Beyond low prices: Making purchasing more professional

In companies all over the world, purchasing departments are feared as sneaky price cutters. Their reputation for caring exclusively about numbers, data, and facts gives the impression that they are working only for themselves, lacking social skills, technical knowledge, and the ability to see the bigger picture. Tanja Dammann-Götsch, an expert in professional purchasing, is changing the image of buyers in companies and turning them into partners with other departments – especially with internal corporate sales.

“’Those weaklings in purchasing’ is the kind of name-calling I often hear in business,“ says Dammann-Götsch, who sees herself as a consultant and confidant in purchasing and sales. “What other departments think and even say out loud can lead to insular thinking within the company, and that hinders good cooperation. Purchasing and sales can benefit from each other when they work together and pool their expertise.”

For many people, bringing buyers and sellers to the table within the same company sounds almost unthinkable. “If I do that with my clients, the first thing I encounter is rejection,“ Dammann-Götsch continues. “But once each department learns how the other ticks and that each can benefit from the other, the most important bridge has been built. By the time the sales team has brought in the next massive deal, neither department will remember how they got by without the other.”

Purchasing professional Tanja Dammann-Götsch develops and expands teamwork, communication skills, and self-presentation with buyers. She makes company purchasers into strong ambassadors for their department and into competent partners at the international level.

Not only can she act as a consultant when it’s time to offer expertise, build experience, and create an action plan, but she also works with people to put the whole thing into practice. If a project hits an impasse, this purchasing expert can also jump in as interim manager and bring everything back into balance.

Tanja Dammann-Götsch provides the professional interface between purchasing and the other departments involved and gives buyers in international companies a new role. “It makes me happy to see where I can shake things up so that a project can develop in a positive direction.”