• Alan Soper, operations director of Midlands BRS, gave hauliers
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a good insight into why his company is the most successful within BRS (it has a turnover of £60 million and a 9% profit margin) in his paper "Customer Relationships — the art of persuasion". He wasn't, however, about to give all his secrets away to any competitors that may have been in the audience.
Many hauliers only found out what their customers really wanted after a contract commenced which, claimed Soper, "only goes to show that they didn't know to begin with".
It was vital, said Soper, for any transport contractor when negotiating deals to be aware of all the demands a customer was under himself as they could ultimately end up on the haulier's shoulders.
While it was important to he able to try and include costs like fuel or wages within a contract Soper warned that operators would seldom be able to negotiate directly on them — although they could cover them by linking the contract to improved performance,