Savings Is a Lie

Send us Fan Mail"Earlier in my career, I reported two point four million dollars in procurement savings. Then my CFO asked me to show her where that number appeared on the balance sheet. She wasn't being dismissive. She was being precise. And the honest answer changed how I measure everything."In this episode, I break down why "savings" as procurement traditionally reports it is structurally misleading, why chasing it distorts behavior, and what to measure instead. I introduce Total Value Contribution (TVC), the two-pillar framework I actually report to my COO, and Procurement ROI, the metric that proves a good procurement function more than pays for itself.This one is for the CFOs and CEOs. But if you're a supplier still leading every pitch with price, you need to hear this too.In this episode:Why Procurement's savings numbers rarely reconcile to the financial statementsThree ways the savings obsession backfires on organizationsTotal Value Contribution: Hard Savings and Value, explainedProcurement ROI: the 3x metric that reframes procurement from cost center to investmentWhat account executives get wrong when they pitch on price alone---New episodes every Monday. Subscribe wherever you listen. Website: https://procurexcellence.com Email: [email protected] Topics covered: vendor proposals, procurement rejection, discovery process, risk management, mission-driven purchasing, stakeholder alignment, supplier relationships