The VIP driver started his shift in Watford 15 miles north of London picking up his first passenger, he noticed (and hoped the customer didn’t) that a seagull decided to jettison its bowel contents in a fly past on the roof of his Mercedes. So, after dropping the passenger at Heathrow airport, he went to get the car washed and vacuumed.
After checking his mda devise and seeing over a 100 or so drivers waiting on the rank for their next fair, he headed for town, it was a lovely warm May evening, passing the V&A museum his second fair appeared on his devise informing him it was a well-known record company, picking up a VIP and dropping the client off at an event in fashionable Mayfair.
The driver was 15 min early for the 6.45 pickup, he pressed his ‘arrived’ button on his mda that sent a message to his passenger informing him that his car had indeed arrived and was waiting outside.
The passenger appeared straining under the weight of the bags he was carrying. The driver leapt out opening the boot to assist, and noticed, as he opened the rear door ushering the passenger into the car that his jacket had a brown stain the size of his thumb nail on the back, mentioning this to the client, he said he had a clothes brush in the car, and when they reached the destination he would attend to the stain.
The journey was pleasant and remarkably quick given it was rush hour, the client asked if he could have one of the complimentary mints that the driver had placed in the now defunct ashtray space and the bottle of water in the side pocket of the door.
They arrived at the destination in good time, and upon exiting the car, the client removed his jacket to check the said stain. The driver observing this opened the boot of the car reached inside and produced a dampened moist cloth and handed it to the passenger to remove the culprit.
‘This goes beyond the call of duty’ the passenger replied, and asked the driver his name and how long he had worked for the company? The driver told him his name and said he has been working for the company for six years, ‘well, they are lucky to have you, and I hope they keep hold of you. Well done’ he said.
Conclusion
We underestimate the value of the things we cannot quantify or track—not only to our customers, colleagues or companies but for the joy and fulfilment they bring us in the doing of them. The way we do the work, not just the work itself, is how we own our story.
Chances are the client will relay this ‘story’ and his experience and the feeling he got not only to his friends and work colleagues but also to himself. Hoping the next time, he books a car the experience will be repeated.
