Let this blog find you bringing excellence in all your endeavours.
Last year, we visited Chennai for a
workshop. Our airport pickup was booked as usual. Unusual was the prompt & comprehensive
SMS received when we switched on the mobile: "I am XYZ from Bala Tourist
Service, My car no is 9999 and I am waiting at the exit with a placard."
The driver also called us & spoke in impeccable English! The car was
spic-and-span clean & shining. We wondered if it was a brand new vehicle
straight from the showroom. (We found it wasn’t.)
We called the travel agency to reschedule
our airport drop. The person receiving the call was crisp, prompt & had a
kind of pride in his voice. He identified himself as ‘Driver Bala’. We soon
realized we were speaking to the owner. We complimented his company for the
pick-up experience.
Our airport drop car also looked brand new!!
The service was truly impeccable. The driver actually ran to get a trolley as we
reached the Chennai airport. This time I asked the driver whether he cleaned
the car after reaching the hotel to pick us up. He told us that all drivers of
the company have instructions to reach at least 15 minutes before pickup time
& wipe the car clean again while waiting to pick the customer!!
We did further research on the taxi service
and found the following story on their website (www.bala.co.in) and understood the
spirit behind the excellence.
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After doing a series of odd jobs from the
age of nine, Balakrishnan landed up as a driver at the Chennai trading office
of the erstwhile German Democratic Republic, where he stayed for seven years.
Saving money from his salary of about Rs 400 a month, he managed to buy a
second-hand Fiat for Rs 6,000, which he let out as a taxi. When he was ready to
quit his job, he sold the Fiat for about Rs 9,000. This, along with severance
benefits of Rs 3,000 and his savings, was able to procure him a Rs 6,000 loan from
Sundaram Finance. The interest was Rs 500 for a year.
Balakrishnan bought a new Fiat for Rs 19,000
and ran it as a meter taxi for just one year. He earned enough to repay the
loan and keep some profit. But he was not prepared to stand around in the sun
waiting for fares. He knew bigger things lay ahead: "I wanted to enter the
tourist line," he says. He sold the Fiat and got himself a second-hand
Ambassador for about Rs 15,000.
He ran the Ambassador as a private taxi. To
get bookings he made the rounds of all the existing tourist cab services, so
that they could get hold of him whenever they needed a car in an emergency. The
strategy worked. Invariably, the cabs were overbooked and the overflow came to
him. In about two years, Balakrishnan had sold the old car and bought a new
Ambassador. It cost him Rs 20,000 and again, was financed in part by Sundaram
Finance.
It was 1971, and he had hung out his
shingle; Bala Tourist Service now employed a cook-bottle washer-office
assistant at a salary of Rs 200 a month. A telephone borrowed from a friend and
a house for about Rs 75 a month completed his SOHO. He would call home every
few hours and his office boy would inform him of the next port of call. He was
earning about Rs 6,000 a month from his tourist taxi. By now though, he was
married, and soon two children came along, and he had to rent a bigger house
for Rs 250 a month.
Expansion was practically inevitable. A
second, then third, car was acquired and drivers hired. By 1979, he had six
cars and drivers, three office staff, and an office at Rs 750 a month. There
was no looking back. In 1997, the company bought its first Mercedes, which was
immediately overbooked. Within three months it bought a second, and now it has
seven Mercs in a fleet that also boasts of marques like Skoda, Chevrolet, Honda
and Mitsubishi.
The significant point is that from the very
beginning Balakrishnan charged a 10 per cent premium on the market rate only on
the premise that he would offer "perfect service". Today, his premium
on market rates is about 25 per cent. And his customers insist on returning.
Obviously, the promise of service has been kept. The company only uses new
cars, no souped up stuff or rebuilt tyres. "I know most of my regular
customers by name," says a proud Balakrishnan.
His drivers are always on time, if not
early, and trained to be courteous and helpful. Balakrishnan absolutely insists
that they know the city and its suburbs thoroughly. Accordingly, they are also
paid about 10 per cent over the market rate, along with incentives like a
school fee allowance.
Balakrishnan believes in sharing his good
fortune. He also offers easy finance to his drivers to help them buy the cars
his company discards every two years. The drivers then keep the earnings from
their cabs, giving Balakrishnan a commission. Obviously then, the drivers are
doubly keen on attracting customers and retaining them.
With 75 cars, an office staff of 30, a
sprawling office in the heart of town (Bala House), and a 12,000 sq. ft. house next
door, does Balakrishnan plan to call it a day? "My son, an even better
businessman, joined me in 1985, but I have no plans to retire. I enjoy
work," he says. After dropping off his grandchildren at school, he is in
office by 9.15 am. He is still among the first to answer a call to the Bala
Tourist office—where he shares a long room with all his staff—and takes
pleasure in identifying himself as Driver Balakrishnan. He might not have an
MBA but this is one businessman who is certainly in the driver’s seat.
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May this story inspire you to bring your
best in whatever you take on!
Warm
regards,
