Moscow taxi: who's on the line?

If you're riding in a taxi, the driver may turn out to be chatty or silent. In the first case, you'll hear a few fascinating stories from his personal experience. In the second, you'll reach your destination in an equally pleasant silence. But there's one person you'll definitely talk to. That's the dispatcher.

Open a directory of educational institutions, and among the countless universities, colleges and short-course centres, you won't find a single one that trains dispatchers. What a shame! Taxi services in Moscow and other cities keep growing, new dispatch centres keep opening, and they all need qualified staff. So let's at least work out what qualities a good taxi-fleet dispatcher should have. People often think there's nothing complicated about the job. Indeed, how much brainpower or other ability does it take to take an order, pass it to a driver, and then tell the customer the make and plate number of the car? But that's only at first glance. In reality, the company's profit and the number of regular customers depend on the dispatcher's personal abilities and professional skill.

Let's not even mention diligence, organisation and a sense of responsibility for the job at hand. Without these qualities, no one can succeed anywhere, ever. A dispatcher's job is about talking to people. Who can sometimes be capricious, upset or simply unfriendly. In such cases, she needs to show composure and the ability to smooth over unpleasant situations, so that a conflict never arises.

A dispatcher should have a pleasant voice with clear diction. And while the second part is obvious to everyone, not everyone understands why the voice matters. The answer lies in human psychology. It's one of the tools for winning over a customer — talking to the girl on the phone should be so pleasant that, next time he needs a ride, he'll want to call her specifically.

A dispatcher must know the city well. Not in the sense of historical landmarks or where to buy the best boots, but in terms of the layout of streets and even buildings. A dispatcher should be able to quickly work out the "distance-time-fare" ratio. She has no right to say "ask the driver" if a customer is ordering a taxi in Moscow from a named street to Kursky railway station and wants to know right away how much it will cost.

The ability to type quickly on a computer and a knowledge of English turn out to be far from superfluous. Moscow always has plenty of foreigners who want to order a taxi rather than make their way there by metro. A dispatcher has no right to be in a bad mood at work. At the very least, it should not show in her conversation. On the contrary, she is expected to show tact, courtesy and a respectful manner of speaking.

A dispatcher must remember the main thing: she is the face of the company. After talking to her, backed up by the driver's professional work, the customer decides whether he will keep using this company's services in the future.

This material was prepared with the assistance of the "New Career" Training Centre