, yield significant cost avoidance in in doing that.
And so we were able to, or I was able to say, I know I'm not in that process, but I got in the process. We got a good result.
Not the best, obviously, because of where we came in, but we ended up in a in a much better spot than we would have otherwise, which would have been at the end saying, you know, hey. Here's a contract and go figure it out. And by the way, I wanna sign tomorrow. So even when you're not, you can still get yourself involved and you can still have good, good results as, good results to come with that.
Now the other side of this coin is Just just real quick.
I wanna I wanna double click on that because I I really like that you, didn't just be like, hey.
Like, sorry. No. We gotta slow this whole thing down. Like like, I I I love saying yes.
Maybe this is a little bit, you know, controversial, but I'm like, look. Would I like to be involved earlier? Sure. Yeah.
But, like, I'm brought in now. I'm gonna do what I can. And by the way, that, you know, that builds that goodwill rather than destroys it. And then after the fact, you're like, hey.
Just kinda recapping things a little bit. Like, hey. Thank you for bringing me in. You know?
If if, you know, hypothetically, if if we're brought in a little bit early, here's more the value we can bring. Like, oh, okay. Cool. Yeah.
And then it becomes now if you have someone who's habitually, like, ten times in a row just, like, always then sure. Like, maybe that's a little bit of different action. But, like, finding those reasons to say yes, I I think that's gold, and I think that is going to, you know, bring about more trust, which is great. Anyway, keep going.
Yeah. And and that's, I agree. And that's how how you help earn trust. And, I wanna talk about the thing you mentioned in just the about the after the fact in in one second.
But one of the other sides to this is that I think if, especially for the folks listening that may be more risk, oriented or probably thinking, oh my gosh. What is the risk of of what you're you're talking about? Right? And so, I don't wanna shy away from that either because I also think that it's great to say yes.
It's great to be likable, and it's great to build really good relationships. But part of that is also being real about what the risks are when something like that happens. So looking for the appropriate time and person to and and the the person in the right position to say, hey. We're moving this forward, but I want you to know this isn't without risk.
Right? Do we know we're gonna pick the right provider in going through the process in the way that we're doing it?
Process in the way that we're doing it? Do we know that, you know, we're gonna spend the right amount and and, you know, do we have the funding thing, squared away? So, there is some risk there that I see, and I want you to be aware that I see this risk.
And so if nothing else, to say it's noted.
Because, again, I don't wanna slow people down. I wanna move that forward to build that trust. And then after the fact or at the you know, soon after as soon as you can after that's appropriate to say, hey, executive. And I I and I actually, in in my case, and I said I had a a meeting that ended early with an executive who hung out in the same room. We were both kind of finishing, you know, up some things before we left for the room. And I said, hey.
Do you how do you think about procurement? You know, I've been here for a year, and I I know that this situation has happened. Just curious. Do you do you see me as a blocker? Do you see me as a, roadblock to moving quickly?
And testing that perception of where you are, and in in this case, the answer was, no. I don't see you as a blocker. We just had to go and we just went. We didn't we didn't think. We just did. Right?
And that may work well in some cases. But, you know, in other cases, I want people to just kinda slow down a minute, and say, oh, wait. Do we have all the right people in there? But in this case, it was, no. I don't see you as a blocker, which I'm like, great.
Not a blocker. Good. Why weren't we there? Well, people were moving super fast and just didn't think about it.
Okay. And then like you said, Michael. Right? Well, I'm like, okay. Fine. This is, like, the first time it's happened, so we're we'll give a give everyone a break.
And, when as you have that conversation, it shouldn't happen again. If it does, then you get a little bit more, you know, firm about it, but still, you know, professional and say, hey.
You know, really don't forget about it. And then by the third or fourth, if it continues to happen, then it's like, guys, come on. What's going on here? We gotta Yeah.
We gotta get our Then there's some root cause analysis that yeah.
Then there's some root cause analysis that needs to be done.
Yeah. By the way, I love that you're asking for feedback. I I I think that's so critical. Like, you know, some way of measuring CSAT or getting feedback from time to time, I think is I think it's such a good thing.
Well, gosh. This time has flown by, so fast, Dave. I I guess we started out, you know, talking about your path you know, just past the year mark.
You, you know, initially, the team had kind of a narrow focus on IT procurement. So so kinda where are you now?
Yeah. We, like I said earlier, we've had some really good successes.
We are beyond the the initial narrow focus of of where I was, which is great, and we're still building. We're not there yet. Right? And, for those listening that may be in a similar position or maybe this is your first time building a procurement team, it does take some patience.
This isn't thing these aren't things that get built in six months or a year. These take a couple years. And and, Michael, like you said, you know, year two, you're building you're getting your first hire. When I was at my last role, it was about year two when I was getting my first hire too.
And, and so, you know, I'm still the the lone person.
Did have some really good success of bringing an intern in this year. So I'm really happy about that. That's kinda starting the icebreaker of, like, hey. We can, you know, do some really cool things when we have more, more people.
But one of the things I'm really excited about is that, through doing all of these things and building these relationships and not being strangers to people, we have a really strategic negotiation coming up where I was able to say, hey. This is a strategic negotiation.
