Apparatus Purchasing: Frustrating the Dealers

BY BILL ADAMS

A dealer is the individual, regardless of gender, who interacts with an apparatus purchasing committee (APC) during the purchasing process. A dealer is also called a vendor, salesman, salesperson, sales representative, dealer principal, peddler, and inside sales contact. What he is called is unimportant. How he is treated is.

With few exceptions, APCs have two perceptions of fire apparatus dealers. One is a favorable opinion reserved for preferred dealers. Many APCs elevate a preferred dealer to the level of a deity. That dealer’s word is gospel—never to be doubted or challenged. It would be blasphemy to actually question him. Those same APCs have little care, concern, or use for the rest of the dealers in the Western Hemisphere—until they are needed. Not only is that hypocritical, it is frustrating to nonpreferred dealers.

Definitions of frustrating include infuriating, challenging, annoying, irritating, aggravating, and discouraging. Quite often, purchasing committees will only communicate with one or two dealers. Their reasoning is most, but not all, fire departments know whose rig they want to purchase. The rare exception is when an APC truly evaluates multiple apparatus manufacturers by meeting with their respective representatives. Some fire departments do not realize their interactions with dealers, or lack thereof, can have negative effects both before and after specifications are written. After an APC has finalized its purchasing specifications is when nonfavored vendors can really become frustrated with the process.

Purchasers should be aware that dealers they have not communicated with only have the purchaser’s written document to evaluate when deciding if they should submit a proposal. They should not hold vendors in contempt because the vendors may not understand some verbiage in their specifications. When addressing a vendor’s question, a purchaser’s inadequate written response or an obviously misleading verbal answer can be aggravating to the point that a dealer will not bid. Purchasers should realize vendors deal with the purchasing process on a daily basis and they just know when a purchaser needs multiple bids to justify a preferred purchase. They know they are being taken advantage of. Many dealers can justifiably say it is not their first rodeo or, to paraphrase an insurance company’s popular television commercial, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.”

THE REAL WORLD

Most apparatus vendors are paid on a commission basis. Some are salaried, and some are on a salary plus commission schedule. How much they earn is not the fire department’s business. The point is the majority do not get paid unless a sale is made. It is not unheard of for vendors to expend an untold amount of nonreimbursed hours and expenses and not get the job. It is an accepted part of the business. There is a saying that “all is fair in war and games,” and most vendors expect to lose a sale from time to time. What aggravates them is an APC not being up front and honest. Regardless of whether it is unintentional or deceitful, it is not right. Dealers are justifiably infuriated when they are lied to. That’s why many do not bid.

Although most dealers will not admit it, some fire departments and purchasing committees are known in the industry for being difficult to deal with. They’re unreasonable, they do not follow their own specifications, and they have a condescending “holier than thou” attit