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How coaching makes great tourist coach drivers

27/01/2015

Top New Zealand coach company Nimon & Sons Ltd recently took their successful business up a few more gears when investing in tourism training for their drivers.


The family-owned Hawke’s Bay company is over 100 years-old, initially providing horse-drawn passenger transport between Havelock North and Hastings. The company now employs over 100 bus drivers and, as well as doing school runs, offers a high quality coach tour service for weddings, special events and taking cruise ship passengers from Port of Napier on tour.

Nimon’s drivers have already achieved their National Certificate in Large Passenger Service qualification, which is linked to a substantial wage increase. They also complete the NZTA-linked SAFED course to help cut costs on brake repairs and fuel.

Focused on improvement and innovation

The idea to upskill drivers in tourism came about in late 2014 when Nimon & Sons General Manager Pete Patterson spoke with ServiceIQ Training Advisor Matthew Davies about the benefits of the new ‘Visitor Experience’ training programme.

“We felt our business could gain from training in tourism because our drivers are the company representatives dealing with our cruise ship customers,” says Pete.

Many drivers are now on the road to gaining the qualification – the New Zealand Certificate in Tourism (Visitor Experience).

Reaping the rewards

It’s a winner for tourist customers, drivers, and the company which relies on its first-class reputation to attract repeat business.  

“We aim to wow our customers and want every experience to be great when they’re on tour with us,” says Pete.    

“We encourage our friendly drivers to give an interesting commentary and establish rapport early with everyone aboard. All those vital things are covered in the unit standards of the National Certificate in Tourism.

“We get positive feedback - whether from passengers who may discuss our performance with the ship’s captain or ground handlers who are the agents between us and the cruise lines. We often receive written feedback from our cruise ship customers who say: ‘It was the best tour we’ve been on’. 

“Our drivers get larger tips when they drop their happy customers off at the ship at the end of a tour. This encourages drivers to be even more interesting with their commentaries.”

In-house assessors the way to go

The company has also invested in training its own staff as programme assessors via a special short course offered by ServiceIQ. It’s cost effective, and it means that the assessing and monitoring expertise becomes part of the business.

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Empower your staff 

Pete joined the company over 10 years ago, after a 20 year career in the NZ Army, and after holding management positions at Auckland’s Sky City Casino, SkyTower and a US-owned customer care company.

He’s a firm believer in trusting staff to make the customer service experience positive, and has the experience to prove it.

“I learned a lot from SkyCity where we had a 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee. When a customer complained, staff could write out a voucher for a free night’s accommodation as a make-good if it was justified. It gave employees the ability to make decisions that helped keep customers coming back.”

Inspiring others

At Nimon & Sons, he has adopted pretty well the same approach to maintain a top notch reputation. 

“We encourage the drivers to get feedback from customers on the day, and if it’s negative we try to resolve the problem. Sometimes people will complain about a venue, and so we might make recommendations to the owner and help them to improve their customer service experience,” says Pete.

There’s nothing better than an inspirational business to inspire others on how to get it right. And Pete’s advice to any business in New Zealand is to “ensure the customer service is world-class”.

“Don’t just think of little old Napier or little New Zealand. Think about how they would like to be treated if they were on an experience overseas. ServiceIQ is helping our drivers identify things they can do which will enhance customer satisfaction.”


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Find out how ServiceIQ’s tourism training programmes can benefit your business by talking to one of our experienced team on 0800 863 693.