Call Sign November 2003 - Page 9 - Lydia Foulkes

As you may be aware if you read the September issue of Call Sign, I had some time away from the business in August due to my Mother, Hazel, passing away. She fought Motor Neurone Disease, but unfortunately the MND was fitter. Hazel's family motto is 'Live to Live’ and I have only recently learnt what that really means.
   I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone here at Dial-a-Cab for the support and indeed all the kind words I have received.
   Coming back to work gave me a focus and lots to catch up on! Interestingly enough, the past few weeks have been far busier and there is currently an air of optimism in the City that we certainly have missed as of late. As we continue to win new accounts and retain existing ones for lengthy contracts, I truly believe Dial-a-Cab are very well placed coming out of what has been a difficult trading period.
   As I visit potential clients, it gives me great pleasure to show them the systems that we have developed. The on-line facilities we offer are far more advanced that any other system in the trade and we will continue to develop the aesthetics of the on-line booking service. And let's not forget that we are the only company offering a real-time web-based solution, meaning that our clients can log on to any PC anywhere and book a taxi. That, along with the level of

Selling DaC with
Lydia Foulkes

MIS (Management Information Statistics) we provide make us second to none. In the meantime, our competitors continue to use fixed URL's and default to a manually booked emailing system.
   The flexibility of owning our software has become more and more apparent to me over the past year or so as we move into a further period of improvement with the imminent recall of the fleet for an important upgrade that, amongst other things, will help to improve the data signals received in your taxis.
   Our duty is to generate work for our customers, the drivers. And in turn, for our drivers to continue providing the service of which we are so proud. However, as we become busier, we must all make every effort to do that little extra to ensure great service and customer care.
   We are continuing to find that this is a time where customers are looking to change, whether they wish to move from a car company

or indeed another licensed Taxi provider. Let's give them as many reasons as possible to feel confident in making the decision that Dial-a-Cab is the service they want.

New Accounts
From the end of July to the end of September, we opened the following:

44 New Corporate Accounts
49 New Personal Accounts
21 Additional Accounts

   Once again, I must mention those drivers who continue to bring in leads; thank you guys! I asked one of them, Tony Hizer (E63), how he does it. Tony told me:
   "I just ask the passenger whether the company they work for has an account, if not I take their details down and pass them on to you."
   There are a number of drivers who have given leads and who would recently have had their payments for those leads (provided the account is opened). It sometimes takes longer to convert the lead - but I normally manage it!

Talk soon…

Lydia Foulkes
DaC Sales Manager