There is no traffic on the extra mile

Matt Leech 1st February 2013

​

I thought I'd share with you a story about a taxi driver I once heard about. Nothing fancy, just a taxi driver who transformed his job of driving people around to something memorable.

Friends of mine were contemplating buying an investment property in Melbourne and had a few meetings with buyer’s agents and local real estate agents in the area that could help narrow the search.

Their journey began one early morning walking out of Melbourne airport at 7:00 am to the taxi rank. A taxi pulled over for them and a driver with a big smile,  jumping out of the car to welcome them to his taxi, “Good morning, how are you this morning? Have you had breakfast yet?”.  No they replied, “Great, I know this amazing place that you will love, they also serve the best coffee in town”. They were instantly taken a little off guard but replied with a “breakfast sounds great”.
As the driver took off, he talked in detail about the coffee they are about to drink and where they get their beans from etc..

“Hi my name is Frank, and I will look after you the entire time you’re in Melbourne do you mind if I ask the nature of your stay in Melbourne?” My friends continue to tell Frank that they are contemplating buying an investment property, and that they are meeting a few experts in the area. Frank continues to ask questions about whom they are seeing and what times they had booked.

After the 30 minute drive, Frank pulls into the cafe and tells them to enjoy their meal, he tells them he will be back in 30 minutes to take them to their hotel.


After enjoying the great breakfast and coffee that Frank had recommended, Frank pulls up out the front exactly 30 minutes later holding the door open for his clients. Once back in the car, Frank passes my friends an itinerary for their week in Melbourne which had Frank's availabilities and phone number. He goes on to say that he will drop & pick them up from every meeting they had whilst they were in Melbourne and would also drive them around to different parts of Melbourne to get an understanding of the area.

For the entire week, Frank drove my friends around to their meetings and dinners, the experience my friends had was extremely positive and in fact helped them greatly as he helped them understand the local market. When it came time to actually meeting the property experts, they were better prepared and were more decisive in their decision making which entailed them buying a property which did really well for them.

After their fantastic week in Melbourne, Frank eventually dropped them back to the airport to catch their flight home, as my friends were saying thank-you, they asked him “Frank, why are you so different to other taxi drivers?” Frank replied with “I just understand that people are on a journey and it's important to help the best I can"


Still to this day, I will never forget that story because it highlights that we all have a place or job in this world (and it doesn't matter what job it is) and we have a responsibility to do it the best we can and to go the extra mile for others.