New deals for ANC team
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IN Parcels carrier ANC's standardised franchise agreements are now in place with the 40 independent operators which form the backbone of its network.
The new contracts were announced in March as part of a programme of changes being made by ANC's management.
A claim that the new contracts were signed "under duress", made by a group called Friends of the ANC Network, have been dismissed.
ANC managing director Ian Henderson says he has never heard of the organisation.
"They are mischief makers," he says, "possibly disgruntled ex-franchisees."
Key elements of the new contracts include a bonus system for individual operators which ANC claims is the first of its kind in the UK parcels industry. Franchisees are paid a bonus according to performance, assuming the group as a whole meets minimum targets, says Henderson. But other criteria, such as quality or insurance losses, could be used in the future.
Henderson has been pushing franchisees to win more business on their territory instead of relying too heavily on delivery work and he has changed the payment structure to make collections more attractive.
ANC has also forced a doubling of the salesforce to more than 60. Each franchisee pays at least one salesman, although ANC provides much of the marketing back-up centrally and pays the performance bonuses.
The company has also set up a finance package for franchisees wanting to install computers at customers' premises. "The typical operator turns over between £750,000 and £5m a year and is dedicated to ANC." says Henderson.