The upgrading of purchasing means business marketers must upgrade their sales staff to match the higher caliber of today’s business buyers.
Supplier diversity may not have a price tag, but it is a benefit purchasing departments and business buyers overlook at their own risk. Minority suppliers are the fastest-growing segment of today’s business landscape, and CEOs of many of the largest companies see a diverse supplier base as a business imperative. In 2011, McDonald’s U.S. restaurant system purchased nearly $6.7 billion in goods and services from minority- and women-owned suppliers, about two-thirds of what the system spends for food, packaging, uniforms, operating supplies, and premiums.