As motorcoach drivers, we can often forget this little thing called customer service, but it should be a part of our daily lives when we are on the road. We are the face and voice of the company we work for. It is important that we give the correct impression to customers from the moment they see the coach to the moment we leave them at the end of the trip.

So what is customer service? It is making sure everyone you meet and have the pleasure of driving from point A to point B is happy with the service they receive from you as a driver and as a company.

Why am I talking about this, you may ask?

Well, I was out on a trip a little while ago where I had to repair a group's bad trip experience. They had been bounced from coach to coach, each time having to unload all their bags from one and put them on the other. The last driver they had did not even offer to help them move their bags.

Now I wasn't told any of this until after I had loaded their bags onto my coach. Their guide came over to me after I had helped them onto the bus and told me no one had ever helped them on or off the bus before (this is a group of older people).

The guide also said the previous drivers had never loaded their bags, and they had to do it themselves while the driver just sat on the bus waiting for them to finish so he could get moving. They got quite the shock when I started to take bags from them as they brought them to the coach, and I put them in the luggage bays.

This is something that I do without even thinking about it, and I consider it part of my role as a driver. I am there not only to transport them from place to place but to look after their every need.

The next thing that took them by surprise was when I started to help them on and off the coach at each of their stops. I would make sure that I was the first one off the coach and, because the bus did not have the ability to lower its steps for easy entry and exit, I had a small step stool. I would make sure this stool was ready for them and always offered them a hand on and off.

Again, this was something that had never been done for them. All of this started to restore their good cheer. Although we had a long drive ahead of us, I was determined that the guests would enjoy themselves and not have to worry about their last few days.

I made every effort I could to be helpful and friendly toward them. I would go out of my way to find rest stops for them as well as a nice place for lunch that wasn't on the schedule. At each stop we made, I would see more and more smiles from them, so I knew that I was doing something right.

Eventually we reached the end of our drive, and I had to pass them on to yet another coach, but I was going to make sure that they had a lasting impression of me and therefore my company.

Their changeover point for the last coach was at a restaurant. We had made a couple of extra rest stops along the way, so we were running a little late and the group was worried they would not have time for their meal before leaving for their final destination on the other coach.

I took a deep breath and told them to just go and enjoy their meal, and I would take care of their bags. I unloaded each bag and reloaded it on the other coach for them with a little bit of help from the other driver. The only thing the passengers had to move was their own little carry-on bags, and they did that on their way to eat.

After working hard for 20 minutes, I walked over to the restaurant to talk to the guide and let her know that the bags had been moved over. I was about to head off to my hotel for the night before heading home the following morning. I think she was really surprised when I told her that all the group had to do was to get on board the bus and travel home. I said my goodbyes and went out to my coach.

I was doing my final checks to make sure no one had left anything on that they might need, when I spotted the guide coming out of the restaurant and walking my way. When she got to my coach, she didn't give me any time to say anything but started out with, “I don’t normally do this for replacement drivers, but all of my group agree that you deserve this.”

With that she reached into her purse, pulled out $30 and pressed it into my hand before turning and walking away without giving me chance to say anything. It took me by surprise, but after the initial shock I was very grateful that they thought I had done a good enough job to warrant a tip like that.

So how do we give good customer service? It's all in how you handle the customers and any issues that they have. Any problem that comes up must be dealt with calmly and in professional manner.

It can be hard sometimes as you are out there on your own a lot of the time without backup. Anything that you say and do is taken as being the company's point and will be taken as such.

It is important to remember that the customer is right, and they are the only reason you are there at that point in time. Customers that have a bad experience will tell a lot of people. Word of mouth spreads quickly in this day and age, with Twitter and Facebook being the main outlet for people to say good or bad things about a company.

Sometimes all it can take to change a customer's opinion from bad to good is taking a little more time to go the extra mile for them, and that’s what I try to do on every trip. It can be as simple as offering someone a hand to get off the bus to locating a restroom in a time of need.

All you need to do is to be prepared. Do a little research on the route you are going to take. Make a note of the rest stops and such that are along the way. All of this is easy stuff to do but can go miles towards making the trip a memorable one for everyone. If the customer is happy, then the driver's life will be a lot easier as well.

The bottom line is that every driver needs to be prepared for everything and not take offense if the customers have had a bad experience before them.