Still the king of the castle

I don’t care what anyone says…service is still king. Simple!

With most markets only increasing in competitiveness (most specifically in regards to price) the differential between company A and company B is becoming tougher to discover.

As many regular readers would know, I’m a major supporter of branding throughout this process as we know that it leads to loyalty which at crunch time can really count for alot.

But I have to say that service is really such a strong differential.

Let me give you an example.

Tony and I landed in Melbourne on Tuesday night. We were transported to our hotel by a very pleasent gentleman driving a MaxiCab that facilitated our needs. On our arrival at the hotel, he asked when we were returning to Perth. We are actually off to Yeppoon next but never the less, we will need a taxi back to the Airport. He gave us his card and told us to give him a call if we needed a lift anywhere.

Having a number of appointments in Melbourne, I had the occassion to call Rami (Yes we are now on a first name basis!) and ask him to pick up Tony and I Wednesday morning for a meeting in Richmond.

Me being me, I was on the mobile madly finding out the address as well as calling the team back home with a list as long as my arm, following up on a bundle of jobs.

We were running about 5 minutes late so as soon as we arrived, I quickly exited the taxi, grabbed Tony and ran inside for our meeting.

It wasn’t until someone elses phone went off that I thought to turn mine to silent…and that’s when I realised…I’d left it in the MaxiCab!!!

Having Rami’s card, I called him and he said “Don’t worry Scott, I have you’re phone here!”

You have no idea what a relief that was to hear!

We booked in a time for us to be picked up and to grab the phone.

Rami gave us a lift twice yesterday and he will also be dropping us off at the airport today.

We could have called any MaxiCab service really. I mean seriously…they’re all the same right? Yellow Toyota vans with a stickers on it!

What’s the difference?

You guessed it… service!

I’m sure Rami would have found many other people to pick up and drop off. Melbourne is still a very busy place despite the downturn. But from a simple act of true customer service, he created loyalty.

Next time I’m in Melbourne, I’ll call Rami for a ride…

…even if I don’t need a MaxiCab!