New client with a new business. Thoughts?

[dtdigital]

Hi all,

I'm currently working with a new client (through my employer, not freelance work) who it seems have started business which has not been done before, but I thought I'd ask here if anyone else has heard of it.

It's a heavy plant hire comparison website, which allows users to submit their requirements online for free, which then gets forwarded to providers who match the criteria.

Has anyone else heard of a business which does something similar? I've certainly not and can't find anything like it in the same industry.

 

[Carl Mintern]

I have never come across this.

 

[Funding for Communities]

Nope new to me.

Mike

 

[dtdigital]

Would it be something you'd use @Carl Mintern?

 

[Mr A P Davies]

I think that is a heck of a good idea. Never heard of the like.
Should put the wind up a few hire companies......

 

[LukeF]

A good idea, but each major plant hire company has special pricing for their clients based on how much they order per month/year. Each and every account is different and prices are often negotiated regularly. So it would be extremely difficult for a plant hire company to give a set price for an item, unless it was just aimed at the public (B2C) perhaps?

 

[Carl Mintern]

Personally I'm not sure.

There are a few considerations that are worth bearing in mind.

Geographical area is the first. Now this may be different in large city's but in the area I operate in I know there are only a handful of options that are economically viable to consider due to transportation.

I hold trade accounts with all those in our area, and as has been mentioned, I get looked after better from some than others based on our trading history, monthly spend etc. I'd be stunned if anyone could beat the rates I get from the Wincanton branch of 'Yhc' hire, or the Gillingham branch of Sydenhams hire. But this is based on personal relationships built with depot managers over years. (Yes I get different rates from different branches of the same company). So I would think that most regular hirers would be dealing with suppliers in a similar way.

Then there is the logistical issue. I would be unlikely to use this system simply because I often am booking stuff like this on shortish notice, so along with price, my other important pieces of information are around availability of machine and haulage if I am not collecting. Generally my experience with this type of system is you have to either enquire regarding availability after the search is done via phone calls, or you have to put in a rigid date with your search, which is not a flexible enough system for my tastes/business.

you may well have already thought of a way round some or all of these, but these would be my immediate concerns as a professional offering advice.

Once you get past all these, you will still be faced with the chicken and egg dilemma of getting enough people on either side of the see saw to make the thing viable.

I'm sorry if I seem a bit negative, just trying to offer constructive (npi) critisicm.

Edit- I would probably use this to drive down prices with my existing suppliers rather than as an actual supplier service too. If you show me a deal that is better than my guy is offering, I just show him the quote and say 'match this', Not sure how you could protect against that.