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By the time this edition
of Call Sign reaches your
door, I imagine most of you would have
returned from your summer hols relaxed,
delighted with your chosen destination
and probably given the choice you would
like to go straight back again. Be it
lying under a palm tree in the
Seychelles drinking Pina Coladas,
Trekking through the Amazon Rain Forest,
Pot Holing, Rock Climbing or simply
relaxing somewhere quiet with a book.
Which in fact is what I did. Nowhere
exotic, in fact considering the amount
of rain we had prior to going, choosing
to rent an apartment in Worthing didn’t
look too encouraging.
The choice was partly for the benefit of my partner to spend some
quality time with her 97 year old father
and for me to relax with the odd game of
golf or sitting somewhere quiet with a
good book. As I write, I am sitting on
my comfortable fold-up canvas chair on a
beach a mile or so outside of Worthing,
which is deserted as far as the eye can
see. The weather surprisingly is
fantastic; it’s unbelievably peaceful
and the only sound being the rhythmic
motion of the sea rustling up onto the
shore. Parked nearby in my car is a
packed lunch and a wide selection of
books, five of which I’ve already read
since we arrived eight days ago. And to
add to my enjoyment I have received by
special delivery my September copy of
Call Sign. As always, the
best magazine in the whole of the cab
trade was a very good read, including
the letters page, even when as was the
case again, I’m the target of some
demented souls paranoia. In actual fact,
rather than take offence at this poor
mans diatribe, he did me a favour
because on checking my emails at a local
Internet café there was a message from
the editor reminding me - or should I
say demanding of me - an article for
this edition of Call Sign.
So being an obliging sort, I put my
sixth book aside, purchased a writing
pad and with a topic given me by our
extremely unhappy subscriber, I set
about drafting the enclosed.
Before going any further, firstly I would like to say to any of our
newer members of our circuit who haven’t
as yet read Call Sign,
should you be of a sensitive nature I
would suggest you read my articles with
caution, because it appears from the
attitude of the aggrieved gentleman in
question the content could well give you
cause to seek counselling!
Secondly, the reason I chose to mention holidays was not so I could
talk about my favourite subject ME,
heaven forbid, but to emphasise the
meaning of the word Choice. I
mentioned my books, there were eleven in
fact, each one chosen from a selection
of authors who from experience I know I
will enjoy reading. If I didn’t then of
course I wouldn’t read them, which is
the attitude of most people. This being
so, what is it I wonder about the member
who wrote in Call Sign
last month who deliberately reads
articles in Call Sign
knowing they are going cause him
enormous grief?
I could accept the odd article being open for dispute, but the
manner in which he castigated the
articles of the Chairman, the Editor,
the Board and me in particular, seemed
on the surface to be the actions of a
masochist, being as his grief has been
exacerbated by numerous articles that he
has purposely chosen to read in the
past. Obviously he is easily upset by
what he reads, made worse by what I
assume to be a reading deficiency
causing him to misinterpret what the
writer of the articles - in this case me
- is saying.
He claims, for example, that I said you the members were fat and
unhealthy. I said no such thing. I made
a statement of fact that driving a cab,
breathing in exhaust fumes is an
unhealthy occupation, particularly so
for those who are overweight and who
smoke. Is he suggesting there are NO
overweight smokers driving cabs?
He then takes issue with past articles where I supposedly accused
you all of being a bunch of dopes
needing to go to night school to learn a
foreign language. Again I said no such
thing. I made a reference to the
learning of languages being of benefit
to those in the service industry and as
an idea for those who hadn’t thought of
it to maybe give it a try. I attempted
to give credence to the benefit of
speaking a foreign language by referring
to my travels abroad as a young man.
Which appears to be another irritation
because he states that instead of my
using my double page spread in
Call Sign as a platform to tell
the world about my supposed favourite
subject - myself- I should talk about
marketing. As the Editor rightly said in
his reply to the member’s letter,
filling up a page with a regular article
is not easy, particularly so when it’s
confined to one subject matter – the cab
trade - and near nigh impossible if it
was strictly about our societies
marketing.
I have been writing regular articles for Call Sign
for over twenty years, articles
comprising on average of over 2500
words, which is feat I would imagine to
test the ability of a professional
journalist. And not by choice
incidentally but simply because it is
expected of a Board member. In the
early years when I ran the Sales and
Marketing dept totally on my own, it was
easy writing about the daily activities
within my dept, such as generating new
business and what you the members could
do to assist in retaining that business
including the manner in which you dress,
which again is another of our irate
member’s irritants. Call Sign
is a major means of communicating with
our members, so its only natural that I
and others would use our articles
occasionally to voice our concerns.
Particularly issues concerning service
and quite often the private hire
industry and what is needed to help
eradicate their continuing threat.