I have a framework that I would like to use in this negotiation.
And by the way, I see it's coming up in, you know, that time nine months. Let's start aligning internally now so that me and the business owner can go forward and negotiate in confidence with how we with something that we're all aligned to. Right? And so, we were able to go through a process with our executive team and say, what do we want out of this?
What do we want out of this? And it actually yielded some really good things to be like, oh, wait a minute. I don't wanna use that platform exactly like we did before. I wanna change how we're using it, which changed how we're negotiating it.
So we had this really cool conversation of, like, if we wouldn't have done that, we just would have gone and said, hey. We're gonna renew. It's a renewal. Right?
It's not something brand new. It's a renewal.
We just would have renewed it, and then we would have gotten to the end and been like, oh, wait. We don't wanna use it like that. You have to go back and do this whole you know, everyone everyone knows what I'm talking about there. But I'm really, proud of the fact that we were able to say, hey.
No. Let's, you know, do this up. Okay. We're gonna change the way we're using it.
Great. Good to know now. And then as we go forth with the, with the partner to say, hey.
Here is, what we wanna do. Let's have this strategic negotiation. We're starting it, you know, in this case, what, three a little more than three months so away. So we have plenty of time to work with that. And that is outside of the original scope too. So I'm really happy that we're starting down that down that path. So we have a long road, to go, to get to where we all know we can be, or where I know we can be as a as a procurement person who's been doing this for twenty years.
But it's really, really awesome, and I'm really happy to see kinda how we're how we're going. So, you know, if if you stick to this type of plan, you know, good things are gonna come.
That's awesome to see that progress. And at year end, I'm sure you can look back. But, yeah, yeah, we you were not there yet. I don't even know where there is yet, by the way. I mean, like, I don't know.
Where is there right now?
But but, you know, you've made some good progress. You're you know, that's great to see that the company kind of said, okay. Great. Yeah. This framework, that's awesome. So so love to see it. So I guess final question.
You know, it it sounds like one thing you've really been doing is is kind of building that brand for yourself. Right?
You know, that that that like, who not maybe not what procurement is because I think people already have that conception, but what what is what is Dave's version of procurement? And and maybe that's, yeah, actually a really good thing. But, like, I don't know. Is you know, as you think about, like, marketing yourself, marketing your your, you know, what you're trying to do, like, maybe, like, is that something you would recommend?
Oh, absolutely. I I think that, you have to market yourself. Right? And and make sure that you have a point of view on procurement. I'm sure everybody here does.
And some may agree with us, some may disagree with us, and and that's okay. But make sure that people know who you are and the value you are going to bring to your organization.
I say that, you know, I I I've done that for myself. I have what I look for is what are the communication channels in my organization? How do I do that? Is that Teams or Slack?
Is that company meetings? Is that, you know, doing videos? Is that, you know, all sorts of everything? Michael, I love your videos on on LinkedIn.
Right? And I, you do a really good job of of those videos. And I do a really good job of talking in front of people. Right?
So I look for those opportunities to say, hey. Here's what we're gonna do. But find those those ways and find your value proposition. You mentioned sales earlier.
Right? I I'm a form I like to say I'm a reformed salesperson, because I started my career twenty years ago in sales.
After five years, I saw the light and came over to procurement. If there are any salespeople watching, I stand by what I said.
So, but but knowing that value proposition of what it is we have, as procurement people and how we're gonna help the organization is is totally, key to, to success here and building that trust so that people know who you are. You're right. They are gonna have some preconceived notion of what procurement is and and how they do it. But are you the procurement person that's gonna beat people up on price?
Are you the procurement person that's gonna build trust and build productive relationships with internal and external people? Are you the procurement person that's going to be the most likable person, on there's all sorts of different ways and things and good, bad, otherwise to to do things. But for me, I wanna build productive relationships and make sure that we're getting the most value out of our external third party relationships that is possible. Does that mean the lowest price all the time?
Not necessarily.
Does that mean I wanna get the most value and have really good productive partnerships so that when things go wrong, I am the first person they pick up the phone for? Yes.
Love that. Love that. You know, this is a true story. I I have a a framework of a book I've started working.
I don't know if I'll ever I actually haven't worked on it in probably six months. It may never never get published, but the title is how to be the procurement guy that people don't hate. You know? Yeah.
And and because I don't think, like, I don't think there's trade offs there. I I mean, you know, I don't think you need to be like this, you know, kind of procurement monster to, like, you know, get results. Right? Anyway, that's that's a that's a topic for another day.
But, Dave, you know, thank you, for for joining me today. Thanks for, you know, sharing your stories. Those are awesome stories, stories behind the spend and for being the first, guest on Procurement Chronicles. And, if you don't or if you're not connected with Dave already, highly recommend, great, great procurement person, wonderful human being.
Thanks for being here, Dave.
Awesome. Thank you so much, Michael, for being here. Happy to be your first guest. And, Yeah. Ken, if you're not connected with me on LinkedIn, yet, go ahead and, connect with me on LinkedIn, and, happy to continue the conversation.
K. Sounds good. Thanks, Dave. Thank you.
