I have had an in-depth discussion with some procurement and supply chain managers from oil and gas companies operating in Tanzania. And some of their key problems were to locating and communicating with suppliers of goods and services faster and easier.
Equipment and service providers, however, often struggle to make themselves visible to these oil and gas companies.
Therefore, oil and gas companies and suppliers can’t find and locate each other on time.
That is terrible. Because suppliers are missing out on huge opportunities to increase revenue and grow their business in the energy industry. In turn, energy companies reduce efficiency in their business operations. Because turnaround time in the procurement increases.
This article explains the limitation of current strategies, oil and gas companies and vendor use to find and connect each other and expose you to the powerful tool we have in disposal that will connect oil companies and suppliers faster and easily
1.Via Supplier’s List
Oil and gas companies often keep a suppliers list, and they send bidding invitation to those who are registered in their database as a supplier or vendors. In reality, oil and gas companies are limited to their existing suppliers and are not capturing the cost and schedule benefits that variety and increased competition provide
2.Cold calling
This is another option for vendors to find customers in the oil and gas industry. Cold calling can be done by phone or door-to-door visits. Suppliers would visit oil and gas companies‟ head offices and use their marketing skills to promote the products and services they sell to procurement or supply chain managers. But the associated travel costs and the risk of not connecting with the right point of contact weaken this strategy as well.
3.Via Referral:
The oil and gas industry is considered as the very word of mouth or personal contact industry. So traditionally suppliers and oil companies have relied on word of mouth to locate each other. But this method is unreliable and time-consuming. Finding suppliers through referrals only recycles the vendors within a particular network and does not guarantee that an acceptable vendor will be found for a given project.
Many in the oil and gas industry have realized the limitations of word of mouth sourcing and have turned to conferences and expos to find partners. Industry events are beneficial in that they provide a common meeting place for companies to connect with new and existing partners, but there are significant drawbacks as well. Conferences cost thousands of dollars for exhibitors, travel fees can be substantial and there is no guarantee of new customers after an event.
4.Internet.
The other option oil and gas companies hope to connect and find each other is the internet. Oil and gas companies and suppliers go online to locate each other. They use search engines to google relevant key words to get names, emails or phone numbers. They also use social media networks such as LinkedIn to find each other. The internet can provide a lot of points but the simple truth is that the internet has not built for the energy industry. So most of the information oil and gas professionals are looking for are incomplete. Also, only a few local suppliers have online presences such as websites and social media networks. And those who have, they heavily rely on traditional marketing strategies that have a shorter cycle of influence. As a result, supplier missing out huge business opportunities because are not being noticed by the large oil and gas companies.
Limitation of other methods.
Supplier prequalification requirements:Another supplier sourcing problem is standard and evaluation criteria in finding the right vendors. Licenses, permits, certifications, equipment manpower are important criteria for oil and gas companies. The sad reality is that it takes longer to gather all this information. Consequently, qualified vendors miss out on opportunities simply because oil and gas companies do not have all the information.
Suppliers- buyers relationship. This is a huge challenge. Oil companies want to work with local suppliers effectively. So finding the right point of contact at the right office location is important and finding the project manager or procurement who will put his business name in the vendor’s list is important to suppliers. But this process is often not well organized. And purchasing -related communications between suppliers and vendors get mishandled.
Introducing online Suppliers directory
Tanzania petroleum has created an online suppliers directory as part of its website to connect suppliers and oil and gas companies.
The low-cost tools is married with social media networks and available 24-7.
The suppliers’ directory enables suppliers and service providers to quickly easily create a business listing to promote their products, services and showcase their companies to oil and gas companies.
Suppliers can distinguish themselves by posting their logos. The online suppliers’ directory allows vendors to write a brief description of their business, posting their contact details including phone number, email address, office locations, and website links.
All suppliers are verified by collecting their detailed information such as the company profile before listed in the directory.
Interested to promote your services and products and be instantly found with buyers in the oil and gas industry. Here is link on the instruction on how to list your business on our online suppliers directory.Click here, Suppliers directory
