Fuel for Thought

Burning It Down

Owner operators are forever looking for customers… or should be. While you may have a good customer currently, however you define good, at any time, your customer can decide to restructure, change managers or CEOs or even just decide costs need to be reined in and they decide to go with a cheaper or less costly transportation carrier. Regardless of the reason why your current good, possibly dedicated customer decides they no longer need your services, what you do as you depart that customer could define if it really is the last time you will work with that customer.
Oftentimes a customer will decide to go with a cheaper carrier to save a few dollars only to realize the value you brought with your services. Cheaper is not always better. There is a reason why some carriers are able to charge premium rates to their customers - value. Once the customer sees a decline in the service they receive from the discount carrier(s), often they will return to the premium carrier who added value to their services. That is unless you burn that bridge upon your exit when notified that they are choosing another carrier.
As a professional, you should be able to part ways on amicable terms so that you may once again do business in the future. Too many times when being told your services are no longer needed (if you are told at all, sometimes it is just a reduction in loads or an abrupt end without notice), anger rises up and tact and discretion are nowhere to be found. Going out in a huff with a customer will ensure that it truly is the end with little hope of reinstating the customer relationship at a later time.
Que Sera Sera - whatever will be, will be. Once your customer has made the decision to use another carrier instead of yours, maintain your professionalism and leave them with a positive image. If you provide better service than the carrier they are switching to, more than likely they will return to you sooner than later. At this point, negotiations are in order as they have just defined your services as superior and should compensate you accordingly.
So the next time your customer decides to find greener pastures and terminate your services with them, just remember to keep a cool head and you might just have another chance with them real soon. In the life of a business, customers come and customers go, but if you provide services with value, many who appreciate that value will return and if they do not, your value will find a new customer in no time.
Burn it down if you must, but business is business. C'est la vie - such is life. Arrivederci - goodbye, until we meet again.

Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
-  Isaac Newton

See you down the road,
Greg