How To Make Your Bus Pay Off In Multiple Ways

Considering the sizable investment of buying a motorcoach and paying all the operational costs, generating revenue sources becomes a constant challenge for new and seasoned operators alike.

One of the best tips to promote your motorcoach business is to ensure you place your logos on the sides. “It’s free advertising and it’s the single most important thing operators can do to generate business,” said George Jacobs, president of Chicago-based Windy City Limousine & Bus. “In fact, we even have our website address on the roof of the bus because when we are operating in the city, people in high-rise offices and apartment buildings looking down from their windows can see our logo all the time — that’s free advertising.”

Jacobs was part of a panel discussion, “Capitalizing on Every Revenue Opportunity in Your Market,” held March 15 during the International LCT Show in Las Vegas. Moderated by Tom Holden, general manager at Rose Chauffeured Transportation of Charlotte, N.C., the other panelists included Dave Brown, president and CEO of Premier Transportation of Albany, N.Y, and Jennifer Buffo, chief operating officer of Pure Luxury Transportation in Petaluma, Calif.

Because operators have trouble finding qualified motorcoach chauffeurs, Jacobs said he places a help wanted decal on the rear of the bus as a free recruitment tool. “Because buses are always in the right lane, you place the help wanted signage on the left side of the bus so motorists can see it,” Jacobs said.

Free & Cheap Strategies
Operators new to the bus business can use a number of free or inexpensive tactics to market their services, Buffo said. “Promote your bus services to the local Chamber of Commerce, Visitors & Convention Bureau, wedding planners, and other organizations that can drive business to you.” Operators partnered with transportation providers in their regions can use them to promote bus service and selling points. “That’s all free marketing, especially if you have done sedan services, and now they are aware you have motorcoach service.”

A sure-fire way to increase your bus business is to market it to your customer base and let them know you can provide bus service for social outings (weddings, tours, etc.) as well as corporate events, Brown said. “Traditional bus companies are not as aggressive marketing their buses as we are, so market your buses though Facebook, Instagram, and your website using videos because people want to see the buses and the latest features, so capitalize on everything you can do to inexpensively promote your bus business.”

Promo Opps
New operators should not forget to promote their addition of buses and motorcoaches to wedding planners and wedding sites because the destination wedding market is hot. An operator could provide additional sedan airport transfers, SUVs, shuttles to pre- and post-wedding social events, and motorcoach outings, Buffo said. “All of that can tack on $10,000 to $20,000 for a large destination wedding.”

It’s also important to be creative and look for niche opportunities to provide packaged tours in your regions. Besides a bustling wine country tour business in the San Francisco Bay region, Buffo said she looks for trends such as “foodie tours” that pair wine and food, “and we even have a tour where people can sample organic vegetables at farms—just create it, sell it, and people will talk about it and spread the word. There’s always something in your city and region going on where you can package a tour.”

Bartering your bus service for marketing services is another alternative to promote your business. For example, Jacobs has traded free bus transportation with radio stations that ran contests for an event. “Your company name is mentioned all the time they promote their event on air — ‘transportation provided by Windy City Limousine’ — that’s great marketing every time they promote the event,” he said.

Some barter companies offer service exchanges, he said. “For example, I could give 10 hours of transportation service in exchange for, say, legal or marketing services. In slow months, bartering may pay off for you in trade for such services as legal or marketing time with firms in exchange for transportation services.”

Get In the Game
Servicing sports teams — high school, college, or professional — is not only a target market to increase revenue, but also a way to network with corporate sponsors, especially for pro-sports teams.

“Servicing sports teams brings special bragging rights and adds credibility to your company,” said Jacobs, who transports all Chicago professional teams and many colleges as well. Sports business also offers free advertising when the media photographs or records videos of your bus. For example, when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series last year, Jacobs’ buses (and his rooftop website address) were captured on video taken by a local news helicopter.

Although the sports transportation business may be low margin, the chance to network with major Fortune 500 advertisers can make it pay off, Jacobs said. “The professional and college teams all have sponsors, so if the team can make an introduction on your behalf, that costs them nothing and you can make business connections.”

The same holds true for introductions to organizers and sponsors who use professional sports facilities, such as concert promoters and religious groups that hold stadium-size events.

Brown does business with five colleges and several school districts in the Albany region. You have to be very competitive in pricing to win the business, but you can earn good money by matching the number of players and staff being transported to specific vehicles in your fleet, he said.

“You can, for example, use a mid-size bus rather than a motorcoach and lower your pricing because the cost of operation is lower,” Brown added. There is a demand for professional and reliable bus service because universities and school districts have trouble finding drivers, so they need to outsource.

Brown also creates sports tour packages to New York City and New England. “It could be the Giants, Jets, or Yankees in New York and we’re about three hours to New England, so we can put a package together: Buy 30 tickets, and price the tour per person,” he said. However, he cautioned: “Sporting event tickets are expensive, so you want to make sure you sell out.”

Seasons Go Round
A session attendee asked the panel how they deal with seasonality in the motorcoach business. Jacobs said he is non-stop busy from March through November, but slower in the cold winter months, save for some convention transportation business. He offered this creative solution during down times:

“I trade buses in the winter with a Florida company, and in the summer he provides me buses when I need more buses. He may ship me an extra 50 buses in the summer, so you are sharing buses which saves you money when they otherwise would sit idle.”

