Emma Carroll is joined by Paul Alexander and Martin White

When it comes to selling and contracting for professional services, have you ever fallen into any of the common procurement pitfalls?  

Perhaps you have failed to understand the structure of procurement and the wider buying process in an organisation. Maybe you have been tempted to oversell capabilities, or talk up talent that isn’t available when it will be needed. Have you assumed those working in procurement understand more about consulting than they do? Or have you simply failed to listen…? 

It’s a rare firm that hasn’t fallen into the supplier management gap at some time. In this podcast, we discuss all things procurement with Paul Alexander, who’s had leadership roles at BP and British Airways, and now lectures on procurement, teaching tomorrow’s buyers of professional services and beyond.  

Paul has witnessed all these mistakes and more—but he takes a positive look at what firms can do to build a better and more profitable relationship with their partners in procurement. 

The first 40 minutes of this episode are a behind-the-scenes interview with Paul Alexander. This is followed by 10 minutes of bonus content with Martin White, Principal Consultant at Source, in which we discuss what Source’s research has to say about the issues raised.