I’m putting together a series of blog posts covering what I consider to be the main B2B marketing banana skins best avoided, largely culled from my own experience and which I failed to avoid myself.

B2B marketing banana skin no 5 to avoid slipping on is this: failing to follow the purchasing process properly.

I know, it sounds obvious, but if you’re new to a role, you’re keen to get some projects rolling and stamp your authority on things, it might even be your own budget, and your own P&L…you still need to follow the purchasing process.

I’ve fallen foul of this by assuming wrongly that I could spend my budget as I saw fit. Sometimes you need to get 3 or more quotes, sometimes you need to raise a purchase order, sometimes the finance director needs to sanction all expenditure even though it’s coming from your pot. If you commission work without going through the proper channels, your FD will be slow to pay the invoice and your suppliers will not be best pleased. Worse still, they may not release the funds at all, and then your ability to commit to work and sign contracts will be called into question.

Sometimes you get lucky and your best suppliers are smart enough to ask you exactly how your purchase process works. Then you can find out from the right people and follow it.

Better still, check first before you commit to anything :-).