After a contract is signed, many times it is filed away never to be seen again. From our experience, we know that YOU know that your vendor promised some things to you at the time you signed the contract. However, the specifics of the promises have faded from memory. If you are interested in taking charge to make sure you are getting the most out of your contract, please read the tips below. If, after reading and applying these tips, you remain dissatisfied with your current contract, please contact us. We help organizations create Ideal Contracts every day, and we’d like to help you in any way we can.

1. Make sure you have a copy of your contract readily available. (If you don’t have a copy of your contract, you can request one from your vendor - make sure you get a copy of both the front and back.)
2. Read the contract and identify the promises your vendor made to you. For example, look for promises in terms of copier performance (or uptime), service response times, loaner devices in case of delays in repair, parts and supplies that should be included, fixed pricing, and device replacement guarantees due to poor performance.
3. Zero in on the specific numbers or indicators that are needed to trigger an action on the part of your vendor. For example: what kind of response times is considered “unacceptable” and what did your vendor promise to do if their response time falls in that category? Did the vendor promise to give you $20 if it takes them longer than 8 hours to respond to a service call?
4. Determine whether or not your vendor promised to provide you with reports. For example: did your vendor promise to provide you with a quarterly report of their response times? Or, did your vendor promise to provide you with a monthly performance or uptime report?
5. Check with your associates to find out whether or not your vendor has been providing the reports that were promised - if not, contact your sales representative to request that the reports be provided.

As you review the terms of your current contract and become aware of the gaps between what was promised and the areas where there is dissatisfaction, make a list of the terms that you’d like to see implemented during your next contract. Also, check out our free book called Buying a Copier? How to Get What You Pay For at http://www.optimizon.com/resources/ourbook.asp. Hannah Recla Analysis Service Optimizon

Tags: contract management

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Fleet Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.