Who Leads – the Seller or the Buyer?
- Lauri Vihonen
- May 26
- 3 min read
Suppliers know how to sell. But do we, as procurement professionals, know how to respond to their influence techniques? This blog explores how procurement teams can identify the tactics used by sellers, protect themselves – and turn situations to their advantage. When you understand how something is being sold to you, you also learn to negotiate from a stronger position and lead relationships with suppliers and stakeholders more effectively.
What if the supplier is steering the negotiation – and you don’t even realize it?
1. Understand How You’re Being Sold To
🔹 Urgency is the seller’s best friend
Supplier: Creates a sense of urgency – “This offer is valid only until the end of the week.”
Procurement: Stay calm, recognize the pressure, and don’t let the timeline drive your decision. Stick to your own schedule or create a clear timeline for the procurement process.
🔹 “Everyone else is choosing this too”
Supplier: Refers to other customers or competitors to build credibility.
Procurement: Ask for critical details and focus on your organization’s needs – not others’ choices.
🔹 Chemistry or business value?
Supplier: Builds a personal connection that subtly influences decision-making.
Procurement: Act professionally and evaluate solutions objectively.
🔹 Confusion as a control tactic
Supplier: Makes the offer technically complex and hard to compare.
Procurement: Break the package into clear components, define comparison criteria, and involve experts when needed.
2. Turn the Situation to Your Advantage
🔹 Lead the negotiation – don’t just follow
Supplier: Offers a ready-made structure and proceeds on their preferred path.
Procurement: Define your objectives, phases, and rules. Take control and steer the discussion toward your own business goals.
🔹 Build internal trust
Supplier: Approaches business units directly and influences decisions bypassing procurement.
Procurement: Understand stakeholder needs, communicate actively, and be involved from the beginning.
🔹 Develop the supplier relationship – but keep control
Supplier: Tries to appear as an irreplaceable partner.
Procurement: Build transparency and look for alternatives. Keep the relationship balanced and goal-oriented.
🔹 Negotiate for business value
Supplier: Highlights their value and long-term relationship benefits – for themselves.
Procurement: Shift the discussion to your own gain – where’s the added value for us?
The Benefits of This Two-Step Approach
By adopting this two-step model – first understand, then leverage – procurement teams can unlock significant advantages:
✅ Increased negotiation power
When procurement recognizes influence tactics, it can act proactively and retain control of the negotiation.
✅ Stronger supplier management
Supplier relationships aren’t based on trust or chemistry alone but on balanced and goal-driven collaboration.
✅ Procurement’s position in the company is strengthened
Procurement communicates more effectively with stakeholders and supports business – not just acts as a control function.
✅ Procurement influences in both directions
The same techniques sellers use can be applied constructively in both external and internal discussions.
✅ Increased business value of procurement
Procurement doesn’t just react – it leads, builds trust, and delivers measurable value.
Recognize, Balance, Take Control
Selling is influencing – and sellers are good at it. They train for this in sales courses, and it’s their job to close deals. Procurement’s job isn’t just to defend – it’s to understand the game, shape the field of play, and take an active role.
Who Leads – the Seller or the Buyer? When procurement understands sales techniques, it can use those same influence tools constructively – with suppliers and internal stakeholders alike.
👉 Strengthen your negotiation and influencing skills
I help procurement teams understand sales psychology, build negotiation confidence, and improve their influence – both toward suppliers and internal stakeholders.
📅 Book a free sparring session.
It’s non-binding, but might open a new direction.
📧 Contact me directly:
Phone: +358 50 4381912
Website: www.leadersbeacon.fi
Best regards,
Lauri Vihonen
Writer of the blog Who Leads – the Seller or the Buyer?
I’ve written more than 200 blogs on procurement’s role, challenges, and opportunities – always grounded in real-world experience, successes, and lessons learned.
If you’re considering improving your procurement or recognized some familiar challenges, I recommend browsing my writings. You’ll find practical tools, insights, and ideas tailored to different industries and situations.
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