I come from a background of no stupid questions. That’s more of a mindset than a fact, but I’ve found sometimes a dumb question can draw an unexpected answer — because the interviewee reveals more via a disgusted response.
My mission statement: I ask anything, and you may ask me anything, because I’ll talk about anything. I’ve found such an approach helpful to a media career.
In this issue, our editorial team tackles what we call hot topics: Conversations and questions to put before the industry that could help solve problems.
In the spirit of no stupid questions, I pose these, which will guide our B2B coverage:
- Why doesn’t the industry use real-time, flex, surge-splurge pricing, or at least changing rates, like hotels, airlines, and TNCs?
- What does it mean when chauffeured rides available from an app, done by legal, licensed, duty-of-care operators, cost a lot less than a full-price limo run?
- If TNCs end up on a level rules playing field to our liking, but still offer cheaper rides, then what?
- What if operators required party bus clients to stay seated while the bus moves, but allow them to use the poles and dance around when parked?
- If the idea is to drink, dance, watch videos and enjoy the bus, what does it matter if it’s moving or not?
- What are you doing to boost your high-touch service for your bread-n-butter “top 1%-ers” who will never step into an UberX or Lyft?
- How are you combing for clients and contacts beyond the limousine industry groups and trade shows?
- Should the industry be connected on one universal technology platform showing vehicles in real-time, OR should operators let competing tech providers fight it out and offer multiple platform choices?
- Why does the industry even need one unified technology platform, anyway? Or why not?
- Is the industry’s future in providing a tier of on-demand service, near-demand service, OR both?
- What are you doing to pursue the group transportation business?
- How can operators make a profit with more expensive sedan fleet vehicles and downward pricing pressures resulting from tech innovations?
- If TNCs get away with using independent contractor drivers, should the limousine industry stick to using mostly W-2 chauffeur employees or try to get legal allowances to use 1099 I/O chauffeurs like TNCs?
- Why would chauffeurs want to stay loyal to your company?
- What is the ideal business model for chauffeured operations in 2016?
- How do you sell your service to potential clients who fall below the top 10% of households in annual income?
- In what ways are value and performance standards changing for a limousine company?
- Will chauffeured transportation become more of a commodity or a service business?
- If self-driving cars become a fact in 10-15 years, where will your business be?
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Presidential characters, but not character.
Now for the big NO. 20: Who should an operator vote for in the Presidential race, from a strictly self-interested limousine industry point of view: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?
- Hillary opposes the gig economy and takes a pro-labor, pro-employee stance. That’s not a set of policies beneficial to Uber and TNCs. She also wants to expand government, which could likely lead to more federal ground transportation contracts.
- Trump, a native New Yorker who visited an LCT Show in the 1990s, and whose Atlantic City hotel-casinos have served as trade show sites, is a limo-lovin’ businessman who, depending on the political moment, talks about cutting taxes, deregulation, and creating jobs.
I won’t publicly endorse either way. But we’ll all have plenty to talk about when we convene at LCT-NLA Show East in Atlantic City, Nov. 13-15 (www.lcteast.com). See you then, ready for plenty of answers to this mouthy dump of questions.