Procurement, without the panic

Name the process, then work it. What to ask when the buyer says 'send me a proposal' or 'we need three quotes', so your proposal answers the question that decides it.

Part of the Carrow programme. In this sample academy, only the first course, Discovery: the second question, is open.

Lessons

• Before you send a proposal. The buyer says "send me a proposal". The question to ask before you write a word: what does it have to answer, and who reads it?

• Three quotes. Find out what the quotes will be compared on, so you aren't compared on price by default.

• Map the process. Who signs, in what order, and what each of them needs. Ask procurement; they usually tell you.

• Terms that don't work. Name the term, narrow it to the clause, and test one change against it.

• Keep your champion in the room. Procurement owns the process. The person with the problem still owns the reason.