Chauffeuring question
Discussion
Morning all, I am shortly starting a new career as a chauffeur (for an executive travel company).
It is my intention to quickly become the chauffeur of choice for clients and as such I wish to provide the best service that I can.
Papers, bottles of water, antibacterial gel will be provided for clients, is there anything else that you would expect and appreciate if you were a client?
I will have an umbrella in the car and will keep the vehicle immaculate, any recommendations as to which cleaning products I should keep in the car and use?
Many thanks in advance.
It is my intention to quickly become the chauffeur of choice for clients and as such I wish to provide the best service that I can.
Papers, bottles of water, antibacterial gel will be provided for clients, is there anything else that you would expect and appreciate if you were a client?
I will have an umbrella in the car and will keep the vehicle immaculate, any recommendations as to which cleaning products I should keep in the car and use?
Many thanks in advance.
vantara said:
Morning all, I am shortly starting a new career as a chauffeur (for an executive travel company).
It is my intention to quickly become the chauffeur of choice for clients and as such I wish to provide the best service that I can.
Papers, bottles of water, antibacterial gel will be provided for clients, is there anything else that you would expect and appreciate if you were a client?
I will have an umbrella in the car and will keep the vehicle immaculate, any recommendations as to which cleaning products I should keep in the car and use?
Many thanks in advance.
On a different tack;-It is my intention to quickly become the chauffeur of choice for clients and as such I wish to provide the best service that I can.
Papers, bottles of water, antibacterial gel will be provided for clients, is there anything else that you would expect and appreciate if you were a client?
I will have an umbrella in the car and will keep the vehicle immaculate, any recommendations as to which cleaning products I should keep in the car and use?
Many thanks in advance.
Keep your mouth shut unless invited to speak.
When you do speak, no swearing or extreme (in any sense) language.
Be very careful with political comments - better still, refrain.
The Mad Monk said:
On a different tack;-
Keep your mouth shut unless invited to speak.
When you do speak, no swearing or extreme (in any sense) language.
Be very careful with political comments - better still, refrain.
Thanks mad monk, happy with all that! Also fully aware about having the radio off and asking the client whether they wish to listen to the radio etc. 🙂Keep your mouth shut unless invited to speak.
When you do speak, no swearing or extreme (in any sense) language.
Be very careful with political comments - better still, refrain.
I have to use an 'executive' car service for work probably around 50 times a year for airport /drop offs etc.. finally have a driver who has pretty much got it spot on...
1) Make sure you are on time! - when coming off a flight the last thing I want to do is spend time looking for the driver and calling the company.. if a drivers late for an airport pick up or drop off I'll request them not to send the driver again..
2)car temperature - you may be warm but when stepping in a car at 4am in the morning I don't want ice cold air con blasting in my face..nice to ask what temp Client would like.
3)Driving style - need a balance here - don't want someone driving dangerously or up someone's arse on the M25 but at the same time don't want a middle lane 60mph hogger ..
Be brisk in your driving yet smooth enough that I can fall asleep in the car.
4) If you plan to take 'live' payments in the car then get set up on a system that does it automatically ...my new current driver took my cc details once and they are stored in his system. No faffing with giving details / pins etc but I get an invoice emailed to me pretty much within an hour of my journey .
5) Car - what car will you be driving? for an exec type service I really wouldn't want to see a car smaller than a merc E class. If need a bigger vehicle then they send a nice Vito/ vianno van.
1) Make sure you are on time! - when coming off a flight the last thing I want to do is spend time looking for the driver and calling the company.. if a drivers late for an airport pick up or drop off I'll request them not to send the driver again..
2)car temperature - you may be warm but when stepping in a car at 4am in the morning I don't want ice cold air con blasting in my face..nice to ask what temp Client would like.
3)Driving style - need a balance here - don't want someone driving dangerously or up someone's arse on the M25 but at the same time don't want a middle lane 60mph hogger ..
Be brisk in your driving yet smooth enough that I can fall asleep in the car.
4) If you plan to take 'live' payments in the car then get set up on a system that does it automatically ...my new current driver took my cc details once and they are stored in his system. No faffing with giving details / pins etc but I get an invoice emailed to me pretty much within an hour of my journey .
5) Car - what car will you be driving? for an exec type service I really wouldn't want to see a car smaller than a merc E class. If need a bigger vehicle then they send a nice Vito/ vianno van.
Make sure you know the route and don't blindly follow the sat nav. Don't sit in the middle lane and tutting and shaking your head every few minutes. Have phone power (and cables) available in the back. If collecting from airport don't show client's name on board but something obvious and be visible in front of exit. Yes, have radio off and ask if client wants it on and if so, what station. Have Radio 4 as default when turn on.
ETA: don't turn up too early, and never be late.
ETA: don't turn up too early, and never be late.
- Personal hygiene at its highest, nothing worse than being chauffeured with a driver who's smelly.
- Temperature set to 21.5c maybe?
- Sort any rattles in the car, make sure nothing is loose in the boot etc
- Set tyre pressures for carrying multiple passengers
- Passenger Seat a little more forward than normal, unless carrying in the front.
