🔵🟠 Two Bubbles – One Reality: Why Sales and Procurement Don’t Connect (But Should)

I’m active on LinkedIn, especially around procurement topics. I call it the procurement bubble.

Last week, I stumbled into the sales bubble through a post by Kalle Toivonen – and I realized something:

Sales and procurement live in two different worlds.

Not just different topics – but different people, perspectives, and even communication cultures.

And yet – sales and procurement need each other every single day.

🧩 Language – Words Reveal Mindsets

One major reason sales and procurement stay in separate bubbles is language – specifically, how they talk about each other.

🟠 Sales talks about “buying.”

Salespeople try to facilitate the customer’s buying process – influencing decision-making.

But “buying” often refers to a single transaction, need, or deal.

Rarely do sales professionals talk about procurement, which involves strategy, value chains, and long-term partnerships.

🔵 Procurement talks about “suppliers” – not sales.

Procurement discourse is about supplier management, risk, performance.

Sales is seen as a representative of the supplier – not a business partner.

Seldom is there any reflection on how a salesperson’s actions impact procurement outcomes.

👉 The result? Both sides talk about each other – but not to each other.

🧩 Segmentations That Don’t Match

• 🟠 Sales segments customers: strategic, growing, breakthrough accounts

• 🔵 Procurement classifies suppliers: operational, tactical, strategic

But what happens when these don’t align?

A salesperson may see the account as strategic – while the buyer treats them as an operational supplier.

The result? Misaligned expectations, frustration, and missed opportunities.

🎯 Common Goals – But on Different Tracks

Both sales and procurement aim for:

📈 Growth

💡 Innovation

🎯 Value

🏆 Competitive advantage

But these words live in different bubbles. Rarely do they sit at the same table to talk about them together.

💡 Three Keys to Better Collaboration

If we want better outcomes, both sides need to commit to three things:

1️⃣ Understanding

– How does procurement make decisions?

– How does sales create and position value?

Without this, communication is based on assumptions.

2️⃣ Positioning

– Sales: Where do we stand in the customer’s eyes?

– Procurement: Have we made the supplier’s role clear – and how they can grow?

Open positioning sets expectations – and enables progress toward partnership.

3️⃣ Alignment

– How do the buying and selling processes intersect?

– Can we design the interaction so both move forward together?

A shared playbook isn’t just possible – it’s a competitive advantage.

🚀 In Conclusion, when Sales and Procurement Don’t Connect

Sales and procurement meet in daily operations – but not in conversation.

That’s a missed opportunity.

If we want stronger results, better partnerships, and real collaboration, we must break the bubbles.

It starts with a single conversation.

A shared goal.

And one key question:

👉 Do I truly understand how the other side thinks?

Let's connect and make it better!