“Don’t mention politics”
If only it were that easy in the confines of a car but the truth is that if a client engages you on a particular subject you can hardly say “I’m sorry Sir, I can’t answer that question” and stick with name, rank and number! We chauffeurs are all different and personally speaking, some of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had with clients have been about politics, religion and my total inability to appreciate the game of rugby.
Again, it’s all about how you handle yourself and there’s always going to be times when you’re forced to feint interest in a subject that bores you rigid, or make yourself sound like the worlds leading authority on a topic that you can’t even spell. Seriously though, whilst you don’t need to be Einstein to do this job, you do need to have a little interest and a little knowledge in a lot of subjects.
Keeping up with the news is an absolute must and the same goes for the weather forecast and sports results. With most senior execs and certainly with celebs, some information can be found about them on the net so if you know in advance that they’re a fanatical Liverpool FC fan or they collect super cars as a hobby, you can prepare yourself and you should.
The whole package
Like many of you reading this, I often find myself standing in an airport arrivals hall scrutinising other chauffeurs and wondering how they can get it so wrong. For me, this all goes back to the difference between those of us that like to consider chauffeuring as a ‘profession’ and those who simply see it as a job.
Whilst the necessity to master the all important hard skills is pretty obvious, the need to have and develop these soft skills should never be underestimated.
Andy Dubberley
