In the limousine business, you are only as good as your last ride. Anyone who has been in the business for a week or more has heard that one. While I tend to agree with the concept, I don’t necessarily believe it’s completely true. If there was a service issue on the last ride that you didn’t know about, almost certainly you have lost a customer. Even in some cases where the client has informed you of their dissatisfaction; sometimes you will loose a customer. IF, however, you know in advance of pick up time that your chauffeur is missing the mark, you stand a very good chance of recovering the lost customer before they even thought of changing limousine services. The key action on your part is to advise the client, truthfully and in advance of the pick up time, that there has been an unforeseen problem and what you can do to meet their need.
Travel in general creates anxiety. For limousine clients, anxiety usually starts to build between five and ten minutes before pick-up time. As the last five minutes tick past, the client starts to get really nervous. God forbid they wait another five or ten minutes before they call you. By ten-after pick up time, they are livid and probably out of control with rage. Most customers of any business who experience this level of stress will never call that business again. They never forget being that angry and never forget who made them so.
If we think about it, I’m sure most of us could recall several first hand customer experiences where we have sworn we would never do business with a certain company again. It could be a restaurant or a gas station – whatever. When I think back I can almost always remember the way I felt but not always the details of the situation. I remember having a big blow-out with the owner of a local gas station when I was seventeen. Fifteen years later a new owner who leased the business from the old guy offered me a great deal on gas. I turned her down flat, because the old man still owned the property and held her lease on the business. I couldn’t explain to her what had happened, only that I swore the place off long ago. And it was well known among the chauffeur staff that I wouldn’t even reimburse gas receipts from this place.
Alternatively, we never forget the good customer service moments. The best customer service I’ve ever received was from Continental Airlines. I was traveling to Texas to be married and missing the last connecting flight out of Houston due to a long delay in Newark. My betrothed broke down crying on the phone as she learned this from the call center agent. Other than asking enough questions to understand her dilemma; they didn’t say a word to her at the time but went on to have the pilot poll the other passengers on the last flight who elected to wait for me. Continental walked me down an emergency exit from the gangway, had me identify my baggage from the conveyer and drove me across the tarmac to the waiting plane. The long waiting passengers cheered when I walked on to the plane and I was on-time for my wedding. Needless to say, I use them whenever I am going to any destination they serve effectively and will forever.
My best customer complement over the last 16 years stems from a ride that a chauffeur had blown right out of the water. My client advised me years later that he uses the experience regularly as an example of the best customer service he’d ever received. “It was 4:53 AM”, he begins, “my 5:00 AM car was not yet in my driveway. This limo company’s car was always in the driveway 10 to 15 minutes before pick-up time, I was very nervous. At 4:55 AM I reached for my phone and it rang before I dialed. It was the owner of the limo company advising me that his chauffeur had slept in and that he himself was 15 minutes from my door. I made my flight with time to spare and went on to have a successful meeting later that day.” He advised me that he doesn’t tell them that I was wearing yesterday’s cut offs or that my hair was standing strait up in classic bed-head fashion or that I drove him to the airport in a dirt covered Ford Bronco I used around the farm (I had an “any car” insurance endorsement at the time). My client tells this story to demonstrate for his team that even in the worst of situations; it is still possible to preserve the customer relationship. A bad situation with a good response can effectively cement a client relationship for a very long time.
Advanced notice that there is a problem is a key factor in preserving the client relationship. It greatly reduces client anxiety and the client doesn’t get as angry. With today’s advanced technologies in communication and vehicle tracking, there is no good reason a client should ever find out a chauffeur is running late, at or after the pick up time. A simple call to advise that the chauffeur is running close or a minute or two behind strongly reinforces company’s concern for the client’s peace of mind and makes a bad situation much better.
Most companies use spot times requiring chauffeurs to be on location 10 minutes or more before the scheduled pick-up. This is a valuable practice. While it provides time for a chauffeur to overcome an unforeseen delay it also gives the dispatcher additional time to notify a client of a challenge before the anxiety flares up. For the client, spot time relieves anxiety and creates piece of mind.
On any occasion when the chauffeur will not be on location by the spot time, the client should be notified. An informed client is a happy one, even when the car is a little behind schedule.
Filed under: Customer Service | Tagged: Customer Service
