Tropic

We’re giving buyers maximum leverage to drive savings and efficiency at any stage. 🌴 Get acquainted with our updated brand, website, and easy-to-use platform that combines: ▶ Spend management capabilities ▶ Unbiased self-serve commercial intelligence It’s an intelligent approach to spend management. Learn more at https://www.tropicapp.io/ Stay tuned tomorrow to find out how we’re making technology a buyer’s market! 👀 #spendmanagement #finance #procurement

We’re thrilled to announce Maya Connet as our VP of Global Sales 🚀 Maya brings over a decade of experience leading successful #sales orgs and building long-standing partnerships. Most recently, she led commercial and global inside sales at Clari during their growth from series C-F. In her words: “Every single company I have worked with in the last few years is focused on spend visibility, supplier consolidation, and adoption/value delivery optimization…companies are trying to do more with less and Tropic is well-positioned to help them do this sustainably and at scale.” Get to know Maya in our full announcement 👉 https://lnkd.in/eYvBGhbY

A CTO told me this week he doesn’t negotiate renewals. Here’s why this is a mistake. First, it’s not like he wasn’t having his team negotiate ANY contracts. They were just ONLY focusing on new purchases. And of course there’s lots of opportunity there. So why weren’t they taking a harder look at renewals? He said he tried one or two, but wasn't successful. So he stopped. And instead, they just started waving them through with no push back. This is wrong. Now, more than ever, renewals NEED to be a focus given the macros dynamics. Here’s what’s going on: Pre-2023, software companies were doubling everywhere you looked. Organic growth was a major driver: companies were hiring like crazy, and they needed more software. 10% organic growth was the norm, while many were at 50%+. Post-2023, growth fell off a cliff - basically no public or growth stage SaaS company today is growing 50%. Their customers are cutting volume left and right, impacting their reliable organic growth. Shareholders are pushing their companies to replace that organic growth anywhere possible. So what’s the response? 🔸 Price uplifts 🔸 New pricing and packaging 🔸 Rigid auto-renewals Pre-2023, the average price increase at renewal was 3-5%. Post-2023, the average price increase is 8-15%. If you aren’t treating your renewals with the same attention as your new purchases, you are leaving boatloads of cash on the table. And that cash only compounds; the longer it goes unaddressed, the bigger your problems are for the future.

Tropic has always been focused on leveling the playing field for buyers. ⚖️ #Finance and #procurement teams need more than strong spend management capabilities. They also need access to transparent market data to make efficient and informed buying decisions. What else could you accomplish if you had the controls to manage spend more effectively and the benchmarks & playbooks to buy more confidently right at your fingertips? $10B in spend under management later, we’re ready to deliver a level playing field. Stay tuned to find out how…spilling ALL the updates and details next week 👀

The easiest way to negotiate the lowest price on any purchase: TIMING. Here’s a few recommendations from what we’ve seen across customers: 1) Set your renewal alerts 90 days before the OPT OUT DATE Note: this is NOT the same as the renewal date. Example: if you have a 60 day opt out, with a 90 day reminder you only have 30 days, which puts the timing benefit in the supplier’s hands. Time will give you more leverage and credibility in your purchase processes. You can 2.5x your savings opportunity by starting your renewal motion six months in advance rather than one. 2) Time your purchases around key dates for suppliers This is almost always their end of quarter or end of year. Learn what your supplier’s fiscal year is, and structure your buying process around an end of quarter signature. Doesn't matter if it’s a new purchase, renewal, or expansion. New purchases that are signed in the last month of the fiscal quarter have 2-3x the discount percentage. The compounding effect of a thoughtful purchasing cadence will massively benefit your spend efficiency. If you want to know the quarter end date for any relatively mainstream supplier send me a DM and I'll pull the data for you!

When it comes to sourcing, people often ask 1 question when they should actually be asking 2. (And the missed impact is substantial!) I could talk for days about sourcing. I think it’s often done inefficiently. At the same time, I think too few organizations make sourcing a priority. Check out my 2 minute video about the importance of understanding the distinction between these questions. And let me know what you think! I post these videos partly because I want to share what I’ve learned and also because I want to continue to learn from this awesome network and you all have awesome comments and ideas. #procurement #spend #sourcing

The SVP of Finance at a 500 person tech company told his team to not negotiate 10 of his Top 20 SaaS renewals. Why? He realized he already had great pricing on half his tools, so why spend even five minutes banging his head against the wall when there was no juice to squeeze. How’d he get there? Check it out: A year ago, his board told him that they needed to spend more efficiently to extend runway. Familiar comment in board meetings. He took that directive and told his team to negotiate hard on their next 20 upcoming renewals to save money. The result? Some solid savings on a few contracts, but a lot of 0s with a ton of wasted time. Surely all of these large, six figure contracts require a ton of time and energy to get the best deal. But over and over he saw the hours his team invested only led to a few bucks - massive opportunity cost for critical employees at the company. Finance leaders are responsible for capital allocation - dollars AND people. The dollars get a lot of attention, but the people can sometimes get overlooked. There’s a perception that every large contract renewal has some savings potential that can be unlocked with enough time and energy. As tempting as that thought might be, it’s wrong. 6 months ago, this SVP Finance brought on price benchmarks, not just to save dollars on critical renewals, but to get better leverage from his team’s time. Today, he can benchmark his contracts to determine where there’s juice to squeeze, and where it’s bone dry. A team that at one point would have had to find time for 20 renewals can now focus on just the 10 that matter. Now that’s leverage.

“I don’t have the time to apply the right level of scrutiny to business cases for vendors,” says one VP of Finance. ⏳ Finance leaders like her are struggling with questions like: ▶ Am I getting a fair price for supplier A? ▶ Where are my opportunities to save? ▶ What are best practices when negotiating with this supplier versus that supplier? But what if you could get rid of these frustrations? What if you could solve for efficiency and gain leverage in a self-serve way? We’re talking about making informed software buying decisions…in minutes. Exciting news and updates are brewing in the next couple of weeks…STAY TUNED! ☕ #SaaS #finance #procurement

Scenes from Tropic's incredible Revenue Kickoff in #Atlanta last week 📸 We had an amazing time bringing our Revenue organization together for a week filled with insightful discussions, hands-on trainings, and fun team bonding. Plus, some of us even made the most of a global outage and cancelled flights by exploring the city. 😉🌴 We've got exciting news on the horizon…stay tuned!

5 current trends that impact how you buy #software in a belt-tightening market 👇 1. Aggressive supplier uplifts have increased dramatically 2. Willingness to consider alternatives is at an all-time high 3. Rationalization is frequently on your CFO's mind 4. Scrutiny from finance/budget holders has increased 5. Greater emphasis on accessing/using strong data to gain leverage 👆 These patterns affect CRPO (current remaining performance obligation) and ACV (annual contract value) – important for any #finance, #procurement, and even revenue leader to understand. Understand these trends better (with actionable tips) in our latest blog from Michael Shields: https://lnkd.in/gMBmcu7S