Conversations and Revelations With Amy

I have two favorite things I really love about being a Buyer.

 The first thing I really dig is solving problems. I like to come through on emergencies, find answers to questions that coworkers or management may have, or simply find better solutions to day to day processes. I guess it is a mild way of getting satisfaction or some kind of glory from providing the answer. I enjoy doing research and being creative with my resources. Any Buyer with experience knows what I am talking about.

The second thing I love is building strong relationships with the people I work with internally and externally. Let me tell you something, if you are a natural at creating rapport with people, this will make you very successful at anything you do. Or at least will give you a running start. You need to think of all the different groups of people in your company as customers and treat them accordingly. This will come back to you over and over. Always remember that you have internal customers and external customers.

If you can consider the other person’s needs or motivations and try to find an answer that wins for both of you, you will always have a person willing to work with you. In dealing with suppliers, I have made many friends who are willing to go the extra mile for me and my company. These kinds of relationships are priceless and rewarding.

I have known many personality types in my career on the supplier side and on the coworker side. I knew one buyer who was well thought of and was a great guy to his coworkers but he would always walk around with his phone headset on screaming at suppliers. In meetings he would tell us all to watch out for this supplier or that supplier because they were incompetent or unhelpful. He always seemed to be complaining about one of them. The funny thing was that these same suppliers would be ones that many of us really liked and many of us would call in a bind. Yes, suppliers want your business but no, they do not want to do anything more for the unreasonable buyer. Just as in any relationship, act with integrity and kindness and you will have people who want to do right by you. These people will also feel bad if they let you down and strive to not let it happen again.

So these two things I have mentioned, problem solving and rapport, go hand in hand in serving your company and customer. Your manager or contact at your customer will trust you. They will know that you have exhausted all efforts before saying something is not possible and also work with you when you need to seek alternate solutions together.

I am very interested in what other Buyers look for in a company or a job. I was just thinking that when I first started out in the mid 90’s, I got a job with a large well known company. They were great and offered training and help with getting certified. They really looked within the company to groom people to move into new positions.  I remember being thrilled to have my own desk and computer. However, the computer was mostly for emails and spreadsheets. It was a different time and although on the verge of great technology, companies were not exposed yet to the capabilities of doing business in custom applications.  Oracle had not swept through in all of its glory yet.

I was doing buying and planning from computer generated print outs. We would keep track of many things in spreadsheets and email them around.

My next job was for a software company and we were creating po’s in an excel spreadsheet and saving the files. Like I said, technology had not knocked down every door yet at this time. This brings me to what I find I really love and a lesson now that I have learned from.  Working with a company that has a good MRP and/or custom Oracle application is what gives the buyer the functionality to do great work.

After I had worked at companies that had these extensive, tracking, reporting, inventory and MRp systems in place..there was no going back. This would seem to be the norm now and that is a good thing. However I have interviewed at places that were still kind of piecing things together and had not really got on board with the absolute necessity of these kinds of applications. This is essential to me and is a red flag when interviewing a potential employer. So many things can slip through the cracks and make for a ton of record keeping on your part if you must make do with spreadsheets and printouts.

So that is my lesson learned.

I have spent many years purchasing in many different arenas. Along the way I have found my psych degree getting the better of me as I analyze different business practices, procedures, managers, clients and commodities.  The Buyer, the well seasoned one at least, is exposed to so many kinds of situations and challenges. If they were paying attention then they come out with a great deal of insight on many aspects of business and the business of relationship building.

If you are successful in this job than you know how to work with many different groups and personality types to get your job done. It takes finesse and despite what some of the job descriptions on Monster or Careerbuilder say about wanting a lot of experience for little pay…it takes talent for the Buyers who are true assets to their companies. Do not undervalue this!

Do not overlook these people, employers. They have the seeds to be able to be nurtured into almost any role on the carpet. If you want people to just enter orders, fine but if you are looking to grow and invest in your business, seek out quality Buyers who can be your watchdogs. Be kind, be there, seek feedback and don’t just hire someone who has the basic skills so you can underpay them.

So what am I saying? I am saying that buying can be a rewarding job and a succesful staple to many companies with the right mindset and goals. Go forth and buy! May the powers that be bless you with great coworkers and interesting challenges.