Category Management has always been a subject close to my heart. Previously, I published an expert roundup on the critical distinctions between General Procurement and Category Management. I had also outlined how it serves as a powerful arsenal of procurement leaders as it identifies crucial categories that need prioritising, aids in optimising organisational spend, and creates a positive impact on sales. It also keeps companies afloat and provides a deeper understanding of the supply chains, making it easier to weather through shaky economic situations.
Without a doubt, Category Management has become one of the go-to procurement models of many businesses today. And because of that, leaders have started to establish or expand their category management teams, looking for the best partners they can team up with to optimise their procurement strategies.
With that in mind, I decided to tackle the skills that procurement leaders look at when hiring a category management candidate in this month’s blog post. Whether you’re a category management talent looking to land your dream role or a company looking to fill a category management vacancy in your organization, these points below might come in extra handy for your journey.
#1. Commercial Awareness
Topping my list of must-have skills of category management professionals is commercial awareness. Cambridge Business uses three key phrases to describe this skill:
- Knowing how businesses make money
- Understanding what customers want
- Identifying problems in a business
A candidate with commercial awareness clearly understands what it takes to become successful, logical, and profitable for a procurement function. By having someone on board with this skill, companies can identify opportunities to serve their customers better, compete with competitors, and meet key performance indicators.
Having a good sense of commercial awareness also allows category management professionals to do the following tasks:
- Negotiate deals successfully with suppliers
- Revamp pricing models to suit the current changes in the market
- Identify and mitigate risks
- Consider other commercial aspects before finalizing a deal
- Add value to organization partners like suppliers
- Understand customer and market behavior and how it can impact a strategy
- Learn each category thoroughly to ensure that one can add actual value to a business
#2. Change Management
Change management is among the foundations of category management. Whether the role involves managing a team or performing specific tasks, a good grasp of change management makes a good category management skill to have.
Category management organisations or functions need to decide how to deal with the reaction of team members, partners, and other parties involved during certain events. It’s about planning and launching proactive measures to smoothen things out or speed up the process.
It’s a highly valued tool in a fast-paced market surrounded by many uncertainties due to recent events like the global health crisis and shipping and logistics mishaps. It also comes in handy in implementing changes or new strategies.
As per the ADKAR model, here are the key steps to dealing with organizational changes:
- Identifying or becoming aware of the need to change
- Encouraging the desire to make changes supported by the key stakeholders
- Having the knowledge needed to align and prepare the team
- Having the ability to implement the changes
- Reinforcing the changes made to ensure the process goes smoothly
#3. Focus On Innovation and Collaboration
Tech innovation and collaboration are undoubtedly significant parts of a successful category management function. They go hand in hand together as companies navigate an era where digitalisation has taken center stage, and the market faces serious challenges.
Candidates with knowledge or background on the latest tech trends used in the procurement business, such as Digital Analytics, Cloud-based platforms, etc. often have an advantage during the hiring process.
Many category management leaders are working hard to speed up their digitalisation journey. Some of them plan on increasing their headcount by adding tech-savvy and innovation-driven professionals to their teams. Meanwhile, others look into upskilling their current team members, helping them develop the required skills needed to help them with their digitisation efforts.
Besides having a focus on innovation, leaders also put high value into finding category management professionals with strong collaborative skills. That’s because a collaborative procurement professional can leverage soft skills like relationship management, communication negotiation, and conflict.
Having such a type of person in one’s team allows a company to build meaningful relationships with suppliers and other partners.
The Supply Advisory – Your Partner in Finding Top-Notch Category Management Talents
Working in category management most definitely comes with numerous advantages, from lucrative benefits to career growth options. However, it’s no secret that it’s a highly demanding niche that requires a particular set of skills and proficiency.
We believe anyone with the three skills that have been mentioned above in combination with the necessary technical and hard skills will make a fine addition to any category management team. If you’re a candidate planning to grow in this niche, it would be incredibly helpful to hone the top 3 skills in this blog.
On the one hand, if you’re looking to hire top-notch category management professionals, we can help you! With our extensive network of professionals, relationship-driven approach, and customized engagement models, we can help you with your category management hiring needs.
Get in touch with our talent advisors at The Supply Advisory. You may send us your message for your queries or concerns.
Ananya Sinha Roy is the Director at The Supply Advisory (a division of Datasearch Consulting), a leading executive recruitment firm specialising in Procurement & Supply Chain.
You can view the The Supply Advisory website or contact them directly at info@supplyadvisory.com for a more detailed discussion.