Facility Maintenance Managers Consistently Make Vendor Changes, and for a Variety of Reasons

Regardless of the reasoning for those changes, it’s important to have an elite network and strong customer service to ensure jobs are completed in a timely manner for a fair price. This is especially critical during the summer months, when business is on the rise and your retail stores, restaurants, clinics, and storage facilities are seeing more traffic and demand on assets such as HVAC systems.

Facility maintenance work orders seem to be abundant and oftentimes cumbersome during these important months of high business volume. When things break or facility issues arise, you must have a partner you can trust to execute and get the job done smoothly for you. Here, we’ll explore the importance of onboarding facility maintenance partners efficiently and how you can make this process more efficient and effective.

5 Reasons Why Facility Managers Change Their Vendor Network

  1. Vendors lack the coverage necessary to service all geographical areas. Related, facility managers need to have multiple strong vendors in a given region to handle key emergencies in a timely manner.
  2. Pricing is too high, and costs are negatively impacting facility budgets set forth at the beginning of the fiscal year.
  3. Customer service and communication are lacking. Facility managers find themselves having to handle too much communication and jumping through hoops just to get work orders completed efficiently.
  4. Quotes take too long and lack detail and consultative feedback, making decisions more difficult and leaving unanswered questions when it comes to making the best decisions for your business.
  5. Facility managers’ primary points of contact leave, forcing managers to work with multiple people to get answers and to get work orders completed efficiently.

While there are many facility management companies to choose from, selecting a company with a smooth onboarding process and strong communication is increasingly important — yet simultaneously difficult to find. Vetting new facility maintenance partners can be tedious and time consuming, especially during periods of high work order volume when getting the job done has to be prioritized over selecting new partners.

Unfortunately, continuum becomes an evolving cycle. When selecting a partner, know that there are high standards that can help ensure seamless new partnerships and that the transition can be smooth and helpful to your facility maintenance program. A good partner eases stress for a facility manager — they don’t create it!

5 Steps to Onboarding Facility Maintenance Partners Efficiently

  1. Prior to onboarding a new vendor partner, ensure you have the opportunity to meet their entire team. While talking to a salesperson can answer many questions, having a call with the operations team and asking important questions can help facility managers get the answers they need.
  2. Set expectations in advance of the start of a new partnership. As a facility manager:
    1. What services are most important to you?
    2. What sort of volume do you anticipate needing from that new vendor in order to succeed?
    3. Demand to have one to two key points of contact to eliminate the “call center mentality.”
    4. Define the procedures that you need in place for communication, quotes, and invoicing.
  3. Ask for references to support your decision to onboard a new vendor. A good facility management partner can easily provide multiple references to give you confidence that you’re making the right decision.
  4. Following the start of a new vendor partnership, schedule a biweekly touch-base call to review quotes, items of need, and areas where processes and communication can improve.
  5. Request biannual business reviews to review costs, key data, and communication in order to ensure success and build a mutual long-term partnership in place.

Experience a New Approach to Onboarding Facility Maintenance Partners at CLS

At CLS Facility Services, we work diligently to paint a vivid picture of the onboarding process before beginning every client partnership. Setting expectations, customizing the right program, understanding communication requirements, and verifying key items of need are critical to how we deliver a great start to every new partnership.

If you’re tired of dealing with breakdowns in communication, constant service failures, unmet expectations, and other issues, our team is here to help. Connect with us today to learn more about our capabilities and to build a new facility maintenance program that lasts.