Not at your business peak yet? Try being truthful

The biggest and most successful dial-up taxi operation in Britain was started by a single taxi driver with one vehicle. Gradually, he built up a big enough customer base to justify a second vehicle, and then a third, at which point he moved from behind the steering wheel to behind a desk.

The growth graph soared and now stands at several thousand vehicles, nationwide. Asked the secret of success, he answers in one phrase: “I tell the truth to my customers.”

His operations are an efficient, reliable and price-competitive service. That wins customers. But what keeps them is what the organisation does when something goes wrong.

Even the best run operations can make mistakes, suffer unexpected breakdowns and delays, or be obstructed by any number of factors beyond their control. Some play a “not our fault” blame game; others use a menu of ready-made excuses; a few apologise after the event.

In taxi parlance, that usually means saying “Sorry I’m a bit late”… having already failed to be on time, and often after several false promises to an anxious passenger. “I’m on my way now”, “I’ll be with you in a few minutes”... Anything to ensure the customer doesn’t call another service.

STRAIGHT TALK

The super successful taxi company never did that. On the very rare occasions when it did not arrive on time for a passenger pick-up, it would always call before it was late, give an exact prediction of a new arrival time and, in case the customer couldn’t cope with the delay, actively help them book an alternative taxi.

Many of Kenya’s much-improved taxi services have a strong service ethic and are scrupulously prompt, and some recognise the need – and benefit – of warning calls when all is not going according to plan.

Sadly, the same cannot be said of most vehicle service workshops. Most are chronically vague about time and cost, and not only fail to keep their time promises but frequently make promises they know – in advance – they have no hope of keeping. Their excuses menu knows no bounds, and calls on an abundant reservoir of direct lies – what they have and have not done, what needs to be done, how long the unexpected technical problem will take to solve.

Those that try to be a bit more accurate and straightforward can suffer from being tarred with the same brush of public reputation; the one made internationally ubiquitous by “second-hand car salesmen”.

But this problem is also an opportunity to stand out in the midst of a shabby crowd, by using a very simple principle: tell the truth. Consumers have great capacity for tolerance, even sympathy, if they are treated with respect and straight talk.

You have to be technically good to win a customer – efficient, reliable and price competitive. But to keep that customer when mistakes are made you do not have to be smarmy or clever. You just have to be honest.

And if you are, you need never say so. One way or another, the truth will spread.