Former ATA chairman says industry needs to market itself more to gain better returns.
Trucking operators are being urged to put more effort into marketing themselves to secure a greater return on the services they provide.
Former Australian Trucking Association (ATA) chairman David Simon fronted this year’s Trucking Australia conference to implore his colleagues to stop selling themselves short.
He says the industry generally does not do enough to promote the importance of its services and that it needs to alter its behaviour.
“At the end of the day, our behaviour as an industry is we get our costs reduced we pass it on to our customers. We maintain our status as the second least profitable industry in the country, just above government,” Simon, who also runs Simon National Carriers, says.
“That’s the behaviour we have as an industry. We don’t sell our services, we don’t market our services well to our customers, we don’t justify a fair return on our equity.
“We need to do something about our behaviour as an industry in that regard. We need to respect ourselves and the professional services we provide.”
Simon has also put the onus on trucking operators’ bankers, saying they need to make sure operators are educated and are equipped with the right marketing tools.
“But I would like to see more of a focus on some of those internal factors that we can influence and our behaviour improving to get better returns for us as an industry,” he says.
This year’s Trucking Australia event was held in Hobart from March 19 to 21 and canvassed topics on the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), the future of roadside enforcement and Toll’s efforts to manage driver fatigue.
Photography: Brad Gardner