How to deal with back door selling?
At this year's "XI Purchasing Forum", we discussed the risks associated with selling the back door. The received feedback reinforced us in the belief that this is an interesting topic and that's why we decided to write a short text about it.
Implementation and monitoring of the negotiation strategy
Everyone is exposed to backdooring activities. It is one of the most effective sales techniques and is therefore often used by experienced suppliers. Fortunately, there are proven ways to deal with this type of practice.
The first step is the implementation of an integrated and comprehensive purchasing policy that allows you to eliminate sales attempts with the back door. Importantly, this strategy must be supported by high and medium-level managers and regularly monitored. And all attempts to circumvent it - both by sellers and employees - are penalized.
Awareness of back door selling negotiation techniques among employees
The second very important activity is building awareness of the risks associated with selling the back door among all employees of the company. This awareness allows employees to recognize backdoor selling activities and understand why they are taken by sellers. On the other hand, properly prepared training and negotiation workshops build competences that enable answering questions asked by the suppliers in a way that does not result in the weakening of the company's negotiating position. And in many cases they can make it much better.
The combination of these two actions allows you to comprehensively counteract backdoor selling activities.
In Eveneum, we know how to successfully build secure and profitable purchasing strategies. We conduct trainings and workshops for managers and negotiators, as well as employees of other departments, where we teach how to strengthen negotiating positions and deal with unpredictable and difficult situations such as back door selling. We invite you to contact us.