It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)

Gettin' had

Gettin' took I tell you, folks It's harder than it looks

… It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll

Every experience in life has the power to shape your career.

No matter what you’ve done, none of it is wasted if you’re a Procurement pro.

We all come from different walks of life and backgrounds and we all have a story to tell.

It didn’t just happen like magic, there wasn’t a rule book that we followed, but looking back it is incredible to see how all of those unique life experiences made us the procurement leaders that we are today.

I had the privilege of interviewing two of the top voices in procurement, Brad Veech and Tom Mills. These procurement rockstars not only crush it at their full-time gig but they’ve also created a personal brand that is earning them credibility and paid opportunities to share their message.

Procurement may be the corporate underdog but the skills you gain from working in the function can make you a highly coveted expert, providing you with more opportunities than you know what to do with.

It’s open season for procurement thought leaders. It is time to start using your expertise to build a legacy that will provide additional income and credibility along the way.

I read Software: The Silent Killer of Your Company's Budget over Christmas break last year when Brad Veech sent me a copy. I think it only took me a few days to finish it because I couldn’t put it down. I believe I even shared a picture on Linkedin that my husband took of me reading it with my daughter.

Brad brilliantly articulated what many of us had in our heads for years with truth, conviction, experience, and a bit of sarcasm. You can hear his voice on every page of the book, it is the perfect guide for buying software and his call to action is as inspiring as the mission behind it.

Brad has more than 20 years of IT Sourcing experience in multiple industries: Big Box Retail, Manufacturing, Printing, Medical, Aerospace, and Defense. He has been responsible for creating and leading world-class technology Sourcing teams with experts that deliver cost savings, lower risk, and improved processes to each project and client - always focusing on creating the best strategies possible to meet customers' desired outcomes.

Throughout his career, he has had software deals ranging from $75 to over $1 billion dollars on a single deal. He has saved the organizations he has worked for hundreds of millions of dollars using the strategies he outlined in this book. He’s an author, keynote speaker, and a one-of-a-kind procurement rockstar who continues to use any method he can to spread the word about creating better long-term software contracts.

It didn’t happen overnight.

There's a lot we didn't see, a lot of work that seemingly went unnoticed.

A legacy like Brad’s doesn’t come easy.?

Growing up Brad had a dream to do something fishing-related. His first job was counting thousands of worms inside styrofoam containers - probably not his dream but it was a job. He eventually stopped counting worms and moved on to fishing bass tournaments when he was sixteen and knew instantly that he wanted to be in the industry somehow.?

He eventually started selling boats and quickly realized that he wouldn’t have the time to fish and raise a young family if he continued down this route.

Nobody grows up saying, I want to be a procurement professional when I grow up, we all got here by a strange twist of fate, and I am very thankful for it.

Sometimes you have to start off counting worms to understand what you really want and who you are.

When I asked Brad about how his early experiences in life prepared him for a career in Procurement, he explained that negotiations were the common denominator across the experiences he enjoyed. In his early sales positions, whether it was at the tackle store, selling cars or boats, he loved the negotiation part of the equation. Back when there really weren’t any “procurement” roles being advertised by companies for jobs.

The first full-time procurement person Brad knew basically used a paper ledger to record the company's purchases and track the POs.

It was more PO tracking than procurement, but that was his title. At that time, he was a sales engineer selling material handling equipment, following in his Dad’s footsteps. Brad humbly joked that his Dad was an “actual engineer” and he wasn’t. Brad was responsible for selling the projects and calculating and negotiating the raw materials for making the equipment. I’m sure Brad’s father helped him understand the language and mindset of engineers.

It was at that point Brad realized he liked the purchasing part of the equation more than the sales. He was then asked to help get technology into the company, that was not a full-time job, so he continued to do purchasing of materials for other people's projects. Next thing you know there is a purchasing department, and the technology part of that was exactly what he was looking for.

And so it begins...

Very early on in Brad’s tech procurement career. He didn’t understand the evergreen exposure of tech procurement. All the deals he had done to that point were manufacturing-related. So you negotiate for a specific project, put the contracts/notes/quotes in a file drawer, and forget about them. In Brad's words, this is where the original 7-step process fails every time today.

It became clear to Brad early that the suppliers in the tech world were playing a different game.

Nobody understood the uplift they could or would charge their valued customers (sarcasm).

Brad doesn’t even think there was a renewal clause that addressed that back in the day. He remembers receiving a renewal notification from one of the major suppliers that we would be receiving a 15% increase for the upcoming year, he was stunned, appalled, and shocked. Brad was not aware such a robbery could occur legally, but it did. Unfortunately, he had already done a few agreements by that time, and another one came in at 25% before he could start taking action and understanding how to combat such behavior.

