As you are all aware, running a successful business is often quite challenging and after a couple of extremely tough years, 2011 appeared to be much better for many businesses. Having weathered the storm, the challenge for many of you appears to be holding costs while increasing revenues such that your business can return to acceptable profit margins.

What this means to many regarding new truck and equipment purchases is that in comparing alternative proposals they look to lowest price as the dominant issue in their purchase decisions. We often hear comments like "We can get exactly the same upfit package for x% less so match the price or we will be forced to go with the competition" to which we respond "Truck Equipment is like most things in that you can always find it somewhere for a cheaper price but that you ultimately get what you pay for!". Although buying strictly on price, as opposed to value, has its place (i.e. pure commodities) we do not believe this to be the best overall approach when it comes to truck mounted equipment. The upfit packages ability to perform the job at hand, minimal down time, reliable performance and safe/ease of operation of your complete truck solution (dumps, hook loaders, roll-offs, cranes, etc) are critical factors in the success of your overall business. Accurate comparisons between brands, models and upfitters is often difficult unless you really get down into the details where the differentiation exists. Is price important .... Absolutely! But, and it is a big but, it must be kept in the proper context. We have a saying here at DEL that "In the absence of a reason to pay more, we, like most customers, would always pay less!". Price must obviously be competitive, but some of the issues beyond lowest price that we suggest a customer should consider include equipment design, standard features versus options, material quantity and quality, warranty coverage and terms (what is or isn't in the "fine" print), resale value, vendor service location, vendor knowledge and reputation for being easy to do business with, their willingness and ability to stand behind the products and services that they offer.

The role that we have trained our sales folks here at DEL to fulfill is that of "Rolling Stock Advisor". Their mandate is to assist customers in determining what the appropriate equipment is for their current/planned requirements and to guide them through the buying process to ensure that the specified upfit package will fully meet their expectations. This is one of the reasons why we resist merely matching specifications defined by others preferring instead to do our own due diligence in determining what the true "need" is such that we can make an appropriate recommendation to the end user that will result in a successful short and long term overall outcome for both their pocketbook as well as their operation!