EXIT INTERVIEW
Snippets from one of the month’s best conversations
Brent Parent - Founder/CEO, Total Fleet Solutions
Q: What niche were you looking to fill when you got started?
A: Our first efforts were to try and go out and provide some consulting to companies that need-
ed help with their forklift fleet. Within a matter of 30 to 60 days, we realized there are a lot of
consultants out there that provide data and ideas, but what the customer really needed at that
point was people to go implement and fulfill the ideas. So we became a hybrid of somebody that
provided ideas, provided data and actually went out an implemented the ideas. So we were a
fulfillment team.
Q: How has the perception of outsourcing changed?
A: The early outsourcing model was just get this off our plate. We don’t have the people or the
bandwidth, just get it off our plate, and as long as you’re doing it something close to what we
were doing it, we’re OK with it. Now, the people that are really good at it provide the people,
systems and processes to really improve the way customers were doing it. The model now is to
take something that wasn’t a core competency of theirs and make it a core competency of your
own to provide something better. If we cannot save you money, there’s no reason for us to be a
supplier of yours.
