1 · Segment your suppliers
Treating every supplier the same way is one of the most common mistakes in procurement. A small supplier may value predictable payments over an extra point of margin; a large one may want market share and long-term volume.
Whitepaper
Beyond Price: Become Supplier's Customer of Choice
Anupam Aggrwal, CEO & Co-Founder · 21 August 2026
The question nobody asks
Procurement teams spend enormous energy finding suppliers, issuing RFQs and negotiating terms — but rarely ask the question the other way around: why would the best supplier want to choose us?
The answer is not always price. Suppliers evaluate customers on payment reliability, demand visibility, ease of doing business, recognition, growth opportunities and the overall quality of the relationship. The best ones increasingly choose where to invest their time, capacity and innovation — and that choice is made on more than margin.
If I were a supplier, would I choose to do business with my company?
Seven levers, beyond price
Drawing on more than 25 years of procurement practice, the guide sets out seven practical ways to earn supplier priority.
2 · A supplier value proposition
Companies invest heavily in marketing to customers and almost nothing in a compelling proposition for suppliers. Procurement should build one with marketing and communications.
3 · Visibility into your future
Suppliers cannot plan around surprises. A new plant, a major project or a step change in demand should reach strategic suppliers as early as is commercially appropriate.
4 · Recognition and reward
Procurement is quick to measure suppliers when they fail. How often do we recognise them when they succeed on quality, lead time, innovation or risk?
5 · Room to grow with you
The strongest relationships exist where both sides see growth — a new market, a new product, a wider scope, or an introduction to another part of the business.
6 · Innovation and IP
Some of the best outcomes come from involving suppliers before specifications are finalised, rather than handing them a finished specification to price.
The seventh lever is the one that ties the rest together: measure your supplier experience the way you measure customer experience — the whole journey, from first contact through onboarding and registration to payment.
Who this is for
CPOs and heads of procurement who compete for capacity in constrained markets, and supplier management leads who want relationships that produce more than a price.
CPOs
Supplier Management
Category Managers
The full guide covers all seven levers in detail, how to segment suppliers so each relationship gets the right kind of investment, and a supplier classification framework to put it into practice.
Document Details
- Pages
- 11
- File Type
- Language
- English