TCM

WRITTEN BY DONNIE RUST

To do justice to their name, TCM can only be spoken about in terms of a team. Yes in the captain seat stands a keenly intelligent, motivated and enterprising individual but by his own testimony the company depends upon the people working for it.

BECAUSE YOU’RE TOO

BUSY AND LIFE’S TOO

SHORT

From set up as a small concierge and vehicle detailing business

to its current position as a standard-setting, industry shaping

group of companies with activities in concierge, vehicle

leasing and roadside assistance Robert has been there nurturing the

company’s growth one person at a time.

With a leasing and rental vehicle background, Robert Visser

moved to Trinidad and Tobago in 1998 and moved through a number

of management roles when he had a chance meeting with his business

partner Kirk Waithe.

The opportunity was that BPTT was looking for services on both

internal and external fleets, a concierge service with their internal

fleets and a leasing and rental approach with the external. BPTT

contacted Kirk and asked if he could arrange this all by the next day

and he contacted Robert and asked if he could put it together and

Robert’s reply was, “Sure no problem,”

Nothing like a sense of urgency to create results.

“That’s how the partnership developed,” Robert explains, “During

the intervening years I’ve become the managing partner of the

organization with what started as a company with three employees

on our side, and a strong start-up attitude has grown since. The banks

backed us because we brought a level of service that had simply not

been seen in Trinidad.”

It was a quest to set the standard of customer service as high as

possible and the opportunities presented to them early on to offer

Road Side assistance as an aspect of their package. This was simply

something that was not seen in Trinidad and Tobago.

“When we started our roadside assistance it really startled

TCM

In Trinidad and Tobago, if you own a car you’ve probably heard about the TCM Group of Companies, they are one of the success stories within the region and their Managing Director Robert Visser is often requested to speak at seminars and events and represents the very spirit of entrepreneurial ship and people orientated management.

people,” Robert says, “We were the first to be on the scene it was

really unprecedented level of service and we were often there within

ten minutes in the event of an emergency or a breakdown and that

hadn’t occurred before in the Trinidad market.”

TCM then branched out even further into the area of executive

transport for things like airport shuttles, large scale and after-hours

transport of staff. Even with most of the customers coming from the

corporate sector the company’s twenty four/seven dispatch service

still underpins everything it does.

“We recognized that diversification was important,” Robert

explains, “And GPS technology has been a natural thread that ties

together everything that we do with transport, rental and roadside

assistance. It allows us to monitor maintenance points for our rental

vehicles, departure and arrival times for transport, and in terms of

monitoring driver behaviour it’s a critical aspect of HHSE and the

technology is designed to suit the client’s needs in all cases.”

The TCM FamilyThis focus on people is what sets TCM apart from the competition

with their internal customers being just as important as their external

ones.

“Our success is based 100% on the commitment of our people,”

Robert details emphatically, “They are the face of the organization

in interacting with our clients and we have a strong team building

atmosphere and we incentivize much of what we do for our people.”

TCM also walks the talk, thanks to Arrive Alive which advocates

for road safety and better transport management systems in Trinidad

and Tobago.

“All that we do at TCM is

invested on the roadways of the

nation,” he continues, “So we felt it

was important that we advocate

for road safety ourselves and

that was how Arrive Alive was

born. It has played a bit part in

having the breathalyser passed

in the country because in the end

it’s all about people.”

This person-to-person

attitude has set a high level of

customer service that remains

at the heart of TCM and helped

create a new industry standard

from the very moment the

company began operations in

2001. Thanks to them a number

of the innovations they had over

ten years ago are now the norms

of the industry.

“We’ve shown that excellent

customer service can exist in Trinidad and Tobago and that message

needs to get out and our business has grown through unsolicited

customer to customer testimonials and our people understand that.

It’s everything that drives our success and continues to drive our

success in the future.”

Working With PeopleRobert is a man who recognizes that business is all about working

with people and has set himself the task of not only being the best

leader and employer as possible but also as an example to other

entrepreneurs and owners of small to medium sized enterprises.

