So where did this idea come from?

“Show, don’t tell” grew out of fiction writing. Early writing instructors noticed that weak stories explained too much. They told you what a character felt instead of letting you experience it. Strong writers did the opposite. They showed the world. They revealed emotion through behavior, scenes, and detail. You didn’t have to be told someone was angry. You could see the clenched jaw. You could hear the short answers. You could feel the tension.

And here’s the key thing. Showing works better because your brain treats it like an experience, not a lecture. Instead of being handed a conclusion, you build it yourself. That makes it feel more real and more believable.

And this doesn’t just make storytelling more compelling. It also makes communication more persuasive.

So let’s explore how that works. Imagine you want to convince your child not to get a tattoo. You sit them down. You tell them all the reasons. You quote statistics about infections. You cite research about skin reactions. You talk about the permanence and the regret.

But it falls flat. Why? Because your child already has reasons of their own. Meaning. Identity. Self-expression. Friends who have tattoos and love them. Every logical point you raise has a rebuttal waiting. So the conversation turns into a debate. And in debates, people usually defend their views. They don’t replace them.

Show them what's happening

But what if you took a different approach? Rather than trying to convince, what if you tried helping people see? What would change if you stopped telling people what to do, and started showing them what’s happening?

Think of your best logical argument against getting a tattoo. Hold that thought.

Now imagine saying something more like this:

“Tattoos aren't just ink. They are an endless war. Your body sends cells to eat the dye, but the particles are too heavy. So the cells choke, die, and get trapped under your skin. Then new cells come to eat the dead ones. Forever. You aren't seeing art. You're seeing millions of dead soldiers holding the line.” Source

Notice what happened? You didn’t argue. You didn’t instruct. You didn’t say “don’t do it.” You painted a picture. You reframed what a tattoo is. Not art. Not expression. A permanent battlefield under the skin. A war your body never wins.

That’s “show, don’t tell” at work

It’s more effective at changing minds because it reaches people through meaning and imagery instead of resistance and logic. It doesn’t trigger defensiveness. It gives the brain something to visualize. It lets the listener arrive at their own conclusion. Which means it sticks.

And here’s the deeper truth. Most persuasion fails because it starts from the outside and pushes in. Stories work because they start from the inside and grow out.

So how do you tell a story like that?

First, you have to actually understand the thing you’re talking about. That means going deeper than most people do. Learning how something works. Asking why. Understanding the mechanics, the history, the emotional weight. You can’t choose the right image or metaphor unless you see the full picture. Real insight is what lets you find the story hiding underneath the facts.

Second, you shift from telling people what something means to showing them what it looks like. Not “tattoos stay in your body.” But “cells choke on ink particles and die trying to carry them away.” Not “meetings waste time.” But “twelve people sit in a room arguing over a bullet point while their real work waits quietly in their inboxes.” You translate abstraction into experience.

Third, you let the listener connect the dots. You resist the urge to hammer the conclusion home. You don’t add “and that’s why tattoos are bad.” You let silence do the work. When people arrive on their own, the belief is stronger. It feels like theirs. Because it is.

And finally, you stay honest. “Show, don’t tell” isn’t about manipulation. It’s about clarity. It’s about revealing what was already true in a way that people can actually feel and understand.

If there’s one idea to walk away with, it’s this: Stop trying to control what people think. Start helping them see the world more clearly. When the picture changes, the conclusion often takes care of itself.

Instead, acting like an owner looks very different for PMMs. A stellar PMM knows how to manage various points of view, timelines, priorities, and nudge the organization in the right direction, one step at a time. As a PMM, it's healthier to imagine navigating a large ship powered by many rowers who can't turn on a dime rather than piloting a 2-person fighter jet. 75% of the job is knowing how to influence the other rowers, including the ones steering the ship.