- Maybe a couple of magazine? Home and hound, GQ etc Maybe avoid the paper, far too awkward for the car
- USB Charging, along with iPhone Lightning, Micro USB and 20 pin a must imo. Make sure the charger is rated high enough to actually charge.
- Wifi in the car would be a nice touch however, should it be slow or unreliable, it could just cause more frustration.
Also practice your chauffeur stop if not familiar with the car, as well as parallel parking.
Let us know how you get on
- Temperature set to 21.5c maybe?
- Sort any rattles in the car, make sure nothing is loose in the boot etc
- Set tyre pressures for carrying multiple passengers
- Passenger Seat a little more forward than normal, unless carrying in the front.
- Maybe a couple of magazine? Home and hound, GQ etc Maybe avoid the paper, far too awkward for the car
- USB Charging, along with iPhone Lightning, Micro USB and 20 pin a must imo. Make sure the charger is rated high enough to actually charge.
- Wifi in the car would be a nice touch however, should it be slow or unreliable, it could just cause more frustration.
Also practice your chauffeur stop if not familiar with the car, as well as parallel parking.
Let us know how you get on
Volvo do their own chauffeuring programme, you can see what their cars include here:
http://www.volvocars.com/uk/buy/finance-sales/spec...
Plug sockets for laptops, Wifi hotspots, four zone climate control etc
http://www.volvocars.com/uk/buy/finance-sales/spec...
Plug sockets for laptops, Wifi hotspots, four zone climate control etc
The Mad Monk said:
vantara said:
Morning all, I am shortly starting a new career as a chauffeur (for an executive travel company).
It is my intention to quickly become the chauffeur of choice for clients and as such I wish to provide the best service that I can.
Papers, bottles of water, antibacterial gel will be provided for clients, is there anything else that you would expect and appreciate if you were a client?
I will have an umbrella in the car and will keep the vehicle immaculate, any recommendations as to which cleaning products I should keep in the car and use?
Many thanks in advance.
On a different tack;-It is my intention to quickly become the chauffeur of choice for clients and as such I wish to provide the best service that I can.
Papers, bottles of water, antibacterial gel will be provided for clients, is there anything else that you would expect and appreciate if you were a client?
I will have an umbrella in the car and will keep the vehicle immaculate, any recommendations as to which cleaning products I should keep in the car and use?
Many thanks in advance.
Keep your mouth shut unless invited to speak.
When you do speak, no swearing or extreme (in any sense) language.
Be very careful with political comments - better still, refrain.
+personal comments, unless his flies are undone!
Matt-il77s said:
Volvo do their own chauffeuring programme, you can see what their cars include here:
http://www.volvocars.com/uk/buy/finance-sales/spec...
Plug sockets for laptops, Wifi hotspots, four zone climate control etc
Thankshttp://www.volvocars.com/uk/buy/finance-sales/spec...
Plug sockets for laptops, Wifi hotspots, four zone climate control etc
lot of very good advice on this thread,
we run a non exec transport service so i'll add a couple of bits
know your routes along with a couple of options, use something like Waze with live traffic management, last thing your client wants is to get stuck in a motorway closure for a couple of hours
Car should be immaculate ours are clean but if your playing in the exec market customers expect spotless. get yourself over to detailing world to see what I mean, all those little dust traps cleaned and use a decent cleaning product that isn't going to leave surfaces super shiny or sickly smelling. keep a small hard brush and a cleaning spray with you at all times nothing shows up a car worse than dirty floor mats, so give them a quick brush off before you pick the next client up.
in regards to payments I would be very wary of storing customer details although I get the impression your working for someone else rather than yourself so shouldn't be an issue, if you are taking your own payments make sure your current on your PCIDSS stuff
never be late, always plan to arrive early and pull up short, take that extra 10-15 minutes to give the car a quick once over or catch up on your emails then pull up at the clients address a couple of minutes before your booked time. Never be late but that should be a given, don't over book yourself or assume that you can squeeze an extra job in because it might work fine 9/10 times but all it takes is one small problem, clients flight late or a meeting over running and suddenly your next client is not going to be amused,
remember its an oversubscribed market with so many options for people so you have to stand out and for the love of god don't wear a brown suit, something easily maintained and hard wearing would be ideal not something i'd be comfortable advising on as we don't play in that market and the best you'll get from our drivers is black trousers and shoes and a company polo shirt.
try somewhere like Anthony keith uniforms for your chauffeur wear if thats required or ideally start a new thread on here. you should be the proverbial grey man, subtle and not in anyway drawing attention to yourself. other than that as mentioned by a previous poster be mindful of your personal hygiene and appearance.
as for meeting clients at the airport make yourself highly visible ideally a nice printed nameboard rather than some handwritten effort, I understand this isn't always possible so perhaps invest in an Ipad and one of the nameboard apps, position yourself so your easily seen, easily done if there's a number of services picking people up just group together. again doesn't matter if your at the airport on time you need to be in arrivals when they walk through not parked outside trying to save a few quid on parking. Offer to take the customers bags for them. if your picking multiple passengers up identify the lead passenger and take theirs regardless of gender or age. they can make the decision to help any other passengers and they are the one ultimately responsible for booking you.
