In 1927 Alfred P Sloan asked Harley Earl to be the head of ‘The Art and Colour Section’ at General Motors. Earl liked to work from an office called the ‘Hatchery’. It had no phone, blacked out windows and a made-up title on the door. This was so he could work undisturbed. Sloan defended him because his styling sold cars. Harley Earl later designed and introduced the Chevrolet Corvette in 1953 and although the car has evolved to a sixth generation, it is still in production today.
Some days I go to meetings, some days I sit at the computer and other days I’m out driving. Pretty much all the time, I’m doing something involved with our business. Eventually though, you learn working too hard can become unproductive. There is a fine line where being too close and too involved can influence your judgement as a Manager.
The story of Harley Earl is important because it shows what the benefits of undisturbed thinking time can achieve. Recognizing the importance of stepping away from things is a must for keeping a clear perspective so that focus is balanced and well placed. It helps clear the mind and generate new ideas that can take a business way ahead of its competitors just like Alfred P Sloan and Harley Earl proved.
However unlike Harley Earl, I find the best thoughts often come just after I’ve been freezing cold, soaking wet and hammering through a forest on a light-weight mountain bike! Where do you get yours?
Friday 28 January 2011
Friday 21 January 2011
The Chauffeur Team
The phone bleeps with an email. The message reads “Heads up, big meeting arranged, lots of cars needed next Monday”. The reply goes back “Ok, no problem”.
In my last blog, I wrote about the importance of trusting people when growing a business. The truth is if you want to approach bigger customers, you must have the resources to service their demands and satisfy their needs. Having the right drivers and vehicles goes a long way but also having a team who are informed and motivated establishes customer belief - it instills real security!
In the last few years we have arranged chauffeur services for conferences, special events and World Manager’s meetings. Our corporate clients suddenly realise just how large our network is, how resourceful we can be and how extensive a range of vehicles we can provide! Big events demonstrate our team delivers. Sometimes, it is the first occasion a customer really puts us to the test and it is often a time when they are under pressure themselves.
It can take years to gain customer loyalty but we can almost guarantee it takes just one big event for our customers to trust us implicitly. Just think of the Executive Assistant receiving an email saying “the CEO is flying over”. Do they stress out and worry or simply send an email to their trusted chauffeur team?
In my last blog, I wrote about the importance of trusting people when growing a business. The truth is if you want to approach bigger customers, you must have the resources to service their demands and satisfy their needs. Having the right drivers and vehicles goes a long way but also having a team who are informed and motivated establishes customer belief - it instills real security!
In the last few years we have arranged chauffeur services for conferences, special events and World Manager’s meetings. Our corporate clients suddenly realise just how large our network is, how resourceful we can be and how extensive a range of vehicles we can provide! Big events demonstrate our team delivers. Sometimes, it is the first occasion a customer really puts us to the test and it is often a time when they are under pressure themselves.
It can take years to gain customer loyalty but we can almost guarantee it takes just one big event for our customers to trust us implicitly. Just think of the Executive Assistant receiving an email saying “the CEO is flying over”. Do they stress out and worry or simply send an email to their trusted chauffeur team?
Friday 14 January 2011
Risky Business!
It is midnight. The stranger stood beside me says work is busy. I spot the blood shot eyes and the edgy behaviour. The caffeine loaded body chatting away, unable to stand still! We wait in the airport for a flight to arrive. A conversation develops. The owner-driver admits working flat-out since 4am once again!
I remember starting out. It was expensive to give jobs away. It hurt the cash flow. You quickly learn how competitive some drivers are too. They will give their card to your passengers in a bid for work. To avoid using them, there is always the temptation to work more hours. Stay out on the road and never come home. Too easily you can neglect family, strain relationships and destroy what you are working for!
In the Chauffeur industry, there comes a time when you have to make a decision to cling on to what you have or decide to grow. You have to believe customers will stay loyal when you ask them to travel with another driver. For most one-man-bands who take the leap-of-faith, this will test their character, strength and courage.
Over time, I have learnt to place trust in people. To succeed, you have to rise above the pressure of the industry. You have to see the bigger picture and have faith - the support offered by your team will deliver far greater benefit to your customer than you ever did as an individual. There again, would a corporate client really risk the welfare of their employees by using a mad busy one-man-band (no matter how dedicated)?
I remember starting out. It was expensive to give jobs away. It hurt the cash flow. You quickly learn how competitive some drivers are too. They will give their card to your passengers in a bid for work. To avoid using them, there is always the temptation to work more hours. Stay out on the road and never come home. Too easily you can neglect family, strain relationships and destroy what you are working for!
In the Chauffeur industry, there comes a time when you have to make a decision to cling on to what you have or decide to grow. You have to believe customers will stay loyal when you ask them to travel with another driver. For most one-man-bands who take the leap-of-faith, this will test their character, strength and courage.
Over time, I have learnt to place trust in people. To succeed, you have to rise above the pressure of the industry. You have to see the bigger picture and have faith - the support offered by your team will deliver far greater benefit to your customer than you ever did as an individual. There again, would a corporate client really risk the welfare of their employees by using a mad busy one-man-band (no matter how dedicated)?
Monday 10 January 2011
The Cold Hard Facts
A Business Consultant with vast experience once advised me, anyone can analyse their business in simple steps. "First, learn to measure information. Then you can record it. Then you can analyse!"
