The way I look at the limousine business is very simple. My office people sit either by the phone or the computer and wait for a customer to give us a reservation, by one of those methods. We then enter the reservation, and when the time comes we dispatch it to a driver or chauffuer, whichever term you prefer. The driver then allows himself enough time to be at the customer's location ten minutes prior to the scheduled time. The customer then comes out on time as scheduled and the two drive off to either an airport or other location that was planned. We then bill the customer on his credit card or direct bill. Sometimes cash is involved. We  get paid for the job we did and everyone is happy. The end.
 
I once had a friend ask me if there were three things I could change about my business, what would they be. I told him I only want one. Here it is. If every ride for tomorrow was booked today so I could make a schedule. That means I know what my customers are doing and I can schedule the drivers accordingly. I know how many drivers I need one day in advance.
 
Many years ago when I worked at another limo company, I had a very good friend, Rich P., come to work for us. He was with Air Brook and he told me an amazing statistic. He was in charge of dispatch so I think he knew these numbers. He told me that when they were doing between 400 and 600 trips a day, they used to miss 25 to 30 of those people. Not late for, but completely missed. But if you figure an average, it is floating around five percent. Five percent is not bad, but tell that to the five percent of the customers affected.
 
However, this is not a baseball game where 300 percent is great. When I had my  new house built, there were problems with some things that could not be redone. The answer I got from the builder was: " when building a house, you can't expect it to be perfect!" But he wasn't willing to give back a percentage to make non-perfect okable. (New word.) 
 
The car wash never gets the car 95 percent clean. The lawn guy is not perfect. My shirts and suits are aren't done 95 percent perfect. I think other then the limousine business, you want the airline mechanic to be 100 percent perfect. 
 
Perfect Limo falls into the catergory of non perfect with a less then one percent error ratio. Not bad --we think!. Not everyone feels this way. Without making excuses, we have  many variables to deal with: weather, traffic, flight delays, air controllers, etc.
 
In reality, my one change will never come to fruition. This whole business now revolves around ASAP and I'm coming in earlier or later then originally planned. The cost of last minute changes to a traveler must be obscene. I know when I want to make a flight change, I'm so discouraged, I never change. The saving grace is that the limo service does not charge to make a change.
 
And my perfect world? Oh, when that reservation is made, do we really hear correctly, or hit all the right keys on the keyboard. And when the driver gets the information, does he always understand it fully. Will he always wake up on time and allow enough time to avoid traffic congestion. And what about the line at the coffee shop? Accidents, rain,  sleet and snow. We're not the mailman after all. We are just the limousine driver. 
 
But with everything a limousine company has to deal with, I am proud to say that we are DAMN GOOD!