| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 30/10/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 2 |
| Copyright: Other |
Consortium believes retailers are not giving their full backing to preferred suppliers
Foster berates agents over lack of support for ARTAC suppliers
Report by JEREMYSKIDMORE
ARTAC managing director Julian Foster has spoken of his frustration that preferred suppliers are still not getting the full backing of his members.
Suppliers have long complained that increased commissions are not justified by levels of sales and Foster said agents need to increase their level of directional selling.
“My greatest frustration in this job is not getting the level of discipline I want from members,” he said.
“It is nowhere near the level of multiples and we need to address it. I have great sympathy with suppliers and we have to be able to justify the payments we receive.
“But at least it is getting better, because when I joined eight years ago there was no discipline at all.”
In April, ARTAC controversially dropped Holiday Autos as its preferred car-rental supplier in favour of Hertz. The move angered many agents who enjoyed a good relationship with the car broker and Foster admitted the backing for Hertz was not yet at an acceptable level.
“Is it a runaway success with Hertz?No, it isn’t,”he said. “But the graph is climbing and bookings are rising and as long as this continues, then we will be reasonably satisfied.
“Agents need to back the policy. I didn’t have any difficulty switching from Holiday Autos to Hertz.”
Holiday Autos chairman and chief executive Clive Jacobs said sales through ARTAC members had gone up by 15.8% since April, despite being dropped as a preferred supplier.
“ARTAC agents respect the level of support we have given them over the years and I get a great deal of satisfaction from the loyalty that has been shown. The ARTAC management are clearly working against the wishes of their members.”
Favourite: even though Foster and ARTAC dropped Holiday Autos as a preferred supplier, the car-rental company claims an increase of 15.8% in sales from consortium members since April