Call Sign October 2006 - Page 24 - CALL CENTRE CHAT

It’s that time of year again when we start to look towards you, the Dial-a-Cab drivers, for that extra effort in helping us cover the work. In previous years, our workload usually increases a few weeks after the children return to school and continues to get busier as we get closer to Christmas. This year, we have seen increased levels of work from the very first week in September and our early morning work especially has come in with a vengeance. Our controllers have been put to the test far earlier than expected in using their skills to get the work covered. The whole Board, everyone within our Call Centre and all the other departments for that matter, have worked very hard to produce more account work, improve our technology, get the calls answered quickly and deal with the customer service issues when we fail. It’s now over to you, the drivers, if we are to come through the next few months without any serious harm being done to our reputation. Our driver service will have to be better than we have every seen before. I am convinced that having seen work stats for a very wet and stormy Wednesday evening in mid-September, that work levels will increase far beyond the record year of last. Daren Morley, DaC’s Training Manager, and I are actively interviewing staff to expand the Call Centre. The move to the new building will hopefully commence in October,	Another Dial-a-Cab Call Centre update from Keith Cain… CALL CENTRE CHAT
	but until the move of all departments has been completed - scheduled to be February / March 2007 - we can free up space within Brunswick House to expand our Call Centre by 32 positions and I have set a target of recruiting at least 20 individuals to cover all shifts immediately. Daren, as you might know, trains drivers as well as staff and because of the expansion programme we are now on, we have also found it necessary to recruit an assistant trainer to help him. Once in the new building, there will be scope to expand the Call Centre to 120 positions! The scope of this is four times larger than our existing size. Can you imagine the amount or work we could process when we reach that level? However, that will never be possible unless we give our clients the service that I know	we are all capable of. I have always accepted that the driver plays a very important role within our Society and I see you all as being part of the very successful team we have within our organisation. Motivation is the key issue in any business and it applies to all of you. If we can keep you motivated as well as the staff, then only good will prevail for the future. As such, this year’s driver incentive program to undertake more account work will soon to be announced. The targets have been understandably raised after the levels of last year. They are realistic and achievable if you accept the majority of work you are offered rather than reject it. Cash flow will become very important to many of you and last year I wrote about how we would give consideration to altering your payment frequency to help you manage your cash flow. The same applies this year and I hope as many of you as possible will start increasing the number of account trips you do now, so as to help you become accustomed to dealing with your income being derived from account work rather than cash as we approach the ever-longer holiday period. Keith Cain Driver Operations / Call Centre Manager

Former Dial-a-Cab driver, Bob Woodford, writes a regular column for Call Sign from his home in Languedoc, France… CALL SIGN EN LA BELLE FRANCE
Want the latest news on the French property scene? Wondering what house prices are doing in the Languedoc region? Well we’ve got hold of figures for Call Sign readers that have just been released by the French National Estate Agents’ Association (FNAIM). If you're thinking of an investment in property in France, then it's important you know which parts of the country are growing in value and which are stagnating. With the French economy flat, domestic demand for property has cooled off in recent years, so really it's foreign property investors that are helping prices in certain areas to rise. FNAIM figures show that the south east of France (comprising Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur) is	the only place where real estate prices are currently growing at a similar or better rate than last year. Across the rest of the country, vendors will be gloomy as the downturn in growth rates for French property continues apace. Values have seriously lost their va-va-voom! And the moral of the story? Look to the Languedoc-Roussillon region for a safe bet. Sustained, long-term growth combined with 300-plus days of	rays per annum makes for a sunny outlook, whether you’re buying a holiday home, a house for retirement, a permanent pad or a pure investment product. So Languedoc it is then! Ok, so it’s just as well as far as this column is concerned, but with France's best beaches, spectacular scenery, never-ending sun (well almost) and cheap flights, this is undoubtedly France's boom area for property investment. Check out our property website www.immoboulevard.com and in particular click on numbers 34 and 11 on the site map for some interesting investments down here on the Med! Jusqu'au mois prochain…! Bob Woodford (Ex-P49) Saint Genies de Fontedit, Languedoc, France

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