MBR_ISSUE 47_JAN_LR
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Malta Business Review<br />
CORPORATE SERVICES<br />
The<br />
By Martin Vella<br />
Experience<br />
<strong>MBR</strong> talks with Darren Zarb, Managing Director of Dacoby Chauffeur Service, who<br />
dreamt of creating a company that stands out from the rest. Not because it’s loud and<br />
intrusive, but for the pleasant and hassle-free experience given to customer.<br />
Darren Zarb<br />
<strong>MBR</strong>: In a competitive industry, how do<br />
you maintain an edge over other luxury<br />
chauffeur drive services so you can fill<br />
seats while maintaining costs?<br />
DZ: The chauffeur industry has been growing<br />
and developing in the last few years and<br />
today, even more than ever before, it is<br />
very difficult to compete with competitors<br />
on a price basis. Moreover, our exclusive<br />
chauffeur service goes far beyond the<br />
normal cab services but is an experience<br />
in itself. We perceive our costs as an<br />
investment in our company - in fact our aim<br />
is not to drive costs down as most often<br />
than not it will have a negative impact on<br />
the quality delivered to our clients, but to<br />
have a return on the investments we make.<br />
If you wish to offer the best service, you<br />
need to source the best tools to do so - we<br />
continuously challenge ourselves to find the<br />
best technology in the industry in order to<br />
maximise the usage of our vehicles and offer<br />
the best just-in-time chauffeur service. By<br />
doing so, we have created our own unique<br />
competitive edge within the industry, which<br />
up until today have proved us to be an<br />
excellent recipe for success.<br />
<strong>MBR</strong>: Why is it so important for you to<br />
have the ‘wow factor’ in premium luxury<br />
driven vehicles?<br />
DZ: It is very simple. Why do you choose<br />
to buy a branded item over the next one?<br />
Our business is focused on providing an<br />
experience to clients who know what is the<br />
best, very often they have an impeccable<br />
eye for detail, so as explained before, you<br />
want to give your clients what they need,<br />
want and if possible even exceed their<br />
expectations. Sometimes a “Wow Factor” is<br />
not the car itself but the little details, which<br />
we have realised over the years make a huge<br />
difference such as; the bottle of premium<br />
water, the opening of the door with a smile<br />
on the chauffeur’s face, and many other<br />
things which have become a habit in our<br />
daily routines. We manage to achieve the<br />
wow factor, as you have put it, by offering<br />
a tailored service to each and every client<br />
hence, rather than catering for each client in<br />
the same way, we strive to get to know our<br />
clients and give them what they need and<br />
want before they even ask or point it out.<br />
That’s what makes Dacoby at the top of the<br />
chauffeur drive business in Malta, and what<br />
make us unique from other chauffeur driven<br />
companies.<br />
"we strive to get to know<br />
our clients and give<br />
them what they need<br />
and want before they<br />
even ask or point it out.<br />
<strong>MBR</strong>: Is it possible you might focus on<br />
offering discounted business class seats<br />
instead?<br />
DZ: Rather than discounted business class<br />
seats, we focus our energy on creating<br />
relationships with our clients. For example,<br />
all our clients get free upgrades, especially<br />
our corporate clients who we work with on a<br />
daily basis. Instead of discounting, we always<br />
strive to enhance the experience of our<br />
clients. Sometimes someone might book and<br />
E-Class but we go with our S-Class instead<br />
at no extra cost, just because it is simply<br />
available. Till now no one ever complained!<br />
<strong>MBR</strong>: Dacoby Chauffeur Services won the<br />
Malta’s Best in Business Best Customer<br />
Focus Award 2019, with the judges writing<br />
Dacoby as ’Best Ground Transportation<br />
Provider’. How did it feel when you found<br />
out you won, and what did it mean to your<br />
company?<br />
DZ: The feeling was surreal, there are times<br />
in your life when you just stop to look back<br />
at how far you have come, and that was one<br />
of those moments. After ten years in the<br />
business my team and I have never thought<br />
that we would have come so far and grew<br />
at the rate that we did, so it meant a lot for<br />
us. It gave us the extra motivation that we<br />
sometimes need to keep going. Honestly, it’s<br />
a big achievement not only for me but for<br />
the entire team to have been awarded such<br />
an achievement.<br />
<strong>MBR</strong>: What are you seeing as your biggest<br />
challenge in the next 12 months?<br />
DZ: As in every other business, the biggest<br />
challenge is to keep improving on the<br />
standard and service you have already<br />
achieved. Year after year we have always<br />
strived to keep on improving from the<br />
previous one, and to cautiously make the<br />
right step at the right time. This industry<br />
is very competitive and if you sprint rather<br />
than briskly walk you can find yourself in the<br />
deep end of the water without realising.<br />
At this point in time our main focus is to<br />
maintain consistency in providing the due<br />
attention to detail to all our clients just<br />
like when our fleet was made up of only<br />
two cars. The more you grow, the easier<br />
it is to lose track of consistent quality and<br />
maintaining a high standard expected by<br />
clients, so I think that, that is what we need<br />
to keep working hard for throughout this<br />
year. <strong>MBR</strong><br />
All rights reserved - Copyright 2019<br />
Dacoby Chauffeur Service<br />
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