Should Employees Give Input on Equipment Purchases?
We always advise any business owners or operations managers to get an opinion from a trusted dealer before deciding to buy a diesel truck, a generator, or some other piece of heavy equipment for their business. The power and transportation are important to your bottom line, and you want a team with experience and perspective on your side. But what about getting input from the other direction? Should you ask for opinions from managers, mechanics, or even drivers and frontline employees when making equipment purchases? This is a question we get asked from time to time, particularly as our customers start thinking about the issues and challenges of buying things like big engines and expensive boats for their companies.You can probably make an argument either way. In our experience, having some input from employees can be valuable. But at the same...
5 Ways Buying Diesel Equipment Affects Your Bottom Line
The business owners and managers we work with know that buying diesel trucks or other pieces of heavy equipment is a big decision. But sometimes they might not realize just how big that decision will be, and all the ways that it will eventually affect their bottom line. If anything, they tend to focus on the sticker price of the particular model and look for ways to decrease the immediate financial hit. That’s certainly a good thing to do, but it sometimes misses the point. That’s because, in the long run, what you pay for a particular truck or engine might not be the factor that determines whether you get good value or not. The ongoing running costs add up over time, to the point that they might go far beyond your original...
How Important Are Power Equipment Brands When Choosing Engines and Power Solutions?
When you’re about to make a big capital investment – like the purchase of a diesel engine or generator, for example – every detail matters. But then again, so does every penny.Maybe that’s why we hear questions about the importance of choosing the right brand so often. Sometimes, customers come to us with specific brands and models in mind. On other occasions they simply want the lowest cost, or the power equipment that can deliver them the highest price-to-performance ratio on paper. In other words, some business owners and executives are brand loyal while others are cost concerned. In fact, they might even think that bigger brands are less attractive because they entail higher costs.Which side is correct? How much attention should you pay to branding, if any at all? Are...
3 Things You Might Not Have Known About Valley Power
Hardly a week goes by without us hearing a customer say something like: “Wow, I didn’t know Valley Power could do that.”That kind of feedback always seems like a mixed bag. On the one hand, we love discovering that we can surprise and delight customers with unexpected extras and attention. It’s always great when we go the extra mile and get recognized for it. But on the other hand, we wish everyone knew all the different services we have to offer. It would mean more business for us, of course, but also more ways to serve the people and companies who keep us running.For that reason, today’s post won’t focus on a specific product or process. Instead, we want to point out a few things you might not know about our company and what...
7 Mistakes Business Owners Make When Buying Engines and Generators
Buying engines and generators for your company isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are literally hundreds of different choices, and some of the terms and comparisons you come across may not be familiar. Making things even tougher is the fact that each decision could impact your annual budget for years to come. After all, engines and generators aren’t just expensive today; they require fuel and maintenance going forward. In the corporate world these sorts of decisions fall into the category of capital purchases. That means they involve a lot of money and can make or break the future of your enterprise. Unfortunately, you might not have a team of accountants and performance specialists on staff. So, you could be left choosing between various models and components on your own.We don’t want to see you...
asked from time to time, particularly as our customers start thinking about the issues and challenges of buying things like big engines and expensive boats for their companies.
You can probably make an argument either way. In our experience, having some input from employees can be valuable. But at the same...
other occasions they simply want the lowest cost, or the power equipment that can deliver them the highest price-to-performance ratio on paper. 