OFFHIRE
Roy runs a tight and honest ship. However, navigating through the shark-infested waters of the UK hire industry, those pesky icebergs keep getting in the way…
INCITEFUL IVOR I
am not trying to paint myself as some kind of business guru who sits on the floor cross-legged in a trance-like
state, rocking and humming with the smell of burning joss sticks pervading my nostrils while I hatch the next amazing plan to avoid bankruptcy and personal disaster. What I mean is that I take pride in the fact that I don’t attempt to rip people off. In fact, I do my level best to ensure that my supply chain is not beaten wafer-thin on price so as to be completely see-through, and thinking that my business is not worth having. If my suppliers don’t make a profit out of me, then they won’t want to supply me – and then we really will reap what we sow.
I’m reminded of a story a capital equipment salesman once told me. He told of his early foray into capital equipment sales, when he met a gentlemen called Ivor Kiddle. I was never lucky enough to meet Ivor, but he was an industry icon and former CPA Council member for 19- years. He founded and ran a successful crane hire business in the East of England, and this salesman once visited his yard to see a weird prototype crane in Ivor’s livery. Supposedly the machine was so wacky that it was the only one ever built. When the salesman asked him what it was Ivor replied in his Norfolk accent: “That, my Boy, is a Baaagin” “What do you mean by that Ivor?” “Well, my Boy, it’s something I didn’t want at a price I couldn’t refuse!”
I loved the fact that to, pay forward, Ivor bought something of a pig-in-a-poke machine to help out a manufacturer, but in doing so he ingratiated himself to that supplier for the future.
I was recently made aware of the polar-opposite to this by a post on LinkedIn. It was a rant from an independent
aerial platform service guy who’d done some work for a major UK access hire company. The bill had run to over £14,000 and the customer had refused to pay for over a year. Their reasoning was that the supplier’s business changed from a partnership to a Limited company during the period they did the work. The hire company’s managers requesting the work were fully aware of this change, months prior, and the relevant account forms were filled in and sent to the hire company’s accounts department so that the new business was on their system. However, after being given the runaround, unanswered emails and phone calls, eventually they tracked down the hire company’s financial-controller.
And the answer to why they refuse to pay? They had raised the POs for the work to the previous company that is no longer trading. They also did not update their records and add the new business into the system as a supplier, and they refused to rectify the issue and they wouldn’t be paying the bill!
The late great Ivor Kiddle would be spinning in his grave like a Catherine Wheel at the manner in which this supposed “blue-chip” hire company had behaved! Paying forward? You must be joking! But I am minded of another golden line imparted by Ivor when referring to a different clown competitor: “My Boy, I’ve a good mind to go over there and beat them with a blunt excrement!
Priceless! Happy Hiring
36 Executive Hire News - July/August 2023
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