Company: MIB Worldwide Chauffeured Services
Type of Business: Transportation
Founded: 2009
How have you changed your business in response to COVID-19?
Right now, like everyone else in the tourism and travel industry, it’s killing us. If we have three runs a day, we consider ourselves lucky. We have lost more than 95% of our business, but we are using this time to be proactive. We are making sure all our chauffeurs have all the equipment they need, with masks for both drivers and riders. Safety and cleaning were already two of the most important parts of our service deliverables, but now we are adding extra touches to those elements. We are cleaning and sanitizing our cars every day after each run with a focus on high-touch areas like seat belt latches and door handles. Our motto is “if you touch, it will be sanitized.” We have also invested in this new cleaning technology that uses a fogger to sanitize the car and gets rid of 99.9% of all germs. This application is done once a week.
What is your advice to other companies?
Before COVID-19, we worked to communicate to our customers about what we offered and how we were different. We are not Uber or Lyft. According to a study that was done in 2019 by insurance company Netquote, ride-share vehicles — like Uber and Lyft — carry 35,000 times more germs than a toilet seat. In all types of vehicles, the team found germs including those linked to skin infections, blood infections and food poisoning. We provide a completely different type of service. I would tell other companies that you need to keep communicating to your customers about what makes you unique. We think people will appreciate the service and care we give and that they will choose us because they will feel safer with us.
What is the one thing you are looking forward to doing when things return to normal-ish?
There are so many things I miss. Just getting a drink at a bar. I miss getting together with our industry friends. I’m Mediterranean so I tend to like human contact, and I look forward to hugging people again. I’m hoping people will get over their fear so we can get through this faster. COVID-19 made us appreciate more what we used to take for granted but everything is going to be alright.
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