All sales people have to deal with purchasing people in some way or other.  In the B2B chemical business, where you never really meet the ultimate end user, sales people can be found to populate two levels.  Non-technical and technical.  Non-technical sales people are, in my experience, relatively scarce in the chemical field.  Yes, you do find people with degrees in business doing chemical sales, but without any technical savvy they are at a distinct disadvantage.  Most of the people in chemical sales tend to be technical types of one stripe or another- engineers, technicians, or chemists.

What has always struck me about business is the dramatic differences in culture and operating policies between companies in a given market.  Some companies make it nearly impossible for sales people to contact employees and other companies seem indifferent.  I have noticed that pharma companies are particularly stringent about employees meeting with sales people.  Of course, this may just be an artifact of my sampling experience.

There is a reason, of course, for a company to make it difficult for sales people to contact its staff.  They want their purchasing “professionals” to be present and/or in control during such encounters.  This is not unreasonable.  Some large pharma houses for instance have contracted other companies to do their purchasing for them.  This being the case, uncontained or off-line purchasing may be redundant, uneconomical, or a breach of contract. 

But the other reason for discouraging staff from meeting with sales people is this- purchasing people are skilled in the art of procurement.  They are familiar with company policies regarding suppliers and negotiation.  And, not insignificantly, they tend to be a bit more refractory to the enchanting ways of sales folk. 

A well run purchasing department is a type of profit center.  Not only are they required to get the cheapest and most stable supplier, but they are also tasked with extracting other concessions as well. Other concessions may include custom shipping & packaging details; custom specifications; an agreement to maintain inventory; special price/volume arrangements; or long term pricing agreements. A good purchasing manager is worth their weight in gold.  Over their career a good procurement staff can save a company vast sums of money and secure strateginc reserves of raw materials for competitive advantage. 

I joke about purchasing as the “dark side” because a good purchasing person can be a really tough sell.  They make sales people work hard for their money but in the end everyone is better off because it makes businesses more resilient and competitive.  They raise the bar and, painful as it may be, in the end we all benefit from excellence in business.