Influencing, not ownership, is the path to promotion and driving killer revenue results. The hardest part is this: influencing can't be learned from the neat frameworks you read in books or the catchy stories from 'influencers' jockeying for attention on social. And, sorry, I don't have any game-changing answers either. But maybe start by accepting that your success and happiness in PMM depend on being pragmatic, not dogmatic, having an opinion, and knowing how to gather support. Practice that, enjoy the process of learning through experience, and abandon the fallacy of ownership and control.

US military professionals are trained to start their emails with the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) because it grabs attention and makes the message clear and concise.

Figure out what you want to say (your bottom line) and say it first.

• If you want your reader to take action, state the action up front.
• If you're about to give a 5-min overview that requires no action, say that.
• If you're recommending a solution, share your recommendation first and then supporting research.
• If you overperformed or underperformed, start with that message.

But here's the hard part: What is your bottom line, and how do you pick just one?

Your bottom line is what your whole argument boils down to. Ideally, it's short, easy to grasp, and sparks curiosity.

I find it helpful to think about the specific change of mind or behavior I want to incite. It doesn't have to be a life-altering change, but it should be specific and clear.

Why BLUF works:

✨ It quickly answers your reader's top question, “Why should I care?”

✨ It gives the reader context, which makes everything else easier to understand.

✨ It helps you cut content that doesn't support your bottom line, resulting in more impact with fewer words.

— Credit: Lisa Cron's book, Wired for Story, helped me articulate the three whys above (bulleted with stars). I highly recommend it!

Instead, more than half the battle is just showing up: being at the right place at the right time more often than not—that's what counts.

When faced with a choice between...

A) Showing up for your audience every 1-2 quarters with a high-impact initiative and all the bells and whistles perfectly coordinated

-VS-

B) Showing up weekly with only the 80%, 60, or even 20% that adds the most value each time

...choose B more often.

✨ A recent customer quote sums up why:

“I have a bias for vendors who show up and look like they're active in their category. This tells me they're here to stay and have a reputation to protect. I trust those vendors more because I feel like they'd have something to lose if I'm not happy.”

Recency and frequency are immense tools for establishing trust, reputation, and influencing buying decisions. Don't let the pursuit of perfection or splashy marketing get in the way.

Most exec teams emphasize new customer acquisition, leaving teams focused on creating value for existing customers, such as Customer Success and Customer Marketing, feeling like they come second. And, Product Marketing gets stuck between creating messaging and content for prospects vs. existing customers.

But consider this: Prospects often respond well to content created for existing customers.

In other words, prospects want to know...

• The playbook for successful implementation
• Best practices for roll-out and achieving adoption
• How to solve 'day in the life' pain points using the product
• How you'll help them amplify ROI
• How the product is constantly evolving

Using materials like the examples above, I've seen sales reps close deals and win against more feature-rich competitors.

Paraphrased from closed-won interviews, I've heard...

“[Your company] felt like the safer bet because you showed us the amount of support and expertise we'd get beyond technical support. The tech is great but still needs hands-on planning and initiative to succeed.”

If you're tired of having to choose between new and existing customers, try creating content for existing customers and repurposing that content for prospects across various channels. The storytelling possibilities are endless, and the results may open some eyes ✨

Carl built a marketing engine that went fast for 2 quarters but didn’t last. He invested in SEO content, ebook ad campaigns, and events – all tried and true tactics. But as he looked back, he realized those activities failed at…

A. Positioning against competitors B. Driving engagement (views, likes, bookmarks, comments) C. Driving virality (social/community shares, email shares, internal shares) D. Acquiring customers at scale (no chance if A-C are weak)

So, how can you avoid the same low-growth hell as a marketing leader? Carl learned from his mistakes and had an opportunity to start over. This time he built a methodical marketing plan by asking himself these 6 key questions:

1. Target Audience: Do you understand the people you’re selling to?

Have you embedded yourself in the life of your target audience and understood how to make them question their status quo? Do you know who and what influences their decisions? What are their internal measures of success and perceived barriers to buying a solution like yours?

