Niche without knowing .....

Having  reviewed and evaluated the  business for the last 12 months, and having repeatedly discussed the desire for us to be different from our competition with the team here, We kept coming back to the same thing "We supply drivers , bloody good ones but drivers nonetheless! what do we do different?" What is our USP, What is our Niche?

I enlisted a friend with vast corporate experience to spend a day in business to see if he could add something or point out the obvious? It was a great day although I think he gained more from it than my team or myself.

But whilst bemoaning my lot and the need to find my Niche , sipping on a glass of red and talking shop with my wife. She presented me with the Niche that was clear and in front of me , my friend and my team the whole time....

Our Niche is the work we carry out for the clients we have built up over 30 years( yes 30 years ) Over this time we have worked on numerous big blue chip contracts , we have been  Master vendors ,  sole suppliers , second tier and ad hoc supplier to almost every company in our area. "So what?" I hear you say ," haven't most driving recruitment firms ....."

But our Niche is Continental work.

How many have the skillset needed for this area of the business?

We have supplied drivers for Music tours from Stockholm to Moscow , we have supplied drivers for regular trips delivering to Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. We have supplied individual drivers  for long term tramping contracts, we have supplied teams of drivers for double and triple drives, making sure that vehicles and contents get from Madrid to Kiev against challenging time constraints.Teams driving all right hooker, teams driving all left hookers, these skills are more than your average A to B driving agency.

I had been looking at this as just supplying the drivers, but as my wife pointed out the team we had assembled to help plan the logistics of getting 37 guys to Madrid, Milan or Minsk, were doing way more and were an invaluable resource to us and our clients.

It could be Lucy our Ops Queen and a Transport Operator in her own right planning legs of a double/triple drive to help the client save money, or Sarah our administrator who helps clients with the logistics of getting visas for 30 odd drivers 8 weeks in advance of a drive through Belarus towards Russia. Also making sure that the guys all get safe and sound  to a meeting points in various European cities, Not forgetting Gemma who makes sure the guys are kept busy between European assignments.  

So our Niche is understanding what it takes to run a fleet across Europe and beyond, we know that you will from time to time have issues but we have spent years dealing with these issues and have both Staff and Drivers that are veterans of years of European tour and contract work.

If you need Temporary or contract drivers for European work you need somebody that has a niche in this area and that is us and we didn't even know.

So thank you red wine and thank you wife for once again making me see the blooming obvious!!