we run a non exec transport service so i'll add a couple of bits
know your routes along with a couple of options, use something like Waze with live traffic management, last thing your client wants is to get stuck in a motorway closure for a couple of hours
Car should be immaculate ours are clean but if your playing in the exec market customers expect spotless. get yourself over to detailing world to see what I mean, all those little dust traps cleaned and use a decent cleaning product that isn't going to leave surfaces super shiny or sickly smelling. keep a small hard brush and a cleaning spray with you at all times nothing shows up a car worse than dirty floor mats, so give them a quick brush off before you pick the next client up.
in regards to payments I would be very wary of storing customer details although I get the impression your working for someone else rather than yourself so shouldn't be an issue, if you are taking your own payments make sure your current on your PCIDSS stuff
never be late, always plan to arrive early and pull up short, take that extra 10-15 minutes to give the car a quick once over or catch up on your emails then pull up at the clients address a couple of minutes before your booked time. Never be late but that should be a given, don't over book yourself or assume that you can squeeze an extra job in because it might work fine 9/10 times but all it takes is one small problem, clients flight late or a meeting over running and suddenly your next client is not going to be amused,
remember its an oversubscribed market with so many options for people so you have to stand out and for the love of god don't wear a brown suit, something easily maintained and hard wearing would be ideal not something i'd be comfortable advising on as we don't play in that market and the best you'll get from our drivers is black trousers and shoes and a company polo shirt.
try somewhere like Anthony keith uniforms for your chauffeur wear if thats required or ideally start a new thread on here. you should be the proverbial grey man, subtle and not in anyway drawing attention to yourself. other than that as mentioned by a previous poster be mindful of your personal hygiene and appearance.
as for meeting clients at the airport make yourself highly visible ideally a nice printed nameboard rather than some handwritten effort, I understand this isn't always possible so perhaps invest in an Ipad and one of the nameboard apps, position yourself so your easily seen, easily done if there's a number of services picking people up just group together. again doesn't matter if your at the airport on time you need to be in arrivals when they walk through not parked outside trying to save a few quid on parking. Offer to take the customers bags for them. if your picking multiple passengers up identify the lead passenger and take theirs regardless of gender or age. they can make the decision to help any other passengers and they are the one ultimately responsible for booking you.
vantara said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I've been told it's so that some random doesn't try it on and say that they are the person you have named and the destination has changed.However rather than chancers, the biggest risk is mistaken identity.
Make absolutely sure you have got the right person - going back to the right place. And they have got the right driver. "Where are you going back to, Sir/Madam?". "Yes Sir, I do know where I am going, I am simply making sure that I have the right passenger and you have the right driver".
It's not their fault that they got into the wrong car and went to Surrey instead of Hertfordshire. It will be your fault.
Car should be clean and odour free
Choose comfort over performance, no principal wants an M sport/AMG/S-line ride
Research routes and have plan B/C/D in case of traffic
Never appear flustered, worried or stressed
If early for pick up, park round the corner until 2 mins before pick up time, don't sit on the drive with your engine running 10 minutes before pick-up at 5.00am
Offer to carry bags
Open and close doors
Know etiquette for when you have male and female principals
No radio
Air con for the principal's comfort, not yours
Speak only when spoken to and never venture opinions on anything
Be 100% discreet
Be 100% punctual
Look up your principal on LinkedIn/co website and approach them at the pick up rather than one of those awful boards
Choose comfort over performance, no principal wants an M sport/AMG/S-line ride
Research routes and have plan B/C/D in case of traffic
Never appear flustered, worried or stressed
If early for pick up, park round the corner until 2 mins before pick up time, don't sit on the drive with your engine running 10 minutes before pick-up at 5.00am
Offer to carry bags
Open and close doors
Know etiquette for when you have male and female principals
No radio
Air con for the principal's comfort, not yours
Speak only when spoken to and never venture opinions on anything
Be 100% discreet
Be 100% punctual
Look up your principal on LinkedIn/co website and approach them at the pick up rather than one of those awful boards
No name board a day a personal greeting is always preferred but an absolute nightmare at any reasonably busy airport, try doing that when you have multiple flights arriving at the same time and a hundred people a minute coming out arrivals
Totally different with regular clients though very easy to spot a familiar face in a crowd over so e airbrushed possibly couple of year old mugshot
And a name board can be as horrid or as nice as you like ours tend to be full.colour on decent card stock not some grotty hand scrawled mess keep an ipad in the glove box for the last minute bookings to keep things.looking professional
Totally different with regular clients though very easy to spot a familiar face in a crowd over so e airbrushed possibly couple of year old mugshot
And a name board can be as horrid or as nice as you like ours tend to be full.colour on decent card stock not some grotty hand scrawled mess keep an ipad in the glove box for the last minute bookings to keep things.looking professional
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff