Fleet Evaluation

At a World Cup level fleet management is a continual ongoing process. With access to new materials at every venue throughout the season, World Cup skiers and service technicians can choose how actively to test new skis and exchange old ones. It’s really fun to have a chance to step into that situation from time to time – I feel like a kid in a candy shop! But most of the time we’re working with much greater constraints.

You’re probably not a World Cup racer with access to as many skis as you can test. You probably don’t have a service staff to help you pick your skis for each race, and then prepare them while you take care of important things like a warm-up. Most of our customers have different concerns than World Cup skiers, but that doesn’t mean the fleet evaluation and management is any less important.

For us, fleet management is a process of making the best possible use of existing skis. Even if your “fleet” is only one or two pairs, it’s worth asking how well they’re serving you, and how well you’re utilizing their qualities. Many of our customers send in one or two pairs for grinding, having already selected the grinds from our menu, or they order a pair of skis for a specific set of conditions, to complement existing skis that they have for other conditions. This is fine. But when those customers send us their entire fleet of three pairs of skis to evaluate and review, we might suggest different grinding solutions to take advantage of the material qualities of the skis, or we might suggest a different new pair to complement the other skis in the fleet.

In the past we have offered “flex testing” services, in which we put a whole bunch of numbers and marks on the skis. We don’t do that anymore because the numbers and marks don’t improve the skis. Instead we focus on a qualitative assessment of the skis in the context of your needs and uses. We know skis well, and rather than take your money to measure and mark and grind a bad pair of skis, we’d prefer to tell you not to spend money on it, but to save that money for a new pair. You’re catching on now – fleet evaluations help us sell skis! That’s why we don’t charge money for evaluations.

We are in a position to be aggressive in our sales approach – to pitch a “hard sell” on our new skis and grinding services. But we don’t do that. We’ve always been well served by the attitude that we are stewards of your interest. The agenda and the budget are yours. We want you to be satisfied with your experience in the sport, because happy skiers spend more money. It’s that simple.

Call us at 802-536-4719 or email to discuss fleet evaluation and management services.