2. Messaging: Have you translated what you learned into a core pitch?

Are you clear on how to convert a cold audience? Do you know what they need to see and hear before they change their minds and lean into your product? How will you position your product as a simple tie-in into their existing workflows?

3. Core Content: What core content do you need across the funnel?

Do you know which topics and angles will build preference for your product? What assets are required in the evaluation stage when more stakeholders and competitors get involved? You’ll need content that generates signals from “I’m looking for a solution to a problem” to “I’m in the market to buy a solution.”

4. Channels: How will you reach and nurture a cold audience?

Do you know where your audience goes online or offline to solve problems related to your product? How will you establish a presence (using the content from above) on those channels and give your audience a reason to stay in your orbit?

5. Conversion: How will you convert a warm audience into leads and sales?

How will you create pull so potential buyers in your orbit volunteer their time to learn more about your product? (e.g., requesting a demo). What content and messaging will you need to convert that demo request into a sale?

6. Retention: How will you help customers achieve their desired outcomes post-sale?

Do you understand your customers’ desired outcomes after they buy your product? Have you educated customers to choose a path and take action so they can achieve those outcomes?

What if there was one change to your retention strategy that could accelerate growth and leave your competitors behind?

That’s what I learned from an interview with Jennifer Dearman, former Chief Customer Officer at Pendo and Udacity, and former leader of successful customer success teams at companies like RedHat, Kronos, and SAS. 

After writing about revenue retention, where I outlined the parts of a well-oiled retention engine, I still had a burning question:

What actually fuels the retention engine?

In other words, what key inputs drive a successful revenue retention strategy? So I asked Jennifer for an interview, given her deep background in customer success, a function often tasked with retaining customers, and she graciously accepted. I came away with fresh insights that not only affect retention but growth overall.

Let’s dive in!

As a fun way to learn more about you beyond your LinkedIn profile, what’s your favorite non-fiction book?

Jennifer: I’m currently reading Believe IT, by Jamie Kern Lima, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good underdog story. Jamie tells the story of how she went from being told someone who looks like her could never sell makeup to selling her company, IT Cosmetics, to L’Oreal for over a billion dollars and becoming the first female CEO of a brand in L’Oreal’s 100-year portfolio history. I often see myself as an underdog, so I love reading about how others draw upon their strengths to overcome the steepest struggles in their lives.

Why does revenue retention matter?

Everyone knows retaining customers is essential for long-term survival, with an emphasis on the long-term. When you have a consistent customer base, it provides…

• Revenue stability: This is super important for forecasting and countering fluctuations in new customer acquisition, especially in a tough economic climate like the one we’re in now. 
• Cost control: Retaining and growing existing customers costs less than acquiring new ones, which helps keep costs down.
• ROI: The longer a customer stays with the company, the more likely they are to make repeat purchases; this increases expansion rates and drives up the return on the initial cost of acquiring the customers.
• Growth: Long-term customers often become brand advocates, serve as references and provide customer stories, which is also key for growth overall. 

➡️ These are really good reasons to focus on retention but remember: retention is a company outcome, and customers don’t care about your retention rate. 

That’s an interesting statement. As most startups track corporate metrics like retention, what are they missing?

Tracking retention is important and necessary, but retention is a lagging indicator. It’s a result, and tracking it alone won’t help you retain more customers and grow your business. Instead of tracking only company outcomes like retention or product metrics like usage rates, I recommend measuring and tracking customer outcomes as well.

There’s a Deloitte study that found 90% of customers discussed their desired outcomes with their vendors, but more than 50% said they never achieved those outcomes. That same study showed that customers are 32% more likely to renew their contracts (which is code for retain) if their outcomes are delivered. Retention can lead to higher rates of expansion, upsell, and cross-sell, which could positively impact revenue by as much as 20%. 

So, while you’re tracking company outcomes like retention, expansion, product adoption, and advocacy, don’t forget about or overlook customer outcomes. If you do the latter, I guarantee the company outcomes will naturally follow. 

