This article is brought to you by Fine Tune. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Congratulations! You’ve successfully negotiated a deal with an indirect supplier, and you’re getting your service at a great price—or so you think.

Often, convenience retailers will get caught in a situation that Fine Tune, a provider of indirect expense management services, calls “good contract, bad deal.” Despite operators’ best cost-saving efforts to negotiate a solid contract, the promises of the good contract fail to be delivered for a host of reasons.

That’s where Fine Tune comes in. They are industry experts with deep domain knowledge utilizing their proprietary software, Expense Management Optimization and Auditing Technology (eMOAT℠), to watch c-store retailers’ every line item in four key indirect categories: uniform rental; waste and recycling; pest control; and security and guard services.

“Think of Fine Tune as your financial ‘security guard,’” said Rich Young, vice president of marketing and communications, Fine Tune. “If a supplier overcharges you through any of their myriad cost-growing tactics, or is noncompliant in any other way, we make sure you are directly compensated by that supplier,” Young said.

“We know that with complex indirect services, even the best deal-making efforts of procurement and operators will quickly be eroded without continuous auditing and dedicated, vigilant management of these categories,” Young explained. “But with Fine Tune on your side as your financial ‘security guard,’ you’ll get what you signed up for—without changing up your operations or pulling resources from other, more mission-critical efforts.”

What really sets Fine Tune apart, according to Young, is their eMOAT℠ technology. Client invoices get fed into eMOAT℠, and the software tracks anomalies and manages the client’s supplier spend to ensure a good contract doesn’t turn into a bad deal.

“It’s hard-core cost savings,” says Young. “We’re your defense against these suppliers who take advantage of leaned-out sourcing departments and operators who don’t have the time to ensure every contract is compliant. We protect your bottom line.”

As an example, Young referenced a client engagement in which Fine Tune’s large grocery chain client inherited two main hauler agreements and multiple locally sourced and negotiated deals in both rural and remote markets. It was Fine Tune’s job to assess the entire contract situation, implement measurements and get the grocer cost savings while consolidating contracts.

Fine Tune went to work. They successfully negotiated and implemented the two main hauler contracts and managed supplier transitions of nearly 100 stores, resulting in about $750,000 in savings for the grocery chain. Forty percent of those savings were secured specifically through Fine Tune’s continuous auditing and program management post-implementation.

Overall, the grocery chain saved 30% off its bottom line.

“At Fine Tune, we are our clients’ ally,” said Young. “We max out savings and make sure those savings actually materialize and that they stick. We take care of the contracts so clients can get back to their priorities.”

This is the second installment of a two-part series about managing indirect expenses to help convenience retailers’ bottom lines. For more information visit www.finetuneus.com.