Picture the scene. A bus stops at a relief point, and the driver engages in conversation with their colleague who is taking over prior to making a leisurely switch-over.
The bus leaves late, and a dreadful taste is left in the mouths of both passengers already aboard and those waiting to travel.
It’s a scene that is repeated countless times daily across the country, and it demonstrates that first impressions count.
Drivers and vehicles are usually the only things that customers base their opinion of your operation on. As routeone recently saw at one coach operator, both are treated well as assets of the business. And that business, unsurprisingly, is growing.
Anything that is not being done as well as it should be is likely to take place well away from the view of managers who confine themselves to an office.
To see what impression your business is really creating among the people that matter the most – your customers – it’s necessary to get out and get your hands dirty, as it were.
Observe the morning run-out on occasion, and keep a weather eye on what happens at the opposite end of the day, but most importantly of all, take time out and use your services.
Whether that entails a 15-minute bus ride or a day trip to London, take advantage of your privileged position and see it how your customers see it. Because until you do, you’re just doing what you think is best. Not what you know is best.