Brad had to learn the hard way, but that failure led him to write Software: The Silent Killer of Your Company’s Budget”

The complexity in this area is not simplified by tools, it is simplified by experience.

Down the road, things got interesting when the CEO of a large software company flew into town late in a renewal negotiation to meet with Brad’s CEO to let him know that Brad was putting our company in jeopardy with the negotiations.

Later that day Brad was called into the CEO’s office...

Brad was pretty nervous walking into that meeting. Which side was his CEO was going to take?

He had no idea what he was about to face.

As soon as Brad walked in, the CEO thanked him for protecting the company and supported his analysis.

That gave me a lot more confidence going forward in my career.

That is the sort of support and leadership we all need to thrive.

Brad’s book shook the procurement world and provided a call to action for the buy-side to lock arms and make the best long-term contracts possible. I was eager to ask him why he decided to write the book in the first place.

For years Brad witnessed how unfair the contracting practice of the technology suppliers is, and felt that to change the madness we all need to be fighting together.

There is no way any one person or company can change this, we all have to be pushing back together.

So, on a bet Brad's wife challenged him to write a book about it, to get the word out. So, he sat down in his free evenings, and on the weekends, and wrote a game-changing book.

In twelve weeks he had a document that was ready to be edited for publication.

I had a lot of fun writing, more than I had anticipated, to the point I should have a second book out around the end of the year. That is, if I stop changing my mind on the format, lol. I have two about halfway done. And YES! I am working on getting the book and soon books on Audible.

I wonder if while Brad was counting worms at his first job he ever thought he'd be a published author and completely revolutionize how we negotiate and buy software.

You may not be where you want to be in your career, so think about the part of your job that you do enjoy, and work toward finding a role where you can focus on that, and become an expert. Brad knew that negotiating was his passion - he could easily look back and see that it was the one thing he loved the most about every job he had, he doubled down on that passion, and wrote the book on it.

You can do that too!

So what’s the end game?

Brad vows to do whatever he can to level the playing field in this category. He strongly believes that businesses just can’t survive with the escalating costs they are experiencing in their technology spend.

There is no reason that companies should be paying what they are for the tools they are using. THIS HAS TO STOP! I will talk, write, and share all I can to help correct this situation, I doubt I will ever “retire” from this as I love this, and truly want to make a difference in this area.

I highly recommend Software: The Silent Killer of Your Company’s Budget: How to Negotiate and Manage Your Software Portfolio without Getting Taken Advantage of by Your Suppliers.

Software: The Silent Killer Of Your Company's Budget

You can also get a planner/journal designed by Brad to create a daily/weekly plan for your procurement life.

Every procurement professional goes about their day with a different process and a different mindset. We all do deals differently.

Brad’s hope is you will use this planner in your unique situation, and your way, and make your procurement life better and more successful. This is a productivity tool focused on making your day more effective and efficient.

Procurement Planner

Follow Brad on Linkedin

Tom’s story

The Procurement Protagonist has inspired us to think differently and even though his posts might sting a bit at first bite, they are hard truths, but they leave a lasting reward for those who choose to accept his expertise.

Tom and I have been friends for a while - I believe this is the second or third time we’ve collaborated. We have over 1,600 mutual connections on Linkedin, so I don’t think he needs much of an introduction.?

The Protagonist makes working in Procurement look easy, but let’s be real, that’s what a pro does.?

Tom came from humble beginnings. Always the underdog, but he didn’t let that stop him. Oh no, he used every experience, every fail, and every hardship to become the procurement rockstar he is today.?

Believe it or not, Tom wanted to present the weather on TV growing up in the UK. He remembers lying awake during the great storm of 87' and was in awe of the power of the wind.

He loved extreme weather events and would pray for snow in the winter - he was intrigued by the idea of presenting the weather in front of a TV audience.?

Now here's Tom with the weather...

Tom certainly talks about storms and unforeseen events working in Procurement. Maybe he didn’t become a weather presenter but he’s fighting storms all day long.?

Tom grew up in a family of 5 but with just one teacher's salary, they had to be really frugal with their money.?

He was pushed hard academically because for his parents to be able to afford to send him to the best schools he had to be top-grade material which meant he worked hard from an early age.?

Always focused on learning. I think this is a key factor in Procurement. You always have to be curious.

Growing up, Tom worked hard to help his family by running paper rounds just to make ends meet. Tom jokingly admits that growing up in this way taught him the value of good cost control at a young age.

