You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. You’ve heard that plenty of times. But how often do you hear procurement and sales striking such a deal?

That’s what Best-in-Class small and medium businesses are doing to succeed, according to a recent study from the Aberdeen Group. Businesses are doing it that way because it’s paying off — big-time. By working with sales to pull together more complete and accurate customer data, procurement people are playing a big part in helping companies post enviable performance stats.

What does it mean to be Best-in-Class? For businesses where procurement and sales collaborated, these were among the results reported:

• Size of average deal went up 27%
• Average annual customer revenue rose 26%
• Sales cycle time was reduced 16%
• Sales administrative time shrunk by 14%

This doesn’t just naturally evolve, of course. It takes careful planning and dedication — and a willingness to challenge and change the minds of the “that’s the way we’ve always done it” people. The way Best-in-Class companies have done it is to react to what they’re hearing from procurement and customers.

When asked to describe the biggest problems to making good business decisions, two concerns topped the list:

• Receiving fragmented customer data, and
• An expanding customer base

There’s no quick cure for these concerns, of course. But Best-in-Class companies formed a two-pronged approach, which provided the answers necessary to make improvements. One thing these results showed clearly was that improvement is an ongoing process — there’s no resting on your laurels because you think you “made it.”

The two strategies that helped companies improve the internal bonds necessary to boost performance over the top:

No more making decisions as we go. It’s not unusual for many decisions to be made in procurement or sales based on the best possible information available at that time. But making decisions on a case-by-case basis makes it extremely difficult to make consistent decisions. Snap decisions that are made under fire aren’t always the best ones, and often can end up creating more harm than good. For that reason, the decision-making process must be drawn from information gathered by both sales and procurement. This will make decisions more formal, structured and consistent. Also, decisions will be easier to make, because the standards and expectations are clearly defined.

Stick a wet finger in the wind to see how we’re doing. Start by tracking what tactics worked for sales and procurement, and which tactics fell short. The greatest learning comes from your mistakes. Why were some deals accepted and others rejected? Where did the procurement process break down? By taking this approach, professionals were able to pinpoint areas that needed improvement, including pricing strategy. Additional benefit: More consistent results will lead to more consistent revenue growth, which is noted across the company.

Tags: best-in-class, customer, procurement, sales