Profile of a Travel Procurement Professional

The managing of a company’s travel purchasing is nothing new for purchasing professionals. So who are these people and how do you sell them.

Professional background
68% Male
32% Female

Age
10% 26-34
27% 35-44
40% 45-54
22% 55-64
1% 65+

Number of travelers in the organization
25% 50-99
13% 100-499
10% 500-999
17% 1,000-2499
35% 2,500 +

Title
7% Buyer
4% Senior Buyer
11% Commodity/category manager
22% Purchasing manager
4% Supply chain manager
2% Materials manager
27% Purchasing director
13% VP purchasing/CPO
13% Other

Consolidating supplier base?
79% Yes
21% No

Education

College
89% Yes
11% No

Professional certification
36% Yes
64% No

Course of study
15% Liberal Arts
46% Business
9% Technical
27% MBA
8% Graduate degree (other)
14% Other

Reporting to
10% President/CEO
9% CFO
17% VP Purchasing
29% Director of purchasing
15% VP operations
26% Other

Purchasing responsibility
91% Negotiate contracts
87% Select suppliers
84% Manage relationships with suppliers
78% Issue REPs & RFQs
76% Implement program
73% Analyze the market for travel services
70% Measure supplier performance
62% Ensure compliance to suppliers
59% Ensure compliance to policy
55% Determine requirements

Meet with top management
65% Yes
35% No

Manage global agreements
59% Yes
41% No

Use technology tools
83% Yes
17% No

Formal program to measure supplier performance
42% Yes
58% No

Procurement experience
3% Less than 1 year
13% 1-3 years
8% 4-5 years
18% 6-10 years
58% 10+ years

Relationship with suppliers
8% Excellent
38% Very good
43% Good
10% Fair
1% Poor

Collaborate with other departments
51% Travel
46% Human resource
75% Finance
39% Communications/marketing
48% Information technology
67% Internal Customers
8% Other

Larson note: This is an example of how well you can know the basic demographics of who buys what you sell. If you sell travel I just did your homework for you. If you sell something else get cracking. If you knew or know this much about who you are selling to don’t you think it might just help you to communicate with them at there level?

*Source: Purchasing Association

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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