But times are changing. Many people who need to travel on business are becoming “bleisure” travelers, a term used to define professionals who mix vacation, or leisure, time with business.
TheMeetingMagazines.com article here
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Victor, which operates in the United States and internationally, attributes the growth in first-time charters to its iOS app, through which customers can compare and book jets instantly. The app accounts for 60% of the company’s total bookings.
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Those ideas and more were part of the industry’s first “unconference,” a TED Talk-style model with rotating speakers that was the centerpiece of the annual convention LE Miami, which brings together boutique hoteliers and luxury travel suppliers.
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It’s a bright spot in an otherwise gray year but expected to be short lived, according to the USTA. The six-month Leading Travel Index, which forecasts the likely average pace and direction of travel volume over the same period the prior year, shows business travel languishing at 49.6.
Business Travel News article here
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That’s about to change, thanks to a series of disruptive travel services that are blending human intelligence with mobile technology. The goal: striking a middle ground in an industry where the personal touch still means something, but the bottom-line savings of D.I.Y. tech is hard to beat.
Bloomberg Pursuits article here
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“Most of them are going to the funeral,” owner Todd Roberts said. “I can’t say who I have rented to, but most of them are VIPs who specifically said they are going to the funeral.”
Several other providers of limos reported similar brisk activity in advance of the funeral of perhaps the world’s most recognizable figure — Louisville native and icon, boxing legend and humanitarian extraordinaire, Ali.
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First, Cavarra introduced himself by reminding the crowd that he was the “zit boy” for the old Clearasil television ads. His baby-faced image, however, belies this tremulous rough-cheeked beginning. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, attend the University of Southern California, and even perform in and produce Broadway musical theater.
Now, as the owner of Social Punch Marketing in Southern California, he uses his marketing passion and public persona through digital and social marketing with a specialized knowledge of constant contact email marketing software abilities and applications.
The old adage about “milking the cow you have” is true. Better to keep and get more revenue from the customers you already have than to spin your wheels getting small responses to expensive, shotgun ads to find new clients. Social marketing is “engagement marketing,” said Cavarra, “because 90% of business comes from current customers, 9% from referrals, and only 1% are truly new clients.” Keeping the conversation going with current customers brings in the 9% referrals. Ads to draw in the 1% may work, but the costs usually outweigh the benefits. Social marketing offers lower costs and greater returns.
Building the Perfect Data-Beast
Building a database without all the pieces in place puts the cart before the horse. Get the working parts in order first. This means planning promotions, budgets, and the resources to implement a successful program.
Where Social Media Meets Up
The goal of social media is to get conversations started among viewers. Because it takes an average of seven “touches” or contacts with a prospect before they buy from you, the variety of social contact and the timing must be consistent so the names and valued clients in the database will do the talking and sharing for you. Your job is to get the conversation going in ways that drive referrals and increase the amount of spending from existing customers.
Make this happen within several key areas. One good conversation can be shared on all social media platforms and used many times over. “Repurpose and reuse your messages,” Cavarra suggested. “A single YouTube video should include a link to every other social media platform. It becomes an email blast, a tweet with a link to your website, and a Facebook post, too.” A single effort will receive broader visibility when recycled efficiently using several tools:
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Sustaining Momentum
If you’ve polished up your database, you can easily stay connected on a very personal level. All the social media tricks do not mean you can ignore the personal touch, though. Since keeping a client is so much easier and cheaper than replacing a lost one, value what you have. Even automation can be a friend in this arena. Using your rich database to send automated messages via email or text wishing clients a happy birthday or anniversary is more personal and reminds them they have celebrating to do (for which they will think of having a chauffeur).
A valued customer will spread the word to others on the social media you provide and in other ways. Giving them good things to say should be easy. Engaging them is pretty easy, too, with simple actions to solidify a real, talking, relationship, but Cavarra also suggests going a little “old school” to stand out.
Maybe send something unexpected after the trip is complete. Inexpensive and simple things can cement a blooming relationship. Inexpensive, popular items include nail files, hand sanitizer, and cell phone stands. It’s unexpected and gets another conversation started, even if it’s just with work associates who are all prospective referrals. Or how about a card? A real, handwritten thank-you note? As the world tires of some technology, the tried and true methods work wonders. If it’s a local company or client, drop by the office. Return items left in vehicles in person on the way home. All are simple courtesies that stand heads above the pre-typed “thank you” at the bottom of the automatically mailed invoice. Be real and get personal.
Most marketing and promotions are considered successful with a 1% to 2% response rate. But if you follow-up on new customers, it will pay off exponentially. The goal is to get a client in the car a second time. The relationship becomes more solid in measureable ways. “27% of first time customers will ride with you again,” Cavarra said. Of those, 45% will ride a third time, and of those, 54% will ride regularly.” That adds up to more than 6% of first-time riders becoming advocates and referral sources if you can get them back in your vehicle a second time.
Add to that the way longer-term clients spend, and the conversation you start can mean real dollars. 90% of clients are average spenders, Cavarra said. But the top 9% spend 300% more than the average passenger. And the top customers spend 500% more on each trip although they only represent 1% of all passengers. “It is more productive to develop fewer big spenders than it is to keep finding large numbers of average clients,” Cavarra said.
So start the conversation. Spread it around so others’ comments and social media sharing do the work for you. Get the passengers coming back, and your unblemished database will create the foundation for elite customers and revenue far into the future.