We no longer have a monopoly on the cab trade. Anybody, minicabs,
radio cabs and non-radio cabs can put
four wheels outside a customer’s door.
So why should a client specifically use
us? Particularly when a client cannot be
guaranteed a cab no matter how many
hours, days, weeks or months in advance
it was booked. For over 300 years, all
the cab trade needed to do to guarantee
business was to wear a |
green badge and put their for hire light
on. This is no longer the case. I know
that and the majority of you know that,
the problem is apathy overrides the will
to do anything about it.
So as head of Sales I considered it my responsibility to
continually make you all aware of the
need for change and one of those changes
was in my opinion our image. There is
nothing more powerful than image and the
perception it generates. For example,
soon it will be Christmas and the
majority of you will be buying presents
for family and friends. How many of you
before giving those presents will first
wrap it in attractive paper and WHY?
Because we all know even from a young
age the power of packaging and image.
When was the last time the cab trade made a concerted effort en
masse to change its image? I’m not too
hot on our industry’s history, but at a
guess I would say the answer was never.
WHY? Is it due to arrogance,
complacency, apathy or sheer laziness?
More importantly, when was the last time
the members of DaC made a concerted
effort en masse to change their image?
Is it such a mammoth task, are some of
you so skint that you cannot shop in
places such as Matalan and Primart who
sell clothes cheaper than at a boot
sale? It just doesn’t make any sense to
me when I see cab drivers spending more
on cleaning their vehicles than they do
on themselves. And worse, what on earth
goes through their minds when they walk
into our top clients dressed as though
they have just got out of bed and being
compared unfavourably to the minicab
driver outside who has fraction of their
knowledge, ability and recognition
simply because the way he is dressed?
Exactly why I should be despised for stating the obvious I don’t
know. Or more to the point why so many
people in our trade adamantly refuse to
acknowledge that one of the easiest,
cheapest and effective ways to discredit
PH is simply to raise the cab trade’s
image. Even my biggest critics if
honest, would agree they have seen some
pretty grim sights behind the wheel of a
cab. Yet not a word, not a solitary
word, particularly from those worldly
scribes in the trade papers who consider
the entire woes of the cab trade is due
to PH, Rickshaws, the Authorities, the
Mayor, the PCO, the Radio Circuits.
Concierge, Brian Rice, Brian Rice and
Brian Rice…
But back to our aggrieved member who then questions whether I give
value for money as DaC’s Marketing
Director. Firstly I am not a Director. I
am an elected Board member given
responsibility for Marketing. Which
under normal circumstances would be the
person acting on behalf the Society when
dealing with a third party, in this case
a marketing company. Very few if any
marketing managers actually produce
marketing material and design work
themselves as I have always done.
However, the question regarding value for money is a valid one, and
not just with regards me but the Board
as a whole because there are things our
disgruntled member obviously doesn’t
understand. When I first joined the
Society, we had an eight-man BoM
consisting of a Chairman, Treasurer,
PRO, Complaints Officer and four Board
members without portfolio who just
attended Board meetings. All eight
received exactly the same hourly rate,
whether a Board member had twenty years
experience or one month. Which is still
the case to this day, with the exception
of the Chairman. The Board when elected
by the members are not elected for any
particular position of office. They are
elected as individuals, as custodians to
serve the interest of the members. Their
primary responsibility being directing,
influencing and monitoring the
organization’s business. When I stood
for the Board in 1986, I did so with the
knowledge that if successful I would
abide by a Code of Ethics, a Statement
of Commitment, which basically was the
following: I would on behalf of
Dial-a-Cab’s members be a custodian in
trust of the assets of their Society.
The members in recognition of the need
for competent and committed elected
Board members to serve their
organization would put their trust in my
sincerity and abilities. The members
would expect my utmost effort,
dedication, and support. As a Board
member of Dial-a-Cab, I would
acknowledge and commit that I will
observe a high standard of ethics and
conduct as I devote my best efforts,
skills and resources in the interest of
Dial-a-Cab and its members. I would
perform my duties as a Board member in
such a manner that members’ confidence
and trust in the integrity, objectivity
and impartiality of Dial-a-Cab are
conserved and enhanced. To do otherwise
would be a breach of the trust, which
the membership has bestowed upon me.
Fancy words perhaps, but in truth that is what I as a Board
member would be committed to and what I
would expect to get paid for -
initially.
Incidentally, being a Board member of Dial-a-Cab also includes
being personally liable in the event
this society went belly-up. A condition
which when that fact was made known by
our auditors when our Society was once
on the verge of closing its doors, one
Board member immediately resigned.
However, the management of the Society has changed over recent
years. The number of elected Board
members in addition to the Chairman has
been reduced to five, plus a non-elected
Board member who is the company
accountant-cum-secretary.
