Identifying True Pain Points for Effective Procurement Solutions
By Rajendra Mishra, Managing Director · 2 February 2024
It is so intuitive to think that why would someone not state the true pain while seeking a solution. Most strategic initiatives do not capture the true pain points specific to the organization. It may be because one wants to be seen articulating top trending technical trends such as Procurement Analytics, predictive outcomes, etc., while the pain may be in the core areas like “negotiations” to benefit from a competitive cost which either adds to the bottom line or creates competitiveness for higher market share.
The Challenge of Addressing True Pain Points
Product or service providers with the right fit solution end up either trying hard to develop solutions for “nice to have functionality” with potentially less impact on the mission-critical pain in the company. This also creates an issue in the solution provider's company by overloading the resources, dilution of the strategic roadmap of the product/services, and ends up either creating a suboptimal solution which the customer doesn’t buy since it is not the critical pain area and doesn’t get the approval at the leadership level or give up on the potential customer despite having the right fit product/services.
Importance of Identifying Critical Pain Areas
It is thus extremely important to identify the critical pain area and, if required, probe the customer deeper through leading questions based on the research on the company. If the homework is done properly and the case is built out well based on real analysis from the data, it is possible to collaboratively define the “critical pain area.”
Effective Approaches for Identifying Pain Points
Once done, one can approach in providing the best fit solution using the existing and proven product/services with customization, if necessary. POC or FOC trials help in demonstrating the outcome and build faith in the customer, and over time, a true partnership evolves in solving the critical pain points with the best use of the resources in a targeted manner.
Ensuring Better Conversion Rates and Customer Satisfaction
Next time you make a pitch for your product/services, spend more time if required to identify the core pain point and it will ensure a better conversion rate and satisfied customers whose word-of-mouth reference will add to the leads pipeline. Embracing Autonomous Procurement can also streamline the process, making it more efficient and accurate.
Questions about this article.
Why do customers sometimes fail to articulate their true pain points?
How can providers identify a customer's real pain point?
About the Author
Rajendra Mishra is the Managing Director of procurEngine, a transformational leader with 33+ years of experience, including 15+ years as a CXO driving cost leadership, supply chain innovation and digital transformation in large business houses. He is an engineering graduate from NITK, Surathkal, with executive education from Cornell, Wharton, ISB and XLRI.