Crosshire

Executive Hire News, September 2009             Go to main Crosshire page

A Great Deal of Nonsense

    
It may seem like yesterday, but in fact it was in 1995 that a memo issued by a couple of executives at A-Plant exhorting staff to “KILL” the competition was leaked into the public domain. At that time, the Green Giant was in a predatory stage of its growth and the emergence of such tactics was denounced by many in our industry. I speculated at the time that A-Plant’s greatest achievement in issuing this memo had been to cause confusion and time-wasting trumpet blowing by its competitors, rather than increase its actual revenues!
?The downside to it was that many people have long memories. Whatever A-Plant has achieved more recently (and to be fair it is a very different outfit now) it will always have a ‘past’ and many hirers believe it cannot claim the moral ground to be perceived as an industry leader.?

How sad, then, to find that the lesson of history has not been learnt, and in particular because this time around the culprit is Hewden. In case you have been away or not caught the news, Hewden has publicly advertised a?deal exhorting users to send back kit they already have on hire from you and me and, instead, hire similar kit from Hewden, which offers a rate match, free transport and the first week’s hire free! You can catch up with the details on the Executive Hire Club web site, where you will also see more than the odd comment from various hiremen.?

This wheeze has, at a stroke, knocked Hewden off the pedestal it once occupied as the UK’s leading hirer, and the company has squandered the right to be regarded as a moral leader. At a time when we look to our larger counterparts for a steady and responsible approach to doing business and?retaining the hard earned reputation of our industry in the eyes of clients and authority, Hewden’s present management act like a gang of car boot traders.?

The biggest critics of their offer have not been other hirers but USERS! Is it any wonder we hear that some large construction firms are becoming sick of the antics of their sole hire supply partners, and are considering in-house hire departments again? Almost uniquely amongst UK hirers, Hewden once enjoyed a reputation that was firmly based on a long and cherished pedigree. The present inept bozos who concocted this latest nonsense have almost certainly thrown years of work establishing their company as an icon on to the scrapheap. In the current situation all industries look to their long established peers and their trade associations for leadership, but if we all follow this piece of reckless marketing the whole industry will become a joke.?

Most of you are members of one or more of our trade associations. If you want to belong to the same body that Hewden is in, do nothing, otherwise get hold of your area representative or lobby the HQ staff to bring them to task. Similar organisations in other English speaking markets would surely not permit reckless behaviour that might bring the industry into disrepute.?The excuse that trade bodies cannot get involved in commercial matters is a load of rubbish. I do not want to belong to any body that will stand by and allow the good name of our industry be dragged down.?

The good news is that you and I can take direct action to hurt Hewden’s owners where it matters. Consider whose pockets you are lining before buying a machine with the CAT brand or any capital equipment with a Perkins engine. Does the ultimate owner of Hewden appreciate what a jackass its subsidiary is making of the UK hire industry??

The final insult in all this is the feeble attempt to ride on the success of the greatest rock and roll artist ever. A music critic was interviewing a famous group leader recently and remarked, “there was really nothing before Elvis,” to which the reply was “there isn’t a fat lot around after him.” All of us have?to show our clients that we will be around offering value for a long time to come. To degrade the industry that regarded you as a founding member insults us all, and this bankrupt idea will haunt Hewden long after the present indignation has subsided. The directors of other corporate hirers would do well to reflect on the responsibility they carry for market leadership before embarking on any response.

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