700,000 + completed jobs per year and counting

Sids webProviding a fast, reliable and friendly service is top of the agenda for Sids PH in Newcastle-Under-Lyme who also cover Stoke-on-Trent. This seems to have been their motto since they began life as a small family business with just a handful of cars more than twenty five years ago. Today, still a family run business which consists of Barbara Hammend, her son Jeoff Hammend (owners) and Technical manager Neil Thornhill, they have the same objective only now on a much larger scale with a fleet of 120 vehicles.

Amazingly, they are able to dispatch over 700,000 jobs to these vehicles per year and still maintain their usual high standards. However, managing this volume of work requires a little more technology then the old pen and paper system of yesteryear.

Retain customers with Loyalty Card, Booking App & Phantom

In fact, the team at Sids PH, are no strangers to technology as they have followed a consistent upgrade path with Autocab over the years. They have recently upgraded their classic D21 data heads to the more modern Minos. Not to mention the introduction of Phantom IVR and the Booking App to add to their already impressive arsenal that includes the Loyalty Card feature, Ring Back and Text Back. All of which help them to maintain the level of service for which they are renowned for and for which their customers have come to expect. This goes a long way to retaining the custom of these patrons, which of course, is the cornerstone of their business. However, the team at Sids PH, have chosen not to rely solely on the merit of these facilities to retain their customers. Recognising a gap in the market they have intelligently taken their business to a next level by offering an incentive to use their services which has the added bonus of tying in their customers. The Loyalty Card for example, seems to be the perfect tool for achieving that.

An interesting review, which demonstrated a great example of how to utilise Loyalty Card with the intention of retaining custom, was delivered by Jeoff Hammend as he said…
“…The Loyalty Card is proving to be a very useful tool for us and we have received some excellent feedback for it. We currently have over 2000 in use and many of those are used as a pre pay and top up card. This is especially useful for parents who need to provide a taxi fund for their teenage children. It benefits the parents as it ensures the funds are spent on a taxi and not elsewhere. We have customers who pre-load the cards with up to £200 therefore ensuring their business…

Booking App from Autocab is the way forward in this industry

…We also have the Booking App which offers an extra dimension to our booking facilities whilst providing a service to our users. We have had hundreds of downloads already and we are focusing efforts in to promoting it as we believe it is the way forward in this industry…”

Neil Thornhill (Technical Manager Sids PH) concurred with Jeoff on all accounts. Impressed with how these features integrate with the Autocab system he was keen to progress to the more technical aspect of how they can improve business efficiency. Focusing on automated booking facilities he told us…

“…Automated booking facilities, for example the App and Phantom IVR, help improve the efficiency of the business. They do this by enabling us to take a higher volume of calls, especially during busy periods, bypassing the

need for an operator which leads to reduced overheads…

Minos has great signal strength

…Another point about efficiency worth a mention is the upgrade to Minos. The Minos has greater signal strength than the D21 and it is a faster operating terminal. We have seen our job count increase since its installation. This may also coincide with our rezone which has seen our plots increase from around sixty to a hundred and twenty which has also seen a reduction in dead mileage which is great news for our drivers…”

We wouldn’t be this far ahead without Autocab

“…We have a good relationship with Autocab. The support is excellent overall and it is fair to say we wouldn’t be this far ahead without Autocab…”