The Cooper sales team consists of just two sales professionals. Between them, Chris Barnes and Martin Dale will travel tens of thousands of miles each year meeting customers and solving customers’ handling problems with Cooper’s totally unique consultative approach to business. As Coopers are not governed by the factories they serve, it affords the ability to find the right solution for the customer – not the supplier, by looking at different complementary handling systems.
However, it is not only the handling experience that Chris and Martin have in common. They are, we believe, unique in that they can claim to have been factory trained service engineers on the machines they now sell. This is not unusual at all on smaller machines but in the heavy capacity port sector, this is a unique approach. Martin and Chris therefore truly understand the products – not from a sales brochure but from wiring diagrams to hydraulic schematics. They have repaired machines in the rain, worked long days and nights to keep customers operational and truly understand what it means when a machine breaks down. They have been there and done it all.
Chris started with Coopers as a resident engineer maintaining the 60 and 54 ton forklifts amongst a mixed fleet of other plant at the steel works before venturing onto the road as a mobile engineer. His career move into sales in 2008 changed his life forever and he now assumes total responsibility for all sales nationally. He is arguably the most experienced and knowledgeable heavy truck salesperson of them all!
Martin has been with Coopers since 2011 and he too worked on a site as a resident engineer at a container terminal using a fleet of reachstackers before venturing into a mobile site-to-site engineer. He too has made the transition into sales but brings with him all the engineering nous he needs to talk with customers using hard engineering facts built upon experience.
It is not uncommon for both professionals to dabble in machines and, they like nothing better than sitting with operators fine tuning their machines for optimum performance – which other sales team can do this? Chris and Martin – technical, knowledgeable, and straight-talking.
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Editor’s Notes
Operating in all sectors of heavy lifting across the UK and Ireland, Cooper Specialised Handling is the exclusive UK distributor for SveTruck, RAM Spreaders, Telestack bulk material handling conveying systems and Sany mobile handling equipment, sole UK importer and exclusive distributor for Mantsinen cranes, Movella Translifters, TEC Containers and a long-term specialist in Konecranes lift trucks. The company, which celebrated 20 years in business in 2018, also has a dedicated after-sales division, Cooper Specialised Handling Ireland, which specialises in engineering support.
Independently owned, Cooper offers total solutions in both solids and bulk handling. Its customised solutions comprise high quality, high value products and reliable service for businesses operating in the most challenging heavy handling environments, including ports, freight handling, inter-modal terminals, manufacturing and other heavy lifting industries.