The Sophisticated Customer

One of the most frustrating challenges for anyone in a service industry is the customer who doesn’t really say what they want. How can you be expected to exceed their expectations, when they haven’t clearly articulated what those expectations are? Facilities people face this challenge all the time, but when the shoe is on the other foot, are we any better?

Facilities people are customers too. 

Procurement is a major function of Facilities Management. In small organisations a Facilities Manager might do all their purchasing by themselves. In larger organisation they may be able to draw upon the support of various experts; procurement managers, legal teams, etc.  These experts are a useful resource to the savvy FM, but at the end of the day, their expertise only extends to their subject matter: they can help you write a watertight contract, but they probably have no idea if it delivers the right level of service or not. Making sure that the service meets the requirements of the business is the FM’s job.

So how do we as Facilities professionals ensure that the deal we are being offered is going to deliver exactly what we want it to?  Well personally, I’ve always thought the best way to get exactly what you want, is to start by telling people exactly what you want.

Buying Smart

I first heard the phrase "Sophisticated Customer" from a supplier and I immediately took a liking to it. I think it's the perfect way to describe someone who approaches procurement in a precise and detailed way: someone who buys smart.  Let me explain.

Imagine you want to buy a car.

If you just stroll into the nearest car dealership and announce that you want to buy a car, you could be driving home in anything from a clapped-out ford Fiesta to a shiny new Porsche.  If you don’t have some idea what you’re looking for, the range of options could be confusing to say the least. 

Of course if you’re smart, you’ll think it through before hand; you’ll work out what you need this car to do, what sort of mileage you plan to do, etc, and the friendly salesman will be able to show you some options that don’t leave you having to stick one of the kids in the boot when you're doing the school run. 

However, the sophisticated customer will work out exactly what they want before they step out of the door.  If you’re buying smart, you’ll know what make and model of car you are looking for. You’ll have decided already if it’s got to have alloy wheels and a sunroof and you’ve probably picked out a fetching shade of metallic green.  Basically, you’ve got a specification.
The reason for using a specification is that it enables you to give the details of your dream car to a number of garages and then buy it from the one offering the best deal.  You get exactly what you want and you get it at the best price.

Getting Specific

Many Facilities professionals use specifications as part of the formal tender process, but there's nothing to stop them being used anytime you buy something and they can be used when buying almost anything. I’m surprised they don't get used more often.

So we've established you can use a specification for virtually anything, the question now is what you put in it. The answer quite simply is: as much as you can. In my time I've occasionally come across people trying to procure services using a generic specification. Maybe they've missed the point, but the clue should be in the name; the idea is to be specific.

As a customer, the more detailed your specification is, the more chance you’ll stand of getting what you want. There’s an old saying about what happens when you assume – I won’t repeat it here, but let me say instead: assume nothing. When I look to bring in a service or product, my specifications tend to cover anything and everything I can think of that might be relevant.

The most important aspect of course, is to include details about what you are looking to buy; what it is, how many, how big, what colour, etc.  But you don’t have to stop there.
You can choose to specify the process for proposal submission; you can include contact information, dates for submissions and procedures for preliminary visits and queries. You may wish to define terms about ownership of equipment (like keys, phones, IT equipment), security, intellectual property, qualifications of personnel, environmental standards, Service Level Agreements, etc, etc. The list is virtually endless.

If you’ve ever struggled to get the right paperwork after the job has been completed, you might think it’s worth stating up front, exactly what you expect to be delivered before the invoice gets paid. Talking of payment; maybe you don’t want to pay invoices on the supplier’s standard 14 day terms, maybe 30 day terms suit you better. As a general rule of thumb, if you’re very specific about what want, you can usually get it, albeit, at a premium.

Finding The Right People

A detailed specification can help you to identify good suppliers.

The extent to which a supplier takes the time to read and understand your brief (and it’s easy to spot those who haven’t) and is prepared to tailor their service to meet your requirements, demonstrates the value they place on your business. 

You might think that many suppliers would react quite negatively to such a dictatorial approach, but if you’ve never tried it before, you might just be surprised. In my experience, good suppliers like doing business with sophisticated customers. It’s fair; they know that they will be quoting like-for-like against other suppliers. If they don’t win your business, it’s either because they weren’t right for it or they weren’t competitive, not because they were undercut by someone offering a substandard service at a reduced rate. 

Any supplier signing up to a detailed specification starts out with a clear and detailed understanding of what the service expectations are. This knowledge can be used by them to meet and exceed those expectations, to develop a successful partnership and ultimately retain the business on a long-term basis.

If this sounds like the kind of supplier relationships you want to have, my advice to you, is be sophisticated and start asking for what you want.