Earning More is Easy with These 5 Little-Known Procurement Skills

How to Make More Money In Procurement

A Successful Procurement Pro working in her Home Office

Hey Procurement Legend, before we get into our regular Tuesday Skills article, I want to thank the new Paid Members. Our Paid Community Members are the lifeblood of this project and help me stand up the tech stack that makes this Community a reality.

I just released two new articles for our Paid Members here:

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I’m excited to write this piece. There’s good money to be made in Procurement that doesn’t require you to do 10 years of “experience” (the biggest BS requirement in the world of Procurement), and you don’t need to become a CPO to make money. Become a CPO because you want to be a CPO.

This piece will apply to you if you’re following the traditional career path, a non-traditional career path, or the interim way of working.

You may have seen my article last week.

Or my LinkedIn post on this.

The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) states that the average salary for procurement professionals in the UK is £53,000.

It also showed that the most senior people in the profession earn the following:

Chief Procurement Officer: £160,000

Procurement Director: £113,000

Head of Procurement: £77,000

Super good money to be made in Procurement following the traditional model

Of course, these are averages, and there will be those well below and above these figures.

CIPS also stated that an interim procurement worker could earn £521 daily. Not to get too caught up in the complexities of employment and taxation in the UK, but let’s assume you took this as a salary you’d earn (roughly without other deductions such as student loan/pension):

£1495 a Week After tax.

£6575 a month After tax.

That’s a take-home pay of £72,325 a year if we allow for a month out of work for holiday/leave and a 12-month contract in the bag.

Let’s break down the 3 roles take home pay above:

Chief Procurement Officer = £8026 per month or £1852 per week.

Procurement Director = £5999 per month or £1384 per week.

Head of Procurement = £4475 per month or £1032 per week.

And I’m about to break down my numbers for you.

My first interim role 18 months into my procurement role paid me:

Weekly: £990ish

Monthly: £4000ish

It’s hard to remember.

But for context, I was a Grad 6 months before I took this role at the same place (and would have only just finished my Grad Scheme if I had stayed there), earning £23k a year.

That was a grand total of £1500-£1600 a month. So I more than doubled my take-home pay.

I never got to the enormous numbers.

I had some excellent day rates through my own company at £400 a day, which meant I was bringing home around £6k a month with a few years of experience.

And guess what - my “Procurement Career” didn’t stall. Each new interim role I had was a leap forward like any promotion or career step would be.

During this time, I learned that a few skills could get me far.

So let’s consider five skills that will enable you to make good money as a Procurement Pro, regardless of your career path choice.

Learn the Fundamentals

I had a theory a few months into my grad scheme. I saw people around me with tiny pockets of knowledge of the procurement cycle. This was the public sector, and much of it was niche knowledge around certain Contract Frameworks.

They were screwed if they needed to move into a new area because they had gotten caught up in the piece beyond the fundamentals.

I could ask them about a basic concept, such as how we would build evaluation criteria out on this RFP (I mean, they called it a tender, but it’s an archaic term and process) for this new requirement.

They could only tell me via an analogy how they’d approach it. But that wouldn’t work for me. I was told to learn from these other Pros across the Procurement Team, but I learned more about what not to do.

They hadn’t picked up two vital skills:

1 - They didn’t know how to learn and apply new ideas to anything. They learned through precedent and analogies.

2 - First Principles Thinking would sound more like a disease than a system of approaching the world.

I was pretty fresh out of University at the time. I had landed a decent First in Commercial Law and a Merit in my Masters. I had focused on one primary skill for 4 years - How to Learn and how to learn fast.

I realised this was an advantage I had.

And I saw people around me with pockets of incredible knowledge, but only a few knew the basics across the entire Procurement Lifecycle. Some even understood the wider supply chain piece.

I learned all I could from these people. I was making notes and observing how they interacted with stakeholders and suppliers. I modelled myself on the best people around me. And I’ve done that ever since.

But I always prioritise the basics and ensure we have that nailed down first.

Most interim roles you will land will be:

We’re struggling with X, we don’t have Y, and we need to get to Z. You soon realise that they don’t have the basics tied down, and they will pay you well to bring that clarity into their business.

Most salaried roles will present opportunities to you like this. If you can solve them, you’re worth more.