In our chauffeur company we transport people from A to B so often it is easy to assume figures, costs and analysis. When DrivenByQ first interrogated the database though, what we found was startling. Not only did we see how many airport trips were completed each month but also the passenger occupancy rate, driver turnover, driver hours, customer spend, cash turnover, account turnover, in fact everything!
We recognized people carriers were expensive to operate and unnecessary for most journeys. We identified trends and income streams then used the data in seasonal promotions or for purchasing vehicles. The analysis enabled DrivenByQ to view an important issue clearly and easily – Profitability!
The database also condensed the time-intensive, non value-adding chore of invoicing. The time dropped from one hour to just three minutes for each invoice. We saved so much time and money it was astonishing. At the end of the day though, does a customer really want to pay for anything except the journey?
In our chauffeur company we transport people from A to B so often it is easy to assume figures, costs and analysis. When DrivenByQ first interrogated the database though, what we found was startling. Not only did we see how many airport trips were completed each month but also the passenger occupancy rate, driver turnover, driver hours, customer spend, cash turnover, account turnover, in fact everything!
We recognized people carriers were expensive to operate and unnecessary for most journeys. We identified trends and income streams then used the data in seasonal promotions or for purchasing vehicles. The analysis enabled DrivenByQ to view an important issue clearly and easily – Profitability!
The database also condensed the time-intensive, non value-adding chore of invoicing. The time dropped from one hour to just three minutes for each invoice. We saved so much time and money it was astonishing. At the end of the day though, does a customer really want to pay for anything except the journey?
Friday 7 January 2011
Chinese Whispers Vs The Database
Have you ever played Chinese Whispers? A group of people pass a message from one to another. Somebody then says out loud the final interpretation of the original message. What started as “Tell Sarah the Fancy Dress Party is Friday but don’t wear anything scary because the theme is musical and pantomime characters” ends up as “Andrea is starring in a scary pantomime as a bus driver on Wednesday”.
On my seventh birthday my Dad bought me an Atari 400 computer with 16K of memory. This was a few years before the popular Sinclair ZX81 or the Commodore C64. Looking back it was probably one of the best things he did. To me it is second nature to pick up a computer or piece of technology and use it effectively. I‘ve used computers for years so understanding their capability and how they can solve problems is easy.
When we introduced online booking, we introduced a system where electronic data was received in a standard format. This helped enormously because we never had to transpose information again or re-invent the wheel by copying data that the customer had already created. Instead the information could flow freely from a web form to a database and all we had to do was add a price and a driver to complete the booking.
Databases are amazing. The advantages they bring are incredible. The power to search for records in an instant is mind blowing and their ability to organise information is outstanding. If you wanted to organise a conference for fifty people all travelling separately, how much faith would you really have in a one-man-band and his hand-written, scribbled diary? Especially when compared to a professional team who access central information created by the customer?
On my seventh birthday my Dad bought me an Atari 400 computer with 16K of memory. This was a few years before the popular Sinclair ZX81 or the Commodore C64. Looking back it was probably one of the best things he did. To me it is second nature to pick up a computer or piece of technology and use it effectively. I‘ve used computers for years so understanding their capability and how they can solve problems is easy.
When we introduced online booking, we introduced a system where electronic data was received in a standard format. This helped enormously because we never had to transpose information again or re-invent the wheel by copying data that the customer had already created. Instead the information could flow freely from a web form to a database and all we had to do was add a price and a driver to complete the booking.
Databases are amazing. The advantages they bring are incredible. The power to search for records in an instant is mind blowing and their ability to organise information is outstanding. If you wanted to organise a conference for fifty people all travelling separately, how much faith would you really have in a one-man-band and his hand-written, scribbled diary? Especially when compared to a professional team who access central information created by the customer?
Monday 3 January 2011
Right First Time
When Toyota visited Ford for the first time, they witnessed defects in the manufacturing process. Ford’s solution was a rework area at the end of a production line. They employed a team of people to fix reoccurring faults.
Toyota’s solution was to make things correctly and eliminate the rework area. They called it ‘right first time’ philosophy. Toyota used root cause analysis to trace a problem to its origin. They fixed the root problem and reoccurring errors disappeared. This improved quality, required less labour and reduced costs.
Now take a taxi office copying a customer's fax in to a booking system. The fax often has information missing and the taxi office lifts the phone to request missing data - just like rework! Our solution was to replace faxes with online booking forms. These only submit if all essential data is present! Customers realised it saved them time and improved quality.
When customers also realised DrivenByQ delivered these benefits at no extra costs, what do you think happened to the volume of our work?
Toyota’s solution was to make things correctly and eliminate the rework area. They called it ‘right first time’ philosophy. Toyota used root cause analysis to trace a problem to its origin. They fixed the root problem and reoccurring errors disappeared. This improved quality, required less labour and reduced costs.
Now take a taxi office copying a customer's fax in to a booking system. The fax often has information missing and the taxi office lifts the phone to request missing data - just like rework! Our solution was to replace faxes with online booking forms. These only submit if all essential data is present! Customers realised it saved them time and improved quality.
When customers also realised DrivenByQ delivered these benefits at no extra costs, what do you think happened to the volume of our work?
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