Keywords

charter and tour operators   George Jacobs   ILCT 2017   industry education   Jennifer Buffo   motorcoach operators   motorcoaches   Sales & Marketing   Tom Holden   

 

Follow @lctmag on Twitter

via Limo News http://ift.tt/2uAk2W0

Small Details That Keep Big Buses Moving

Seasoned bus and motorcoach operators with many miles under their belts understand adding bigger vehicles to a limousine fleet can be challenging for first timers.

“There were unique requirements to overcome when we started out with one bus,” said David Glazier, president of Fleet Transportation in Alexandria, Va. “Things like, ‘Do I have room to park it? How do I wash it? How do I service it? How do I deal with onboard restrooms and wheelchair lifts?’ All of these things you don’t deal with in the sedan business. You have to understand what you are getting into and the scope of running buses and motorcoaches.”

Glazier was part of a panel discussion, “Mastering the Day-to-Day Challenges of the Bus Industry,” held March 14 during the International LCT Show in Las Vegas. Moderated by Tom Holden, general manager of Rose Chauffeured Transportation, Charlotte, N.C., the other panelists were Jeff Greene, president of Greene Worldwide Transportation of Atlanta, and Charlie Murray, vice president and COO of Total Luxury Limousine in St. Paul, Minn.

The panel offered attendees an array of practical tips, advice, and lessons learned for operators considering the motorcoach business, but also best practices for experienced operators. Maintenance is central to running a successful large-fleet operation on many fronts.

You quickly pick up simple practices, such as not taking a motorcoach to the same place you take your sedans for an oil change, as well as bigger issues like ensuring you have spare parts on hand and backup plans when a motorcoach breaks down on the road, Glazier said.

“It’s important to have a good diesel mechanic, and I’m also lucky to have an electrical technician to fix problems, but making sure you have spare parts in stock — and also on the bus — is critical to keep the buses running properly, and if there is a breakdown on the road, you’re able to make the repair quickly so as not to risk stranding passengers and losing money,” Greene added.

Murray said he’ll stock windshields as a way to quickly change damaged glass to keep a bus in service. “Staying on top of maintenance and doing what the manual recommends is the best way to catch things early.” He recommended operators need to focus on preventative maintenance to keep buses running and repair costs down.

“We’ll stock spare filters, light bulbs, belts, and hoses on buses and train drivers how to make the repairs and supply the tools if they can do it, or if road service is needed, we have the parts on board,” Murray advises.

Green emphasized Murray’s point. “You’re paying $450,000-plus for a bus, so you have to take care of it. You need to know things like fuel filters can get clogged on dirty roads, or bad fuel can put a bus down, and you need to know the companies that can tow a bus — because not all can — and negotiate with them rather than wait till the last minute when an incident happens.”

Plan B, C, And D
To succeed in the bus business, you must have contingency plans when a bus breaks down on the road or is put out of service and you need to fulfill a booking, Glazier stressed.

“You get an order for 40 people and it all sounds great, then BAM! The bus goes down. In the bus business we like to say we’re all friends because you’ll need to be able to call someone up who can help you out. It’s important to find like-minded operators you can trust who will drop what they’re doing to help you out because that allows you to grow your business because you can deliver the service no matter what happens.”

When he gets a call that a bus is broken down, “first you cry then you go into action,” Greene said. “It’s important to have contingency plans, especially when you are running through multiple states and destinations. We call ahead to make sure we have provisions in those locations in case something happens and their response time … in this industry fellow members have empathy for others when something goes wrong as we tend to help each other.”

Added Holden, “As soon as that phone rings, you need to put Plan B in motion, and if that doesn’t work, then you need a Plan C and D. A breakdown will happen and it will affect your bottom line because you’ll have to hire another company to complete the job and that will cost you more money. However, if you get enough work over the course of a year, that can make up for the times the buses go down.”

On long trips, Murray talks to his insurance company for recommendations on operators who can be trusted to pitch in if there is an incident.

Holden reiterated the panel’s emphasis on paying strict attention to preventative maintenance as a way to keep buses on the road. New operators should make sure drivers inspect the buses before bookings, which are also mandated by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, “because that can save you a lot of time and money,” Greene added.

All panelists agreed taking the time to understand the nuances of how buses operate and sticking to the service manual will pay off in lowering downtime and boosting profits. Knowing if your bus is equipped with heater/air control valves or if the system is automatic can reduce the chances of an incident, Glazier said.

“Say the heater valve is turned off and it’s too cold, or the cold valve is off and the temperature spikes to 80 degrees, you need to know how to solve that if passengers are complaining about the cabin temperature. You have to know your vehicles backward and forward.”

Take Care of the Wrench
All panelists concurred that finding and keeping good mechanics is the best way to prevent breakdowns. Holden said industry hourly rates can range from $18 to $28 an hour plus benefits. Green said he pays mechanics the market rate of about $22.50 an hour in Atlanta, but also pays benefits and 100% of health insurance.

You want to do what you can to keep them because once a mechanic understands your buses, you don’t want to lose that knowledge. Sending mechanics for training pays off, he said. “I sent our mechanic to the Van Hool schools in Orlando for a week and when he came back, he said, ‘Wow! I learned so much’ and then he shares that knowledge with everybody else and that really pays off.”

Keywords

David Glazier   ILCT 2017   industry education   maintenance   motorcoach operators   motorcoaches   Tom Holden   vehicle maintenance   Virginia operators   

 

Follow @lctmag on Twitter

via Limo News http://ift.tt/2w0W7Cw