Another often overlooked benefit of focusing on customer outcomes is the impact it has internally.  Employees find it more motivating to see how their work directly impacts customers vs. just hearing about the usual company metrics in all-hands meetings. I have always made it a priority to highlight customer outcome stories as much as possible so the culture of the company becomes grounded in them.

That resonates a lot with me too. So, let’s bring the idea to life–what is a customer outcome?

Customer outcomes can be bucketed into 4 things. They either increase revenue, decrease cost, mitigate risk, or create a better customer experience. When you think about customer outcomes, think about how your product/service can impact one or more of those four outcomes in a meaningful and measurable way.

All the other metrics we usually track, like active users, repeat usage, and even customer satisfaction, are often used to predict renewal rates, and they are important metrics to measure and understand. But we’ve all seen customers churn even when their usage and satisfaction numbers were high, and the usual explanation is they can’t quantify the value of the investment.

That makes sense–customers want to know how you’ve improved their metrics, not your own. Can you share a real-life example of that?

At Udacity, a provider of online training content, it would have been easy to measure ourselves against the most obvious, easy-to-measure usage metrics like course hours watched, course completion rates, and nanodegree graduation rates. After all, shouldn’t customers care about how many of their employees actually completed the courses paid for by the company? This is what we thought customers cared about.

But they didn’t care about those typical product metrics. Instead, executives wanted to know which skills were being developed and how those skills were being applied on the job to increase revenue, decrease costs, mitigate risk, or improve the customer experience. Once we realized what really mattered to our customers and built a framework to measure these outcomes, it completely changed how we sold, onboarded, and supported our customers.

This shift in mindset to customer outcomes can be applied to any startup. For example, a project management startup might gravitate to measuring product metrics like time spent in app, projects started, and projects completed. But from my experience, retention (and growth) will be driven by other factors, such as whether the app helped the company save time, reduce execution risk, and speed up projects directly tied to generating revenue.

Those are great examples that can be applied to any startup. How can a startup measure and track customer outcomes?

I recommend having a 3-part framework in place to understand, act on, and report customer outcomes at every major stage of the customer journey, including pre-sales, onboarding, engagement, outcome attainment, renewal, and expansion. 

1. Align internally on the right customer outcomes: Product and Marketing should be aligned on the same meaningful and measurable customer outcomes so you’re attracting customers that need your product. Internal alignment (inclusive of Sales and Customer Success) also ensures that everyone’s working as one team and focused on the right customer goals.
2. Create customer success plans centered on achieving customer outcomes: Hold customers and your Customer Success teams accountable for choosing outcomes and following through on achieving those outcomes. A mutually agreed-upon success plan often serves as a strong tool to drive follow-through by ensuring cross-functional alignment with client-side stakeholders.
3. Find ways to measure and report customer outcomes: Develop strong customer partnerships where they trust you enough to share their data in some low-risk format. Help them see how to use that data to build an ROI story that addresses the original outcomes they expressed in Step 1.

Implementing a simple framework like this can have so many benefits. Not the least of which is developing a treasure chest of quantifiable customer proof points that your competitors can’t copy. It shows how focusing on customer outcomes can have powerful side effects on growth overall.

What would you suggest to any B2B startup that sees the value in operationalizing customer outcomes but is struggling to make it a reality?

Driving organizational change is hard, especially in later stages of the growth cycle. But that’s why it’s worth pursuing. Because customer outcome-oriented thinking can have lasting effects on growth and can’t easily be copied. 

If startups are struggling to create a customer outcome-oriented operating model, I have a few tips to increase their chances of success. 1) Exec leaders must have a conviction for such an operating model from the top down and make it one of the highest priorities for the company. 2) Cross-functional teams across Product, Marketing, Customer Success, and Sales all need to be bought in and aligned. 3) Lastly, the initiative to operationalize customer outcomes must address a major growth or profitability barrier that is a high priority for the company.

