Choosing the right suppliers for your fleet might seem quite difficult, as it involves a number of factors and aspects to be considered before making a decision. Price is very often scrutinized as companies (and fleet managers are not excluded from the trend) are constantly urged to gain the best performance at the lowest cost. But the truth is that the cost of a service cannot be the singular guiding point for choosing your fleet’s provider.
There is no perfect formula to guarantee the selection of the right supplier, but as usual, if you consult relevant co-workers, keep in mind your business trajectory and use common sense, you are more likely to make the correct decision.
#1 - Think about your company’s needs—keep in mind the expectations of your business, your main activity and what you would like to get from your service provider. Feel free to make ad-hoc requests and see where you go with these and how they can adapt to your needs—if they make an advantageous offer in terms of price, but not consistent with your needs, maybe you ought to look elsewhere.
#2 - Reliability—a lot of things can be learned, but reliability is probably not one of them. Check for reliability in a provider: see if they promise to be somebody you can trust after the first call or email; get feedback from other team members that might have approached different vendors for the service you are looking for and get their opinion.
#3 - Remember to gain the advantage of expertise—if you are choosing a provider and are going to use its services, remember they are experts and their job is to help you with your fleet. Do not commit the mistake of not asking beforehand or not including all the necessary points before actually working out the time constraints, but try to use your resources wisely.
#4 - Involve stakeholders in the process—make sure everyone potentially interested in the acquisition of the new service or vendor is involved in the selection process; they might provide useful insights or ask questions you had not thought about, that can later be used as a starting point for your vendor’s proposal.
#5 - Measure the performance of your supplier—use technology and any tools available for you to evaluate the performance vs costs of your supplier; it is actually quite an immediate process, providing you have a fleet management solution, and can be extremely helpful as a future reference.
#6 - Review your agreement—once a vendor is chosen and you work with a particular provider, this does not mean you are tied to them. Make sure you bear this in mind if you are setting up an agreement with your provider; and depending on the measured performance of your supplier, you will be able to modify the agreement, advance further requests or switch to another provider.