“As an entrepreneur you do go through your ups and downs and

we’ve always grown through word of mouth,” he says, “Early on we

grew too rapidly, where in 05, 06 and 07 we had to downsize. But we’ve

always recognized our reputation is our greatest asset and that’s key,

no matter how hard the times are, you must stand behind your core

values and your reputation as a service provider in whatever industry

you’ve chosen. That was what sustained us through difficult times.”

TCM is a service company and Robert recognizes that their

reputation is the greatest asset and that the people working there

are the most important people they have. For the service industry,

the first key, is you have to know and interact with your people and

TCM employs over seventy-five people including executive transport

representatives, field agents, a technical division and a leasing and a

rental feet in excess of 500 vehicles. In all the activities the face to

face and interaction of a professional level stands out, to get getting

your people to perform at their peak you have to understand their

motivations and there are different motivations for their generations.

TCM

“You have to understand that some people are looking at just a job

and others are looking at a career,” Robert explains, “Three important

keys come to face when speaking about personnel; you have to

have a family focus, a family feel, especially in small to medium sized

enterprises, we like to have our people engaged on multiple levels, we

go above and beyond.”

One of the ways is that TCM offers their staff internal interest free

loans, while this has caused some problems in the past it is something

that Robert believes is important.

“We promote beyond internal training, we promote education

across a broad range of areas and keep communication in an open-

door policy. If there is a particular degree or certification that will

benefit a person’s career we will support their education and training

with a 50% loan upfront to help pay for it, and a following 50% once

the certificate is earned.”

Expecting the best from you staff, expecting them to uphold the

name of your company is much easier when you’ve given so much to

them first. When people enjoy working somewhere they want to do

their best. And this is what Robert Visser and TCM have epitomized.

“One of the things we offered our staff was an eight week self-

defence course for them and their family. Something close to my heart

as I’m a blackbelt in karate and know how good it is as a tool to engage

them with,”

Biggest Developments“Two of the largest developments that have taken place recently

is that we have formed incredibly strong partnerships with BGTT

(British Gas Trinidad and Tobago) and ALNG (Atlantic LNG),” Robert

reveals, “These two business partnerships are the main reason that

our total rental and lease fleet has grown to over 500 vehicles over

the past two years.”

Robert goes on to tell us, “We handle the entirety of BGTT’s

corporate lease and short-term rental vehicles with approximately

210 total vehicles engaged and we handle the majority of ALNG

executive transport requirements.”

Atlantic provides a shuttle to work service for all of their personnel

into and out of Southern Trinidad on a daily basis as a strong human

resources and safety focus and this incorporates as many as nine,

thirty seater buses operating on any given business day.

Together, British Gas Trinidad and Tobago and Atlantic LNG are

two key partners who are directly responsible for the reputation and

success of TCM Group.

“Their influence has been crucial,” Robert tells us, “For example,

their on-going commitment to helping small companies in raising their

level of safety delivery to globally recognizable benchmark standards

can be seen through the local initiative called Safe To Work (“STOW”),”

This has been a highly publicised safety and management system

requirement instituted by the Energy Chamber of T&T whereby all

energy (multi-national) sector sub-contractors have been required

to be STOW certified in order to be accepted as contractors by the

BGTT, ALNG, and BPTTs operating in T&T.

TCM is the one of the few vehicle services providers who have

survived the gruelling process of being successfully audited and

STOW Certified as a “High Risk” compliant entity for two full years.

“The reason that this is so critical is that TCM was only required to

achieve “Low Risk” certification in our specific field of vehicle services

but we chose to push ourselves to achieve High Risk and only if your

company grades out during the audit process at over 85% are you

certified for 2 years - anything less than 85% in any category would

only allow for a 1 Year certification. “

In conclusion, overachievement in business is wonderful. The

drive to do more than is necessary to create something that will

always be better tomorrow than it was today is something that

identifies the best companies to watch out for. Historically these are

the businesses that not only create distance between themselves and

the next level of competitors, but they shape their industries around

them and change the world.

“All that we do at TCM is invested on the roadways of the nation, so we felt it was important that we advocate for

road safety ourselves and that was how Arrive Alive was born. It has played a bit part in having the breathalyser passed in the country because in the end it’s all about people.”

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TCM

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