Thank you for these truly unique insights. I greatly appreciate the time you spent speaking with me.

→ Stand out from the crowd → Keep eyes locked on what you have to say → Make your message more memorable → Simplify the writing process itself

Instead of winging it the next time you're writing a headline, use this 3-step process:

1. START WITH A CLEAR SOLUTION

Say you're writing about an at-home workout that you developed to lose weight in 30 days. So, start with the simplest version of your headline…

“The at-home workout routine that helped me lose weight in 30 days”

Sounds generic, but that's okay for now. It's more important to be clear about what you're offering. We'll add additional layers later.

2. ADD SOME SECRET SAUCE: AN OBSTACLE

Think about your audience and ask yourself, what relatable obstacles do they face on their journey to lose weight?

• Do they procrastinate?
• Do they not have the right equipment?
• Do they prefer professional guidance?
• Do they not know where to start?
• Do they waste time on the wrong things?
• Do they eat the wrong foods?
• Do they not know how to balance their time?
• Do they have the wrong expectations?

Then, pick one of the obstacles above based on 2 criteria: 1) Pick an obstacle that causes acute pain for your audience, and 2) an obstacle you can help them overcome.

For our example, I'll go with the first obstacle: procrastination.

Tip 💡 If there’s no obstacle, everyone would have achieved their target weight, and the need to write your article would disappear. The obstacle is why your readers will stop scrolling: because you’re speaking to their needs and promising a better path.

Choosing the right obstacle, knowing what to call it, and how to talk about it gets much easier if you've invested in getting to know your audience, specifically their pains, pressures, and priorities.

3. WRAP YOUR SOLUTION (FROM STEP 1) IN THE PROBLEM/OBSTACLE (FROM STEP 2)

Finally, frame your solution as a path your audience can take around or over their obstacle.

This step forces you to think in terms of your audience rather than focusing on what you're selling or what you've built.

Here are a few examples:

• “How to lose 15lbs in 30 days, even if you're a master procrastinator”
• “The procrastinator's guide to choosing a target weight and target date, and nailing them both”
• “Is losing weight hard for you because you procrastinate?”

You could even test multiple versions. Media companies do that all the time.

Once you've chosen a headline, make good on your promise. You've done the homework, putting thought into creating a headline that resonates with your audience. Don't just write an article about your workout routine. Add some texture to it by tailoring your message and content for procrastinators.

⭐

For presentations, articles, events, ebooks, landing pages, try these steps when you need a catchy (but meaningful) headline. If you get stuck, give me a shout and I'll help!

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• Set clear goals that are ambitious yet achievable
• Clarify and communicate values
• Empower your team members
• Give constructive feedback
• Measure what matters
• Measure performance
• Celebrate success
• Seek commitment
• Show gratitude
• Be transparent
• Be authentic

So, what’s wrong with all the above?

Typical leadership advice separates managers from their team members. Imagine a general leading their soldiers from a safe remote location.

Instead, leaders who build killer teams and attract talent work shoulder-to-shoulder with their team members. They work from the trenches and play their part on the frontline.

But what does that look like? Consider this:

9 Non-Obvious Ways To Lead A Team That People Want To Join

1. Empty your cup

Forget about the scar tissue you still have from previous managers. Don’t let those experiences affect how you treat your team members, from how you coach them to how you advocate for their career growth.

2. Make hard decisions, so your team can focus

Avoid saying ‘yes’ to every cross-functional request and letting your team deal with the chaos. Instead, do the dirty work of saying ‘no’ when needed, so your team can focus and deliver business results.

3. Break down problems into smaller, actionable chunks

Saddling your team with a big, hairy problem with many goals and impossible timelines is a recipe for failure. Break down the problem into smaller wins organized from simple to complex or high-to-low impact.

4. Provide clear examples of success

Remove uncertainty around what success looks like. Develop example(s) of deliverables, so your team doesn’t have to read your mind. They’ll love the clarity and reward you with creative solutions that hit the mark.

