Prevost Offers Online ABA Driver Training Courses

SAINTE CLAIRE, Quebec — Prevost has partnered with the American Bus Association (ABA) on a series of online courses to help motorcoach companies recruit and retain drivers. The new ABA Driver Program is available now through the ABA website, www.buses.org.

Prevost is the sole sponsor for the ABA Driver Training program, which was developed by safety experts from industry-leading motorcoach companies and manufacturers. The program was designed to give new drivers the knowledge and theory needed to take the test required to earn a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The courses can also be used to provide continuing education for experienced drivers.

The benefit of sponsoring the ABA Driver Training program was clear right away, said Francois Tremblay, vice president and general manager at Prevost.

“Prevost’s commitment to our industry goes beyond the manufacture of motorcoaches,” Tremblay said. “We understand drivers are the key to operators’ business and success, and we will do everything we can to help them recruit, train, and retain drivers.”

Each Driver Training course incorporates industry best practices and is peer-reviewed to ensure the safety of drivers, passengers and the public, the ABA says.

The program also provides an easy and convenient way for motorcoach operators to offer quality driver training and education. The ABA courses can be taken from any computer with internet access, eliminating the need for motorcoach companies to develop, schedule, and administer their own training classes.

Prevost also has been a supporter of other industry driver training programs and sponsors complimentary job listings on Hire Heroes, a website that helps companies recruit military veterans for open positions.

About Prevost: The company is a leading manufacturer of premium intercity touring coaches and the world leader in the production of conversion coaches for high-end motorhome and specialty conversion. As part of the Volvo Group, it has access to the financial strength, research capability, and manufacturing expertise of the group. The Volvo Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of heavy-duty diesel engines. Prevost has its main manufacturing facilities in Sainte-Claire, Quebec, Canada and has 10 parts and service centers in the U.S. and Canada.

Source: Prevost press release

Keywords

American Bus Association   business partnerships   charter and tour operators   driver training   employee recruitment   motorcoach operators   Prevost   

 

Follow @lctmag on Twitter

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

15 New Ideas For A New Year

Whether it’s a new inventory control system, an employee recognition program, or a budget, January is the best time to act on or experiment wiuth new ideas in your company. If not this year, then when? I’ve listed a few I’ve found worthwhile over my quarter century in daily limousine operations to help you get started.

1. Implement an employee benefits program: A full medical, dental, and life insurance policy or a simple Paid-Time-Off (PTO) program can help you remain competitive as an employer to retain top talent.
2. Start a monthly or quarterly newsletter: You can do a simple newsletter to send internally, externally, or both. Many free templates are available in Word, Constant Contact, and other sources you can use as a guide. You don’t need to have artistic skills to create a great communications tool.
3. Start an employee recognition program: Everyone likes to be recognized. It doesn’t have to be a fancy program. The Employee of the Month could get something as simple as a $10 Starbucks gift card. It’s the thought that counts. You could hang a plaque on the wall and add to it each month. The cost is minimal compared to the mileage received.
4. Set goals and make visual charts for everyone to see progress: From “Days Without An Accident” charts to “Highest Sales In A Day,” having goals and placing them on visual charts encourages everyone to contribute to the goal and allows visual reinforcement of the goals daily.
5. Start a company-wide weight loss program: America is overweight. That’s a fact. It’s not healthy. Your program can be as elaborate has having a periodic “weigh-in” for those who want to compete and share to self-reporting how many pounds each person lost in a week. The idea is to get employees (and yourself) to eat better and take care of themselves. Make a chart to see how the company collectively lost “X” pounds in a week. Have fun with it.
6. Clean out your client database and purge old data: We all have clients in our database who have died, closed their businesses, retired, or defected to other companies. Now is a great time to save some hard drive space, make reports easier to read, and save paper and ink when you do a print out. Purge those people!
7. Verify who has keys to what and change locks if it’s been a while: We hand out keys to those who need them at the time they need them. Sometimes, we ask employees to hang on to a key “just in case.” Now is a good time to ask all key carrying employees what they have keys to and change locks if needed.
8. Implement a mobile app: Society demands all businesses have mobile apps. Don’t get left behind. Mobile apps can be developed for less than $300.
9. Create a social media calendar to remind you to post regularly.
10. Make some videos for your social media sites and your website: Equipment (a smartphone) and access make it possible for any novice to shoot a video. It does not have to be production-level perfect.
11. Review every page of your website and update as needed: This is the time of year to make sure your site is accurate. Did you add vehicles or sell vehicles, and your fleet list is no longer accurate? Are your prices on your website but don’t reflect your 2017 rates?
12. Check review sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google+, etc.: If you have negative reviews, “claim” your site and respond to them. Do NOT ignore them. It looks like you just don’t care.
13. Delegate duties to others who have sufficient knowledge to lead: You didn’t start a business to live and die in it. You should enjoy your success. Give out new duties to employees at the start of the year and let them take over.
14. Begin planning a grand holiday party for your employees and begin monthly deposits: This is not an area where you want to go the cheapest route. Be generous.
15. Implement employee reviews and start with an evaluation of 2016: You’ll find your employees crave constructive feedback, praise, criticism, and communication.

Smooth Operations provides a broad range of information focused on new ideas and approaches in management, human resources, customer service, marketing, networking and technology. Have something to share or would like covered? You can reach LCT contributing editor and California operator Jim Luff at Jim@LCTmag.com.

Keywords

apps   business goal-setting   business management   data backup   data security   employee benefits   employee management   holiday   Jim Luff   mobile applications   smooth operations   Social Media   social media marketing   video   websites   

 

Follow @lctmag on Twitter

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