The Secret to Negotiating with Procurement

Wed 5 Jan 2022 2:00 pm UK Time

• We all want to land a big brand…
• …but as for smaller agencies with a tiny team, it sometimes seems like too steep a challenge.
• In this session, Mike Lander will take us through how small agencies can land big brands by engaging with procurement, and the secrets to negotiating with the gatekeepers of the PSL.

Mike Lander is the CEO of Piscari, and knows a thing or two about procurement.

Every agency has that big fish they want to catch.

But for small agencies with fewer resources, it can sometimes feel like too big a challenge…

However, there is a way to increase your chances.

Mike Lander, CEO of Piscari, worked as a procurement director for years, so he knows a thing or two about how to go about it. Now, he works with Agencies to help them navigate the procurement maze, and negotiate better deals with their clients.

“My job was to help the marketing department buy better,” says Mike, “I looked for the best quality, the best performance, the best reliability, the best innovation, all for the right price.”

But procurement is also about identifying and managing supplier risk.

“For me, risk is about size,” says Mike. “I’m not about to award a £5m high profile strategic marketing contract to a supplier with 3 employees, less than 12 months trading history, and no data security systems.”

“Agencies between one and seven people so rarely meet procurement because they often don’t have the filter criteria for being considered as a PSL supplier,” he says.

Big companies have something called a Preferred Suppliers List (PSL): a list of agencies they will seek out first for the work they require. According to Mike, if you’re not on that, you’ve got no chance.

“Procurement are the gatekeepers of the PSL,” he says. “You can get on their radar by suggesting experimental campaigns to brands. But you need to be a niche agency and with a niche capability that big agencies just won’t have.”

So, what can you do about it?

In this session, Mike will take us through how small agencies can land big brands through procurement, and the secrets to negotiating with the gatekeepers of the PSL.