In our 2024 Global CMO report, we found that a significant majority of CMOs (71%) now prefer to engage directly with new vendors. They are handling the details themselves and bypassing third-party search firms or in-house procurement teams. This growing dissatisfaction among CMOs is concerning.
What’s driving this?
- Lack of trust – only 31% of respondents say they trust their procurement team to select the best agency partners with minimal involvement from the marketing team. More than half, 56%, believe that their procurement team struggles to find agency partners that meet their needs.
- Lengthy process – 71% of CMOs fell the procurement process takes too long.
- Forced reviews – 46% of CMOs reported being forced to conduct regular agency reviews, even when they have no intention of making a change.
- Strained relationships – 50% of CMOs state the procurement process can harm relationships with agencies.
These concerns are forcing CMOs to take greater control to help drive efficiency in the vendor selection process. Add that to the CMO job description.
What can be done?
We’ve been here before, this isn’t new. There has been a divide between marketing and procurement before. Our research shows the dissatisfaction among CMOs with internal procurement processes is real.
We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. We need to learn to work better together, both marketers and procurement.
Marketing teams, learn what procurement is trying to accomplish. What are the goals? Are they trying to cut costs, provide more efficiency or meet compliance standards? They are not trying to make your job difficult. They just might need some education and guidance.
Procurement teams, learn what agencies are trying to accomplish. Understand the brief from the marketing team. What are the goals? Are we coming in to add creativity, strategy, execution? Is there a huge global campaign coming up where we need to expand to new regions? We’re not trying to make your job difficult either.
It’s critical that marketing and procurement become better aligned. It doesn’t have to be just about buying a product or service from another organization. When it works well, marketing and procurement can play a sweet tune.
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