Learn the Skills of Decision Making

From the basics, you need to be good at making decisions.

And guess what - this becomes easy when you have the basics tied down. You’ll have a process to fall back on for almost everything, and when the process doesn’t work for the scenario you’re in, you’ve got an opportunity to make the basics work for you or to use the “advanced knowledge you have” to go a step further.

“Clear thinker” is a better compliment than “smart.” - Naval Ravikant

Naval Ravikant

Remember that making the right decisions 80% of the time is more valuable than making the right decision 70% of the time.

I’ve found that the best people I’ve worked with, and how I’ve always been able to land reasonably decent, well-paying roles, is that I give the organisation confidence that I’ll make good decisions for them.

Simplify Everything

I see a sea of complex content in the procurement space.

That doesn’t cut it anymore (and it should never have).

Procurement can be a complex field, but that doesn’t mean you should make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Many people hide behind jargon and complexity, thinking it makes them sound more intelligent.

However, it’s usually just BS. To be successful in Procurement, you need to simplify everything.

Focus on the basics and master them before moving on to more complex areas. If you can explain Procurement to a five-year-old, you’re doing it right.

If people want to work with you - it’s because you make it easy for them to work with you. I used to spend most of my days, with only 3 years of Procurement experience, working with genius scientists and engineers making incredible products and components in defence.

I had one rule with them.

They make their work easy to understand so I can do my job properly. And I’ll always do the same for them.

I learned a lot over that period.

I miss it in many ways.

Master Communication

Okay - this is a hard one for me, and I’m not there yet.

I’ve mentioned it - I’m convinced I’ve got some “form of autism”. I score highly on the recognised tests, and I’m contemplating a private assessment to give me peace of mind (I’ll catch you up on that if I do). But I struggle with communication.

I struggle with sounds - they destroy my focus.

I struggle with facial features and expressions when people talk.

So I revert to an analytic approach to conversation. I’ve had to learn how people talk and how conversations flow when I can and need to stop talking. I hope this is easier for you. So personal communication is something that I used to study and spend a silly amount of time figuring out. I would force myself into conversations and interact with people as often as possible.

I’d then feel completely exhausted, but I was learning.

Online communications are much more accessible.

But the same patterns apply. Get good at talking to people and accommodating their styles and nuances. This is a superpower.

Be a Generalist - but an expert in some areas

While it’s essential to have expertise in a particular area of Procurement, such as contract management (that’s my Expert area), being a generalist can also be beneficial.

Generalists have a broad range of skills and can quickly adapt to new situations.

They can also see the big picture and understand how different aspects of Procurement fit together.

To become a generalist, you need to develop your learning skills and be willing to take on new challenges. Back to the point earlier, learn to learn, and learn the basics well.

“Very often, specific knowledge is at the edge of knowledge. It’s also stuff that’s only now being figured out or is really hard to figure out. If you’re not 100 percent into it, somebody else who is 100 percent into it will outperform you. And they won’t just outperform you by a little bit—they’ll outperform you by a lot because now we’re operating the domain of ideas, compound interest really applies and leverage really applies”. - Naval Ravikant

I feel comfortable working in any area of the Procurement Lifecycle.

I even fancy my chances in broader areas of Supply Chain - like Compliance…

But I know I’m an expert in Contract Management, Risk Management, and Process Design. I love these areas, too, so I look to take on work that gets me excited in these areas.

Be comfortable working across the lifecycle and gain some seriously incredible knowledge that sets you apart from the rest.

Bonus: Be Kind

Finally, kindness is an underrated skill in the workplace, including in Procurement.

Kindness can help you build better relationships with your colleagues and suppliers, leading to more opportunities and better deals.

It can also help you navigate office politics and avoid unnecessary conflicts. Remember that being kind doesn’t mean being a pushover. You can still be assertive and stand up for yourself while being kind.

I suck at this at times. I can appear to be cold, direct, and abrupt. It’s just my brain - so I add as much of a filter as humanly possible onto everything I say. You should hear some of the things that my brain wants to say pre-filter.

Final Thoughts

There is money to be made in Procurement.

I know people who only focus on 1-2 of these skills are crushing it. I know you can do seriously well if you focus on all 5…well 6, including the bonus skill.

My biggest piece of advice, though: Learn how to Learn. If you can do this, you’re set for life.