Just this morning, I received an email from an operations contact in the industry who indicated “Kevin, there are no shortage of salespeople in Calgary. Of all the problems facing our company, connecting with suppliers does not seem to be one of them”.

Let’s dig into this a bit deeper from an or screen this constant sales barrage without missing operations and purchasing perspective, or out on an opportunity to pick up a new supplier, an as we like to call these folks at exploration enhanced or new service technology or to increase and production companies, and EPCs, the your spending with an existing preferred vendor. buyers in the oil and gas industry.

We work with a great number of service and supply companies from a sales and marketing perspective and their traditional solution to getting more sales often comes down to this mantra:

• Add another salesperson
• Make more calls
• Knock on more doors
• Spend those entertainment budgets
• Build those relationships

So our client is correct, there is an ever-increasing supply of salespeople constantly vying for your attention, time and a bigger share of your capital and operating budgets. We have little doubt that you are inundated on a daily basis with countless emails, telephone calls, texts, meetings and lunch invites with existing and potential suppliers that want to do more business with your company.

You can’t blame the salespeople for doing what they’re being paid to do. They want to ensure you know everything possible they can do for you company and the value they can bring to your relationship. Yet you can’t possibly connect with every vendor at your doorstep as you’re managing all aspects of your projects including the reporting, sourcing and expenses for the entire lifecycle of a well.

But there has to be a better way for you to gate keep or screen this constant sales barrage without missing out on an opportunity to pick up a new supplier, an enhanced or new service technology or to increase your spending with an existing preferred vendor.

Access to Information at your fingertips is the key. A salesperson is not sitting at your side when you need to make that next purchasing decision. Realtime access to all of the products and services your preferred vendors can provide and online ordering with the people in their company is changing the way purchasing is done in the oil and gas industry. Mix in the ability to add new suppliers through the same centralized system and you have the answer to all of those unwanted cold calls and solicitation emails.

Wouldn’t it be grand if you could tell a prospective vendor, this is how we handle our preferred vendors and our purchasing practices? If you want to get on our radar screen, stop calling me and get connected with us online so your virtual salesperson is always at my side, whether I’m dealing with you in our head office, or from the field operations, and regardless of the time of day. Get online with us and help us improve our cost efficiencies and non-productive time, and if not, go waste someone else’s time.

We think nothing of purchasing online in our personal lives, why are we still using the telephone and the moccasin sales beat in downtown Calgary? There is a better and more cost effective way.

Kevin Turko, CEO Leadstone Group