Masters in Marketing Procurement Series In Partnership With RightSpend

Jeanette Hübsch’s emotionally intelligent approach to marketing procurement

Jeanette Hübsch, Global Commercial Procurement Lead at Grünenthal, based in Aachen, Germany, has over 2,000 LinkedIn followers and is a regular on the Marketing Procurement speaker circuit.

Hübsch came to procurement mid-career and has since wholeheartedly embraced using her platform to share an emotional intelligence (EQ) -led Marketing Procurement philosophy.

She is dedicated to educating procurement teams, marketing colleagues, supplier partners (and strangers on the internet) about the value that strategic Marketing Procurement can add.

MXPiQ caught up with the emerging Marketing Procurement influencer on the value of EQ in stakeholder engagement, the role of symbiotic supplier relationships, and her journey to influencer status.

Moving from marketing to procurement

Hübsch’s early career in agency side and inhouse marketing roles honed her soft skills and marketing knowledge.  Starting out in corporate and brand communications roles gave her a deep appreciation for the power of clear communication and collaborative teamwork.

“I was in a global [marketing] role, and used to bringing people onboard all the time…my daily business was already to network and interact with all stakeholders.”

In 2017, Hübsch made the bold move to leverage her talents and subject matter expertise in a newly established strategic sourcing role. This transition challenged her to rapidly acquire new technical skills, tools, and frameworks.

She embraced concepts like category management, strategic sourcing methodologies, and advanced data analysis, but her keen insight quickly identified a gap between the aspirations of a best-in-class procurement approach and the practical needs of marketing stakeholders.

Jeanette Hübsch will be speaking at the Marketing Procurement iQ Conference in London on 25th & 26th March. Reserve your ticket.

Stakeholder mapping doesn’t improve stakeholder engagement

The easy dialogue with former colleagues was replaced by stakeholder mapping exercises, an approach that was foreign to Hübsch. Her intuitive desire to engage directly with people was overshadowed by what she terms “this big procurement theory.”

Expressing her experiences at that time, she comments: “The idea of, first sit down and think about who is in which quadrant, what is their function and possible influence… that was very theoretical, and it doesn’t reflect the reality, because very often it’s not the head of a business unit [who has the most influence].”

The reshaping of the role of strategic sourcing can be an uphill battle, as many of us will know first hand. The introduction of a new procurement policy, sourcing thresholds and category management frameworks always has potential to leave marketing teams feeling out in the cold.

A reliance on “hiding behind Excel sheets,” certainly didn’t help Hübsch to get the traction she needed with her colleagues. She remembers a challenging period as the message about sourcing’s enhanced strategic value-add couldn’t get the airtime it needed alongside the introduction of a strengthened compliance framework.

Bridging the communication gap by keeping things simple

Feeling like things were heading in the wrong direction, Hübsch went about bridging the communication gap. “[Procurement’s] not rocket science,” she comments, “[but] you need to break it down according to your stakeholder target group.”

This requires recognising that whilst “nobody cares about your procurement policy,” (as she recently shared on LinkedIn), they do care about how you can support their business objectives.

Simplifying the jargon by using examples from daily life helped to explain the rationale behind new processes and policies. Hübsch also leveraged her soft skills, building trust and openness about priorities and developing shared objectives, whilst communicating clearly and transparently.

Leveraging social media to gain a “seat at the table”

Hübsch reflects that “the ’seat at the table’ for Procurement doesn’t always look like an actual chair. It’s about visibility, influence, and credibility – things that are earned, not given.” Hübsch was making progress building relationships internally through her use of EQ.

She decided to increase her visibility and reach externally too, by bringing in another channel: social media. “I started to post my articles and ideas on LinkedIn. And this is exactly where my marketing peers are.”

Hübsch set about developing her online brand. She networked extensively with procurement peers and agency partners, garnering a wealth of information and sharing her insights online. She began to contribute thought leadership articles on LinkedIn and to speak regularly at conferences, emphasizing her EQ-based approach.

With her credentials now receiving wide external and internal recognition, Hübsch was able to further deepen the connections with her marketing stakeholders around a shared value proposition.

Supporting the next generation of Women in Marketing Procurement

It’s clear that combining emotional intelligence and social media is a winning formula for Hübsch, and that the limelight that she’s now stepping into is the natural biproduct of her approach. But how comfortable does Hübsch feel about her increased visibility online?

Hübsch lights up with enthusiasm. “I love it! I never expected that. I love [meeting] so many interesting people, especially women, and being a role model, potentially,” Hübsch continues.

Hübsch vividly remembers the moment she realised her reach could help to shape future female talent. She was approached as she came offstage at a conference by a nervous younger woman who apologized profusely before asking a question. “I was totally shocked. Why are you apologizing? I’m here to share and I love to support women!”

Hübsch goes on to make it clear that she wants to encourage all genders of future leaders in the Marketing Procurement community to be confident in the value proposition that they can bring.

Close supplier relationships are procurement’s value add

Tapping into supplier innovation through new connections is at the core of Hübsch’s own value proposition. She actively seeks out supplier partners who can educate her colleagues about new innovations alongside showcasing their capabilities.

In the field of Gen AI, for example, Hübsch is currently leveraging agency knowledge as much as possible. For her, the promise of Gen AI is to free up agency time on basic tasks so that more can be invested in strategic and creative thinking, which Hübsch terms the “brain gold” of human talent.

Unlike many of us in Marketing Procurement, who shudder at the prospect of yet another supplier creds presentation, Hübsch says she “loves new bizz calls.” Agencies who approach her need to clearly articulate their USP for Hübsch, demonstrating “what they can give me to make me shine internally.”

In her eyes, the value of these connections outweighs the irritation of occasional cold calls.

Changing the Marketing Procurement discourse

Switching gears a little, Hübsch shares her thoughts on the procurement discourse that she’s stepped into. Hübsch observes that whilst the gender balance of procurement speakers on stage has improved since COVID, (with some conferences pledging 50/50 male/female speaker ratios), there’s still a long way to go to achieve equal visibility on stage and online.

She notes an over-reliance on complex procurement terminology by the established procurement “gurus” populating her news feeds. She believes this insulates the procurement discipline from the target audience that Hübsch originally went online to reach: her marketing colleagues, their peers, and their supplier partners.

Providing an alternative philosophy, which Hübsch terms a more feminine approach, she focuses on building cross-functional connections. It is her mission to educate as widely as possible about the added value that Marketing Procurement can bring to all stakeholders, internally and externally.

Curiosity,  emotional intelligence and communication skills are the future

Hübsch believes that curiosity, emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate are core skills for the future of Marketing Procurement. “I’m not an Excel expert,” she laughs, explaining that technical skills and knowledge can easily be taught, but soft skills are more innate and harder to develop.

The future of our discipline, according to Hübsch, depends on fostering these soft skills, on providing a tangible value proposition for our business partners, and on supporting one another to progress the discipline.

You can contact Jeanette Hübsch on Linkedin

About the author

Helen Thompson is a regular contributor to Marketing Procurement iQ. She spent 18 years in marketing procurement roles in pharma, life sciences and consulting, in the UK, Switzerland and the USA. Helen founded her own independent consulting practice in 2022, and now works on strategic change projects with major brands, agencies and production companies.

The Masters in Procurement insight series is published in partnership with RightSpend.

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