letsconnect

Let's Connect!

Daniel W. Krueger, Ph.D. Krueger & Associates, LLC.

Boston, Massachusetts© 2013

Finding the Right Partner What is a Partnership?

A relationship of two or more entities conducting business for mutual benefit.

Finding the Right Partner

Finding the Right Partner

Sourcing

– What does your company do to source potential affiliate partners in your own market?

– What does your company do to source potential affiliate partners in markets outside of your coverage area?

Finding the Right Partner

Due Diligence Term used for a number of concepts, involving

either an investigation of a business or person prior to signing a contract, or an act with a certain standard of care.

Create an application that asks all the questions you need answered to be certain your clients experience superior service

Due Diligence

General Company Information

Physical and mailing address Website URL Year founded CEO/President, CFO, CIO, Vice President(s),

Sale Director(s), General Manager(s), Safety Director, Operation Manager(s), Dispatch Manager(s)/Supervisor(s)

Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable contacts

24 Hour emergency contact

Due Diligence General Service Questions

Is there a person available 24/7? If yes, is it a full time staff member

or an answering service? If it is an answering service, do they dispatch? How and where do you meet customers at the

airport? What amenities are in the vehicle (bottled water;

current reading material, etc.)? Does your fleet utilize have DriveCam or a

simliar system? Is your fleet equipped with GPS tracking?

Due Diligence Dispatch Policies

What kind of reservation software do you use?

Do you use flight tracking software such as RLM?

If not, how are flights tracked? Are outbound flights tracked as well? Do chauffeurs track flights as well? How do you communicate with chauffeurs?

Two-way Nextel? Cell Phone? Tablet? Other?

Due Diligence Chauffeur Training Policies

What is your chauffeur uniform policy?

If possible please submit a photo of a uniformed chauffeur.

Does chauffeur and driver training include a defensive driving course (e.g. Smith System)?

What is your drug testing policy? Describe your employee background check

process.

Due Diligence Billing Questions

What is your cancellation policy byvehicle type and service type (e.g. Transfer vs. Hourly Charter)?

If a flight is delayed or diverted what is your billing policy?

If a flight is canceled what is your billing policy? What is your billing policy for wait time on Transfer

reservations and how long is the grace period? How do you charge for stops - Time based or flat

fee? How are miscellaneous charges (tolls; regulatory

fees; fuel surcharges; local/state taxes) calculated and billed?

Due Diligence Additional Corporate information

Is the company a member of theNational Limousine Association(NLA)?

Is the company a member of the The Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA)?

List any local or state business associations the company is a member of.

Is the company Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited?

List any awards your organization has won.

Due Diligence

As part of the application submission the potential partner should submit

IRS Form W-9 Certificate of Insurance listing your company

as additionally insured Copies of all business licenses and permits

required for operation (e.g. in New York - TLC Base Permit)

Due Diligence

Due Diligence http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/

Due Diligence http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/

Due Diligence http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/

Due Diligence http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/

Due Diligence http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/

Due Diligence Safety Measurement System

Due Diligence Safety Measurement System

Due Diligence Safety Measurement System

Due Diligence Safety Measurement System

Due Diligence Licensing and Insurance

Due Diligence

Insuring Your Interests - Domestically

General Liability Coverage Automobile Liability Coverage Workers Compensation / Employer Liability

Coverage Garage Liability Excess Liability

Insuring Your Interests - Domestically

Insuring Your Interests - Internationally

General Liability Coverage Automobile Liability Coverage Workers Compensation / Employer Liability

Coverage Garage Liability Excess Liability

Insuring Your Interests - Internationally

Insuring Your Interests - Internationally

Insuring Your Interests

The Price is Right

The Price is Right

The Price is Right

Penetration Pricing

The Price is Right

Loss Leading

The Price is Right

Market-Based

The Price is Right

Marginal Pricing

The Price is Right

Skimming

The Price Is Right

Inbound Pricing

– What your company charges for Farm-In reservations

Outbound Pricing

– What your company is charged for Farm-Out reservations

The Price Is Right

International Pricing

– Currency conversions

– Unique hourly rate structures

The Price Is Right

How do you establish new transfer rates in your market for an affiliate request where the service is usually hourly?

The Price Is Right

Margins

– Purchase Margin

– Contribution Margin

– IBITDA

The Price Is Right

Mindful Discounting

The Price Is Right

Accounts Receivable Discounting

The Price Is Right

Notification of Special Pricing / Special Market Events

The Price Is Right

New pricing trends

– Dynamic Pricing

The Price Is Right

Cross selling / up selling

– Assumptive sale

– Rates preloaded for major markets

The Price Is Right

Accurate quoting during the reservation process

– Domestic

– International

The Price is Right

Sealing the Deal

Sealing the Deal

Agreed upon rate card

Sealing the Deal

Clear communication paths

Sealing the Deal

Clear expression of expectations via a formal contract / agreement

Sealing the Deal

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Incidents

– What happens when we stubour toe and it impacts the client?