The changes in the Society and the manner in which it has grown has
created managerial positions better
suited to professionals from the private
sector, with the |
Chairman taking on the
role of CEO. At present all five Board
members hold departmental
responsibilities in addition to carrying
out their elected duties. It has been
argued that employed personnel should
undertake the department duties.
Cost-wise the outlay would be slightly
more as the Board’s remuneration being
subject to responsibility would be very
much on par with what they are earning
now. So in effect the department duties
at present are not really costing the
Society anything. However that is not to
say a better job couldn’t be done by
outside professionals.
In my case, my departmental duties includes marketing, advertising
and design, which is and has always been
a hands-on role, in fact a little of my
design ability was used recently in our
new building, I designed the drivers
reception area. All the artwork and
design I create is done in the office,
plus at home in my own time, which also
includes photographic work. My
administrative duties in addition to my
collective responsibility as an elected
Board member, apart from Board meetings
and Society matters etc includes
chairing complaints meetings,
interviewing new drivers, plus of
course, as with all the Board, the daily
acknowledgement of driver’s queries via
letter, email, phone and the occasional
visit.
Anybody with any knowledge of design will know it’s a time
consuming occupation, involving a
considerable amount of work and ideas
being binned before something acceptable
is created, hence the high cost when
it’s outsourced.
To those interested, the following is a brief example of the work
involved in a typical design project –
in this case the last annual report.
Firstly a theme needs to be chosen, in
this instance it was ‘growth’. I then
had to produce several ideas on how this
could be portrayed. The one approved was
my use of plants. I subsequently spent
much time in various open spaces and
parks photographing trees and flowers
plus acquiring photos of exotic plants
and flowers from other sources. Then
with the material gathered came the
creating of ideas of how it could be
used. Next came producing several ideas
for the front cover, one of which was a
taxi with a driver on a taxi bonnet. It
seemed simple enough, but it took me
ages trying to generate with the aid of
computer graphic software the cab and
driver’s reflection on the shiny bonnet
of the cab. Even with the help of a
graphic professional assisting me, we
still couldn’t achieve the perfect
reflection. Fortunately I solved the
problem when by chance I spotted the car
park of a local pub completely flooded.
With the permission of the pub manager
and the kind cooperation of my neighbour
I was able to photograph both him and
his new cab in the middle of the flooded
car park and achieved the perfect
reflection. Then the centre pages had to
be completed, including the yearly
figures and working with the Chairman
with his report so that the design and
the report were aesthetically in sync.
Ironically when that particular draft
was eventually completed and presented
for approval, most of the people I
showed it to didn’t even notice the part
that had given me a headache – the
reflection! But that didn’t bother me,
it was a detail that was necessary to
give it reality and I wanted to achieve
it.
The Annual Report incidentally is not just produced for our
shareholders, we have a number of
additional copies printed that we use
throughout the year for our existing
clients, as well as part of the
tendering package we supply to
prospective clients. As a point of
interest, every so often I get
approached by marketing and design
companies offering their services, one
of which is the company that produces
the annual report for our major
competitor. As of yet, using outside
sources have rarely been needed, but
nevertheless the details are kept on
file because I’m sure there will come a
time when a decision will be made for
our design work to be outsourced. And to
get an idea on costs, I submit an
example of a project that I produced and
ask for a quote had they been asked to
do it from scratch. The last occasion I
undertook this exercise was after I
produced the DaC 2005 annual report and
the quote offered was eight times that
which it cost DaC to produce in-house.
Or to use another comparison, the cost
of this one project alone was equivalent
to three times my annual take home pay.
The designing of our corporate logo would have also been a costly
project had it been outsourced simply
because the costs of design companies
who specialise in this type of work is
extremely high. I’m not suggesting we
cannot afford it, we can, its just that
up until the present time it’s not been
needed. Unfortunately much of what I
produce in-house, in addition to the
drivers give-aways, door logos, tip-up
seat adds etc, our members do not see.
For example, sales brochures,
advertising and the extensive library of
graphics and photo-shots that I create
as and when time permits.
Suffice to say, being in the office three days each week, I am
sufficiently occupied. However I have
absolutely no intention of demeaning
myself by itemising the work I do each
month in my Call Sign
article, neither do I feel any guilt
whatsoever with my take-home pay, which
on average is half and in some cases a
third of what many of our members earn.
Finally I feel it worth mentioning that we have always considered
Dial-a-Cab to have two types of
customers, our clients and you the
members. So as much as marketing and
design involves directly or indirectly
promoting our business and creating a
business image, it also involves
supporting you the members with ideas
and suggestions that could assist you in
your working day. Hence the reason I
cover the subjects that I do in my
articles. Even if occasionally it
includes something about myself, it’s
something to read whilst waiting for a
client. If it is contentious, then it
has probably been encouraged by the
Editor who hopes the responses will fill
his letters page! Sorry Ed….
Allen Togwell
DaC Marketing
allent@dialacab.co.uk |
