Are you driving customers away?

If your tradespeople are unsafe or uncourteous at the wheel, it can damage your brand, says Sam Tyson.

Ireceived a letter from the New Zealand Police recently saying an incident had been reported to the Community Roadwatch Programme by a member of the public.

They had identified me as the owner of a vehicle that had been driving inconsiderately by tailgating another vehicle. The letter went on to say the person who witnessed the incident was sufficiently alarmed by the driving to report the matter to Police, stating this person perceived the way our vehicle was being driven at the time was not safe.

I was not the driver, and on talking to the tradesperson who was driving, he and his supervisor had been working on a job in Hawera, and they were gunning it back to New Plymouth to go to the PGD Board CPD training that started at 2.00pm. It had been pouring with rain, they were drenched, and wanted to get changed before going to the training.

Tailgating not a good look

This is not the first time one of our vehicles has been reported for unsafe driving by a member of the public. I received a phone call from another business owner, saying he had followed one of our guys’ vans into work at around 7.00am and our guy was driving like a wanker. That he was tailgating the vehicle in front of him, following way too close. Business owner to business owner, he said, it’s not a good look.

I had a talk with the driver, and we discussed safe distance driving and, “Yeah yeah yeah, I’ll be more careful,” he responded. Two weeks later I get another call from the same man telling me he had followed our guy again into town this morning and, he’s still driving like a wanker!

After that second call, I arranged for a driving instructor to assess his driving and go through the road rules with him. Not sure if it sunk in or not, but to date I haven’t had another phone call about his driving. It may have something to do that he has since moved to the South Island!

I have had other incidents where members of the public have taken the time to contact us to let us know about the bad driving of our people on the road. Such as driving while talking on their phone, eating a pie while driving, cutting a corner and going through the stop sign, pulling out in front of a car dangerously, speeding and overtaking other vehicles in wet conditions, shooting red lights. I am sure there are many more I don’t know about, that have not been reported.

Your mobile billboard

Aside from the obvious health and safety consequences of dangerous driving there is also the damage to your brand. Your vehicles are your company’s best form of advertising. They are your mobile billboard telling everyone who you are as a business and what you do. When one of your drivers is seen driving recklessly or is not courteous to let others have the right of way, it may cause that member of the public to think twice before using you.

The man who rang me twice, the member of public who reported us to the Police, the other phone calls I have received, all potential customers who I am sure will not be calling us anytime soon.

About the author: Sam Tyson has been Managing Director of Climate & Plumbing since 2010. She is an active member in the industry and, with a background in strategic business development, shares the knowledge and experience gained from her award-winning business to help others obtain better results in their businesses. Sam is a Director on the national Master Plumbers Board.