It’s no secret. Working with some people is painful. I mean REALLY painful. They make your job so much harder.

If that’s the case, how do we make procurement fun?

It’s true--purchasing aircraft material doesn’t live in a rosy, everything goes perfect world.

99% of the time, the people you deal with are annoying, boring, and no fun. Let me call it like it is. Annoying in the sense that they really don’t care about you or your operation. It’s crazy.

When you work with someone, all day long, it’s important to have a friendship. It’s important to laugh, yes and maybe even cry, thanks AOGs. But most of all, it’s important to understand and appreciate the reasons we work together. To solve real problems. To make systems more efficient. And to be reliable.

Is that too much to ask?

Go ahead, pick up the phone and call someone. Whether it be someone who has an aircraft material you need, logistics, a repair, or a thousand other things. You’ll find that when they answer there’s no energy, they don’t engage with you, and they sound terrible. They care very little about who they’re talking with.

Like what I’m saying or not, it’s true. So here’s some ways you can put the fun back in the procurement game.

Create open lines of communication

If you’re dealing with someone on the other end, sales, having open lines of communication is important. 

Believe it or not, some companies, it's 9 - 4. Don't ask me why. I have no clue. 

In procurement, you must have open lines of communication with your sales counterpart. Here at Skylink we literally use 10 different mediums to make contact with our customers. 

By opening up the lines of communication you are able to talk on your own terms. This makes procurement easier and much more fun.

Create a win / win relationship--but it's not the purchasers job

Losing isn’t fun. In order to have fun in purchasing, it must be based on a win / win relationship.

Think about this:

70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they’re being treated.

If you're not being treated with respect then your aircraft material purchasing job won't be fun. 

Your sales partner, the one you buy from, should do everything to help create a win / win relationship. It's not your job to start this. It's theirs. But it does take two to grow and build a healthy relationship. 

Start thinking about the win / win and you'll be putting some fun back in your purchasing game. 

It's okay to get personal

Do you know who you’re buying from? Well you should. Or even better, they should be wanting to get to know you.

Okay, fine, business is business but people buy from people. Period. There’s no argument there.

By getting personal and knowing things about one another, it makes it enjoyable to work with each other. You build a friendship. Mutual understanding. Trust. 82% of B2B decision makers think sales reps are unprepared and rate responsiveness, relationships and references as the most important things on their list.

With a solid relationship, the 3 R’s will take care of themselves.

It’s that simple. In order to have fun in purchasing you must work with fun people. And no, by fun I don’t mean unprofessional. Fun is about having trust, laughing about inside jokes, being a friend and caring about the relationship.

Be fun, have fun and remember…Never Forget Your Wings!

P.S. Do you want to know the best tips, tricks and trends happening in aircraft maintenance? Click here.