Tom is transparent with his audience, he tells it like it is and holds no punches. I think that's why we love him so much. He's authentic. He openly shares his struggle with anxiety and the pressures of working in Procurement. We can all relate to his content and that's what makes his voice so powerful.

Tom learned at a young age that failure is an essential step to success in life and business, and he's always willing to share his failures as much as his wins because, for Tom, he believes that both can provide positive outcomes.

There's a difference between small fails and big fails and I'd say nothing is ever a failure as long as you then put steps in to put it right.

A big fail that felt a bit career-threatening for Tom was in 2013 when he was Head of Purchasing at the Hut Group.

Tom was heavily incentivized to keep stockholding really tight. One Easter he took it too far on the most expensive Ingredient (Whey Protein Isolate) as they had next to none of it in the depot.

Due to the fog over the holiday a big shipment failed.

This put the production of many of their key selling products at risk of being shut down.?

As Tom puts it “there was no other whey!”

There were a lot of frantic phone calls and Tom had to pay over the odds a bit but in the end, he managed to source some from a competitor in the UK and it got them out of the mess.?

It was a valuable lesson to me in always ensuring you have a buffer and a plan B.

Sometimes all it takes is one win to unlock a drive that can’t be stopped.?

A huge win for Tom occurred in 2004 as he was working as a sugar buyer at the Co-op. He humbly admits that he didn't accomplish this single-handedly. He and his boss managed to open up competitor options in what had up until that point been a closed supply situation with just one source - British Sugar.

They engineered a sealed bids process and managed to take the annualized cost of sugar purchases down by ￡3.2M.

That was a huge figure at the time but also showed Tom the importance of having competitive tension in any buying situation while delivering a negotiation strategy that will optimize the outcome.

Tom’s content on Linkedin is without a doubt the best. He communicates honestly and provides all of us with tremendous amounts of value. Every single day without fail. I had to ask him why he started writing procurement content in the first place.?

He just started writing - no rhyme or reason. He is passionate about changing Procurement for the good, and he just enjoys writing and helping others. He openly shared that he could write an essay on all the things that need to change in Procurement, he uses Linkedin and Substack to share his message with the masses to inspire change, and I think it is safe to say that it is working.

I think we can all be so much better by sharing what we know. I love being able to do that but also building a powerful network of reciprocity.

Tom loves working for and within the business, but he does hope to go solo at some point and create something truly valuable for the Procurement space. That will enable him to work from anywhere and he’ll be able to work when he wants to on the things he loves. It is just a matter of when for Tom, and I know I’m not alone in saying that when that day comes it will be like Christmas morning for the procurement industry.?

When I asked Tom about his end-game he started with this…

“To get to meet you in America at a conference. I think you're awesome. It will be Procurement Girl meets Procurement Boy (Protagonist!)”

Tom and I should start a conference in the US. I’d imagine it to be a music festival with good food, drinks, and friends talking about life and Procurement. I just hope Tom doesn't make us run a marathon. We'll keep it rock 'n roll - don’t worry.

Tom strongly believes that we're on the cusp of being truly transformational within organizations. To start Tom believes that we need to embrace diversity, do more to attract young talent, put the conditions in place that help make Procurement an exciting place to be, and lead the way in both technology and tackling ESG initiatives.?

Quite simply we won't survive as a profession or at best we'll morph into a back-office purchasing function that will eventually be replaced by AI and automation.

Tom doesn’t think that leadership doesn’t care about Procurement, he believes that they simply don’t understand the value. That is why he focuses the first 90 days within any business to set the principles as well as the value pillars that will be delivered. Working to ensure that these align with the business goals. This gets all members of the C-suite involved, engaged, and interested from the start. He builds from the ground up, so that all levels see the value and listen, truly listen to the pain points.?

Tom's posts on LinkedIn are a great appetizer but if you want to stuff yourself with real-life procurement expertise, make sure to sign up for his amazing newsletter!?

Procurement Bites - Tom Mills Newsletter

Follow Tom on Linkedin

The Procurement Girl News

New Partnerships!?

mysupply?

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Meet the mysupply team at DPW in Amsterdam

ProcureAbility

The leading procurement services company focused exclusively on helping clients elevate their procurement function.

The ProcureAbility team walks the talk every day for their clients and understands Procurement on the deepest level—like no one else in the industry. Everyone I’ve met at ProcureAbility shares a passionate vision and unwavering commitment to Procurement. They rock!

On October 3rd I will announce an opportunity that will get y'all in on the action.

Stay tuned!

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Rock on!