• Who owns the client contact outreach?

• What is the time frame for speaking with all parties involved to gather information and make a determination as to what will make the client whole?

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Let them tell you what is wrong. They want you to listen.

Do not be afraid to keep asking questions until you feel like you have pinpointed the problem, and convey that to your customer.

Connect the “features” of your service or product to the “benefits” that it can have on your customer’s lifestyle. Keep in mind the caller may not always be the passenger transported.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service TriageRealize the client's time is valuable. If you're

putting them on hold and transferring three different times, you are losing them. They are getting madder with each transfer. And that's what happens all too often.

As John Tschohl, author of Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service, puts it, solve my problem quickly, or find someone who can.

You can only do this if your employees all understand the chain of command and are empowered to solve problems. They should also know who to send problem customers to if it's beyond their scope.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Actually care. Yes, you're staying calm. But if the client don't sense real empathy for their situation, your calmness is only making them crazier. It makes them feel you don't understand that they are in crisis here, and you need to make it better.

Go above and beyond. Once you've made a customer mad, you need to do something to fix the relationship. It's like a spat with your spouse. You need the customer-service equivalent of the nice card or the flowers.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Don't just file a support ticket. These arethe Internet age's slow boats to China. You might get back to the client in a day,or a week, or never.

While tickets are fine for minor or non-critical problems, they won't work for emergencies.

You need another option -- live email chat, Twitter support or something else that moves faster and gives the Client more confidence that you understand the urgency of their situation.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Fix the broken policies. You can avoid angry customers in the first place if you figure out what's wrong with your process.

This is an ongoing exercise as technologies evolve.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Work close with your affiliate partner. Make sure they understand in advanceyour process of service issue resolution and are immediately responsive to inquiries.

Create a standard template form that can easily be emailed or faxed to the company that includes all the pertinent details of the reservation and the incident and your expected response time.

Using a standard communication form may seem a bit cold – but it actually benefits everyone. It makes it easier for the affiliate partner to respond and for your associate tasked with creating the resolution with seeing the response data in the same format each time.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Three Tips to Deal with an Unhappy Customer.

You have to think. Before you apologize, before you say you're going to fix everything, press your lips together and think. When you realize you've made a customer mad, you must get to the root of the problem. By quietly observing and listening to your customer, you will be better able to determine exactly what went wrong.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Three Tips to Deal with an Unhappy Customer.

Sincerity is like magic. Granted, sometimes the mistake is too big and the customer will fire you even after you say you're sorry. Most of the time, however; simply sincerely listening to the client's side of the story and genuinely apologizing will at least earn you the opportunity to try to make amends. Warning - don't be glib, argue, or make jokes during this conversation. Your customer is mad and doesn't want you to make light of the problem.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Three Tips to Deal with an Unhappy Customer.

Make it right. This is a critical part of the process and one that people usually get wrong. Each customer's need is different, so best practice is to listen, get an idea for what the heart of the problem is, and then say, "I am so sorry that this happened. Your business and trust are important to me. What can I do to make this right?"

Then, stop talking. The customer is probably still mad, so they may need some time to think.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

Three Tips to Deal with an Unhappy Customer.

Make it right. Once the customer comes up with a remedy, give it a moment of thought. Consider the cost if you agree to the customer's suggestion, and the consequences if you don't. Warning - if you feel like the customer is so mad that they might ask for something unrealistic, suggest a specific remedy rather than letting them decide.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Triage

What really happens with an Unhappy Customer.

Old statistics showed that an unhappy customer would tell an average of 24 people about the experience with your company.

Now, with the huge number of people using social media such as Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, and so many others, that number has grown to 3,000!

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

What is a Service Level anyway?

– How they are calculated?

– What is your minimum acceptable level

– How do you communicate Service Level expectations and actual performance to your affiliate partners?

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Service Level Calculations

Goal is 99.25%

Month Service Issues Reservations SI Percentage Service Level

January 2013 3 100 3.00% 97.00%

February 2013 1 125 0.80% 99.20%

March 2013 0 165 0.00% 100.00%

1ST Quarter 4 390 1.03% 98.97%

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

With Farm Outs and In-House reservations how do you know that your brand is represented professionally at all times?

– Secret Shopping?

– Spot Checks?

– Direct solicitation of client feedback?

– Other ways?

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

LAX - Terminal One; Southwest Airlines - Gates 3/5 July 23, 2013 – 1630 hours.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

FRA – Domestic ArrivalsMay 7, 2013 – 1035 hours.

Preserving the Brand & Measuring Service Levels

Let's Connect!

Thank you!