Recently the market has started to become flooded with cheap airport transfers, most of the drivers are untrained and more importantly many of them don’t carry the correct level of insurance.

We have seen prices slashed below the cost of running the vehicles and while this does attract some customers in the short term, it is unsustainable. These inexperienced drivers then realise that they are not covering their costs, so they take on more work, cut costs and corners, than start being late for jobs or drive like idiots thereby giving professional chauffeurs a bad name. Worst of all, their clients start having to run for flights, or even miss them! Then the penny drops with client and driver, the price charged by a quality company has a reason, the costs directly relate to the level of service provided.

There are no short cuts in the professional chauffeur world,  it requires a high level of skill and service combined with good time management. The role of the chauffeur revolves around knowledge of passenger requirements, we sometimes ask clients to leave home 15 minutes earlier than normal,  its not just because we like getting people out of bed, but because we know the traffic or road conditions require it.

A good chauffeur learns what their regular passengers expect and need, in this respect we regard it as viatally important to build a strong working relationship between ourselves and all of our clients. This is where the proessional chauffer makes a difference to the business traveller.

It has surprised us how much our clients have cut their travel to see their own clients and their other offices around the world. For some reason businesses seem to think that it’s OK just to telephone a client to see how they are and how they are been affected by the current credit crunch.

Yes during this credit crunch we’re all looking for more cost effective options, but surely we should be going the extra mile. This is the time to stay in personal contact and to go and see their clients face to face?

A year ago most businesses wouldn’t think twice about jumping on the Eurostar from Ebbsfleet to Paris for lunch or having a round of golf with a client.

We should all be trying to work hand-in-hand with our clients to provide cost-effective solutions that make a real difference to their bottom line, this can not be done by just sitting behind our desks and waiting for it to blow over.

So why spend years building up your reputation only to throw it away because you thought you could just telephone a client rather than go and see them?

‘This shall pass’ is an age-old phrase that is very apt in these uncertain times.

Mark Gettings