5. Give real context

Don’t sugarcoat or ‘tow the company line’ when the going gets rough. Help your team understand the realities of the situation, no matter how ugly. They’ll reciprocate by rising to the occasion.

6. Respect their decisions

When a team member makes a decision, even if you disagree, give them a chance to see it through. Help them make it a success and allow them the opportunity to learn.

7. Create a safe space to fail

Let your team members take big swings and trust them to work hard to drive success. As their leader, work behind the scenes to manage expectations with select stakeholders in the unlikely case the wheels come off at showtime.

8. Create a feeling of winning

Perks, offsites, and awards are nice ways to drive employee engagement, but they don’t matter if your team loses momentum. Help your team end each week feeling like they made real progress toward a meaningful goal.

9. Make every team member a hot prospect for their next role

Proactively help every team member build their resume worthy of a bigger role in 2-3 years (or less), regardless of whether they stay or go. Then, watch them give you 110% every day.

When procurement gets involved, sales cycles take longer, pricing and favorable contract terms get depressed, and in the worst-case scenario, the status quo and competitive quotes get reconsidered. Some senior executives believe…

“Procurement should be the most hated function in any company.”

…recounts David Swift, a seasoned procurement leader with experience at companies like Novartis and PwC. Procurement can kill a deal if sellers are unprepared to navigate a department that exists to make it as difficult as possible for the client to spend money.

And yet, I don’t think B2B SaaS sales and marketing teams understand procurement very well. We often leave it to the account exec and their manager to get the deal ‘through procurement’ without capturing learnings when things go well vs. not so well. Meanwhile, in one online poll, more than 88% of B2B sales professionals report dealing with procurement before closing a deal, and 60% said that 7 or more of their deals go through procurement every year.

Why aren’t more sales and marketing teams talking about procurement?

In this post, I’d like to change that. I will walk through what I learned about procurement from this excellent Modern Sales Pros webinar–which goes inside the mind of a procurement leader at Mercedes-Benz (I highly recommend watching the webinar from front to back). And I’ll suggest actions that marketing teams can take to enable their sellers when they face procurement.

Let’s find out how to work with procurement rather than have them work against us.

Insight 1 of 4: Procurement doesn't only care about saving money. They want to create value for the business.

That’s an important starting line. Why do procurement teams exist? They help large companies with big budgets make sound buying decisions. Cost minimization is one dimension, but it’s not the only thing that matters. After all, procurement teams are a group of professional buyers, and it’s their job to spend the company’s money. But they’re looking for opportunities that offer their company an advantage by aligning with the company’s priorities and overall business strategy.

Marketing action

Enable your sales team with the insights and tools they need to build a solid business case. Making a business case isn’t a silver bullet but a necessary part of any toolkit for working with procurement teams. I know the importance of building a business case isn’t lost on anyone (especially in today’s economy). Now you have one more reason to finally up-level your ROI game. 

Arm your sales with the tools and frameworks they need to identify business drivers and create a tailored business case that justifies investing in your product. Consider arming your sellers with insightful discovery questions, templates, talk tracks, what to look for, and how to develop a solid business case based on their collected insights.

Insight 2: Giving a discount upfront does more good than harm

Procurement leaders want to work with vendors who can make their lives easier. Although there’s more to procurement than negotiating the lowest price, it helps your case when you show pricing flexibility right out of the gate. Contrary to popular belief, giving a small/good faith discount doesn’t put you in a weaker position. Instead, a small discount signals that you’ll be easy to work with. Procurement departments need to show wins on their scoreboard too. If you understand that, you can see how an upfront discount can position you favorably in the minds of procurement leaders vs. your competitors. 

Marketing action

Here are 4 ways you can design your list pricing to take advantage of this insight:

1. If the market can bear prices within a range, set your list price in the upper end of that range, so you have some room for a small discount right off the bat. Use that discount flexibility when pricing deals you know must go through procurement.
2. Find your competitors’ list pricing and share your competitive insights with procurement, so you can show that you’re offering a real discount and that you haven’t set artificially high prices to fool procurement. I know researching competitive pricing is easier than done, but it’s worth the cost and effort!
3. Rather than having ‘one simple price or all-in pricing’ for everything your product or service offers, consider an ‘unbundled’ pricing strategy. Charge separately for the numerous ways you create value for clients. Unbundled pricing could be a win-win for everyone involved, offering more transparency for buyers and giving you some flexibility when you need to provide clear discounts in working with procurement.
4. Unbundled pricing also makes it easier to offer a menu of ‘give-get’ discounts. You can offer your procurement stakeholder the option to avoid certain charges in exchange for something else. For example, you can define how procurement can unlock the implementation fee waiver by agreeing to shorter payment terms.

Insight 3: Reputation and actual performance matter, not just pricing discounts

How do we know that Procurement teams don’t single-mindedly focus on the lowest price? Because they hold themselves to a host of KPIs, such as supplier performance, business productivity, risk reduction, and sustainability. If you can show how your product performs, improves productivity, and reduces risk, you’ll likely succeed in gaining procurement’s attention and support. This insight aligns with insight number 1, that procurement is hungry to show how they’ve enabled the company to innovate, move faster, and capitalize on opportunities–all representing opportunities for outstanding sales and marketing teams.

Marketing actions

In addition to building a solid business case or using strategic discounts, find ways to deliver critical proof points based on customer data. Show your procurement stakeholder how your product performs on a variety of dimensions:

• Time to implementation
• Activation and usage rates
• Customer satisfaction rates
• Customer service response times
• Customer outcomes (innovations, speed, overhead cost reductions enabled by your product)
• If possible, show data from other customers in the same industry
• Bonus: find ways to subtly message how specific competitors or categories of competitors may fall short on the dimensions above and why

Make the bullets above come alive through various formats, including customer stories, reviews, product data, and survey data. For some dimensions above, I suggest conducting the data collection and analysis by a neutral third party, which adds an extra layer of credibility and robustness.

Insight 4 of 4: Involve procurement ‘soon after day 2’ rather than at the last minute

Procurement teams are often brought in at the last minute before the contract needs to be signed. That puts pressure on the team, making them less likely to prioritize your deal or give you the consideration you think you deserve. For example, the procurement team of just four people at Mercedes-Benz R&D in North America touches over 1,300 deals every year. If you navigate the procurement question with your champion well ahead of time, procurement can act as a tailwind. In some cases, if procurement is engaged from the get-go, they can actually help find budget when needed.

Marketing actions

Here are three ways you can help your sales team drive success by bringing procurement to the table early:

1. Interview procurement leaders in your category to understand how they approach buying decisions for solutions like yours. Treat them like another persona in addition to the usual suspects like IT and Finance. I guarantee your competitors aren't doing this.
2. Equip your sales team with collateral to help educate their champion about procurement’s role in other organizations that have bought your product. At the very least, ask and remind your champion about the process required to get a contract signed and when procurement may get involved. Champions often forget or aren’t aware of the full buying process within their organizations.
3. Create specific collateral for procurement leaders who get involved early in the deal cycle. Build compelling messaging and sales enablement assets targeted to the needs of procurement. The same needs you uncovered through interviewing procurement leaders in your specific category. 

An investment never wasted

Good news: any marketing or sales enablement investment that resonates with procurement will also resonate with your champions and their other stakeholders. As a result, the time, cost, and effort invested in your ‘procurement strategy’ (no matter how big or small) can have a lot of leverage. The difference is that procurement teams are professional buyers who evaluate vendors for a living, unlike champions who may complete one or two purchases a year. So if you can show robust messaging, proof points, and documentation that's a cut above, you’ll likely stand out from your competitors.

I hope this article dispelled some myths about procurement and serves as your mini-handbook the next time you need procurement working with you rather than against you.