Nick Cavarra can be reached at http://ift.tt/25kVm06, @Ncavarra and Nick@socialpunchmarketing.com.
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This one hour session could easily be a full day course due to the volume of information and many rules employers could easily find themselves violating without even knowing it.
It should be noted that Lordan only accepts cases from the employer side, representing those who have found themselves in civil or labor court because of a claim filed against them by an employee(s). Lordan warned operators a single complaint by a single employee could trigger a cascade of consequences over several years. Those could include extensive examinations of payroll and employment records for individual employees, and more ominously, a verdict against the employer that could bankrupt a company based on fines and even calculations of interest assessed for incorrect pay amounts.
Employment law issues cover recordkeeping, time keeping, rest breaks, equipment damage, theft, sexual harassment, hostile work environments, discrimination, and misclassification of workers. These topics break down to more specific matters such as overtime pay, travel time, tip management, and even dress codes and requirements. For purposes of this article, we will cover the most common errors committed by operators.
What Is FLSA?
Employees are protected by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. There are also state employment laws which vary among states, but FLSA laws apply to all workers in the U.S. If your company generates sales of more than $500,000 a year and/or two or more people who work under your direction and control, you are an employer and all FLSA rules apply to you and your employees, Lordan said. He noted you should always consult a labor attorney in your state if you need representation. While Lordan specializes in representing limousine companies in California and is considered an expert in FSLA regulations, states may interpret the laws or apply them differently to coincide with state law.
Interstate Commerce
This might come as a shock to many operators. If you are dropping passengers off at an airport who are traveling out of state or picking up passengers arriving at an airport from another state, your business is engaged in interstate commerce and regulated by federal laws beyond just the FSLA. In fact, simply taking an order by phone from an affiliate in another state and agreeing to do the job in your state is considered interstate commerce since a company in one state is engaging with a company in another state in an act of “commerce” or business.
Payroll Deductions
For some reason, our industry seems to run afoul of the law through illegal payroll deductions, although both the employer and the employee might agree to it. The agreement does not make it legal. This is especially true in the area of vehicle damage.
Let’s say the chauffeur backs your limousine into a pole at the gas station causing $1,200 worth of damage. Operators tend to ask chauffeurs to pay for the damage they caused. Chauffeurs, often fearful they may lose their jobs, may reluctantly agree to make payments through payroll deduction to cover the damage, but FLSA laws specifically prohibit a deduction that would benefit only the employer or be in the employer’s best interest rather than that of the employee. If you provide an employee with a cell phone, a digital tablet or any other piece of work equipment and he damages or loses the item, you may not deduct it from the paycheck.
One of the most common illegal deductions Lordan sees in the industry is a charge for damaged or scraped wheels. It commonly happens in the industry, but it is never acceptable to ask the employee to pay for the damage. The mere request is in fact illegal.
What About Gross Negligence?
Many employers who have suffered a financial loss caused by an employee may try to use a clause of “gross negligence” which basically says if an employee was willfully negligent and caused damage or loss of an employer’s belonging(s), the employee can be charged for it. Such an assertion is nearly impossible to win in court, Lordan said.
You might think, for example, that because your chauffeur hit the pole while backing the limousine and talking on a cell phone, that it qualifies as gross negligence. A judge or jury is unlikely to side with you on this, Lordan said. However, if the chauffeur lined the vehicle up with your building and rammed it in a fit of rage, this would be considered gross negligence but the matter would likely be settled in a criminal or civil action instead of a labor-related trial.
If They Work, They Get Paid
Another common problem that besets operators is failing to pay employees for tasks deemed trivial. Such tasks, no matter how small, qualify for employee pay.
A task as simple as calling in to check for work must be paid if you asked them to do so, Lordan said. The bottom line is anything you ask them to do is compensable or payable. In some cases, even things you don’t ask them to do must be paid. Some quick examples include: Pre-trip inspections, making or reviewing maps, prepping vehicles, standing by anywhere, time at the car wash, and even the time it takes them to drive from their house to the office or vice-versa if they are driving a company vehicle.
Even if an employee asks to take a company-owned vehicle home for convenience, the act of driving it as an employee makes it work-related. You might not agree. You might say, “We have always done it this way.” But all it takes is one person to file a complaint with the labor board and every chauffeur in your employment will be asked if he ever took a vehicle home and didn’t get paid. You will be ordered to pay them for every time they did it, plus penalties and interest.
About Standby Time
Speaking of taking vehicles home, are you paying standby time? Unless an employee is completely relieved of duty, they are considered on-the-clock. If a chauffeur takes a vehicle home and is expected to respond to calls for service on a moment’s notice, he must be paid for the time he is unable to go anywhere, consume alcohol or otherwise enjoy his private life activities. If the employee has the right to refuse assignments without penalty or disciplinary action, then he is considered completely relieved of duty and does not need to be paid.
Defined Workweek
The FLSA views the work week as beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday morning and ending at 12 a.m. Saturday night. You can, however, define any workweek you like to coincide with your own payroll processing, but it must be posted on a wall where all employees can see the statement about when the pay period begins and ends and when the paycheck will be issued after the pay period or workweek ends. This is another troublesome area for small operators, who sometimes need to mimic the practices of larger companies with more employees to err on the side of compliance.
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