Business profile

Part of a global group with over 110,000 employees worldwide, the UK business has a turnover circa £1.4bn and a multi-site operation with over 5,000 employees in the food services sector.

Business challenges

There were a range of challenges from both buying and selling perspectives.
From the buying perspective, to:

• deliver Category Management and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) training
• provide the client with a complete ‘tool kit’ and Guide for later reference
• bespoke the material to the client’s needs

From the selling perspective, to:

• help the National Sales Team understand buyers’ psychology relating to winning business and building relationships.

What we did

Our engagement was driven by our Consulting and Training teams, who:

• redesigned the Strategic Sourcing strategy to align with current thinking and best-in-class approaches
• developed internal competencies through a series of workshops
• incorporated client-specific Case Studies to ensure relevance
• produced a 400-page A5 comprehensive Guide to Strategic Sourcing & SRM supported by tools and templates
• tailored materials to the client’s needs for the National Sales Team (approx. 70)

Business impact

This was a high-impact piece of work, highlighted by:

• Procurement Team upskilled and brought up to date with best-in-class practices and behaviours
• ROI achieved by one attendee achieving breakthrough cost reductions exceeding 50% for a single category
• National Sales Team also reporting greater success in bid conversion and account retention.

Client Testimonials

“Since running the SpringTide Strategic Sourcing Awareness programme there has been a positive step change in our procurement activities. The team now are now working from the same reference point and as a result the approach is more consistent. It is not just SpringTide’s content, it is the way they tailor and deliver the content that adds real value. I would have no hesitation in recommending SpringTide to any organisation that wants to develop and/or transform its procurement activity.” – Head of Procurement

“We have used Mike and the team at SpringTide for a number of learning and development interventions across many different functions and have always been extremely pleased with the results. Mike has developed and delivered Strategic Sourcing and Supplier Management training to a group of our buyers, and the material he developed is still used for reference. He has also spent significant time developing Negotiation training for our National Sales force and the feedback has been exceptional. Not only have we seen a significant upturn in revenue and confidence as a result of these events, but our people have walked away saying “It was the best training they had ever received, being relevant to their job and in a language they understand.” In this difficult economic climate, Mike has been able to help our people understand how to tailor their sales approach to different buyers through use of conditioning language and the prospect of added value. We will definitely be using Mike and his team again as he delivers real value to our business.” – HR Director