We’re finalizing Q1 OTB and moving to a 6‑week buy–sell–review cadence; I’m weighing centralizing vendor negotiations under one lead while keeping category managers accountable for GMROI and weeks of supply. If you’ve tried this hybrid, how did it impact speed to PO, margin, and team morale — and did suppliers sharpen terms when a single owner handled the ask?
Moved to a single negotiator; POs 10% faster, margin +80bps; keep ‘6‑week’ vendor huddles. Who owns MOQ exceptions?
We cut PO time about 12% and gained about 60 bps by setting up a weekly deal desk: central negotiator owns all asks with a 24‑hour SLA, while CMs can self‑approve exceptions under a $5k impact to keep speed and morale. @OP would you give CMs a dollar cap or keep it fully centralized?
Quick example: we kept CMs on GMROI but had a single-thread negotiator step in only for cross‑category or >$50k impact, and we bundled asks into a “week 0” packet ahead of the 6‑week buy–sell–review; vendors sharpened when they saw total wallet and we cut PO time by about a week. Small caveat: without published guardrails (price floors, lead‑time/MOQ ranges) CMs wait around — — so we added a one‑pager deal matrix and an “MOQ bank” they could spend autonomously. Would you try a monthly vendor scorecard pairing share‑of‑wallet with concessions to keep morale up and pressure terms?