After a short time of silence, the YoungEntrepreneur is back! This time with Michael de Vries, founder and owner of Splendeur! A limousine company that offers you a lot more than just a fancy ride.
The rise of Splendeur!
The idea for a limousine company started in 2012 at a drink, a common place for Michael to get good ideas. It was a logical combination of his hobbies (cars) and previous work experience as a bus driver. “It’s fantastic to be ‘on the road’ and a limousine is something that immediately attracts the attention of everyone”. The first step was to explore the limousine market. What are the people like? Who are the customers? What are the risks? “I talked to a consultant at the bank who helped me with developing my business model”. After several meetings with the bank and a consultant appointed by the municipality, Splendeur! really started in November 2013.
The name of the limousine company had to stand out in the market. “Other limousine companies out there weren’t super creative and had names like ‘rent a limousine’. I wanted to have a name which would be positively associated with luxury, spending money, and basically everything that is something extra on top of normal life.” The name Splendeur! covered it all.
Having experienced some months of low demand, business finally went booming in April 2014. The peak season started: people were getting married, school kids had their proms, and graduation parties were planned. After that, the number of orders was relatively stable and profitable.
Current Operations
Distinctive – “I wanted to distinguish myself from other limousine companies in the area”. By having a taxi license for his vehicles, by working with new material and by knowing the strength of social media, Splendeur! really distinguishes itself from its competitors. All the licenses and authorizations do make Splendeur! a bit more expensive than the other limousine companies, but operating in a legal way is more advantageous in the long run for the company as well as for its customers. Next to that, the company provides its own drivers, whereby the quality of the ride and thus of Splendeur! is guaranteed.
Customers – The customers of the limousine company are very diverse. From birthday and graduation parties to weddings and Christmas dinners: everyone wants a limousine to impress others. Splendeur! also has its taxi license for which it becomes possible to also do airport transportation, business transportation and the like. Not in a limo that is, but in a fancy car. Mainly the wedding package is a real success in the business. It offers you a complete 5 hour experience including a red carpet and a drink. Next to that an organized limo lunch is quite in demand.
Participation Society – These organized packages that are offered by Splendeur! are part of what Michael calls the “Participation Society”. “I only provide the transportation, basically, but I love connecting the ride to unique experiences!”. There are wine packages, helicopter flights, shooting workshops and much more, that can all be booked in combination with a limousine ride. “You have to let the people think outside the normal box of what’s possible with a limousine. There’s so much more beyond weddings and proms.” This participation society is a real strength of Splendeur! and having a business network is key. Having one limousine in house, all other vehicles are rented from other companies in Michael’s network.
The Web – Visibility on the web is key for the existence of Splendeur! Normal promotion in the form of printed media and the like, doesn’t work for the limo business. People already know a long time in advance if they want to rent a limousine or not. When they search for a luxurious ride on the web, that’s the moment for Michael’s company to pop up in the searches. A second reason why the internet is so important for Splendeur! is that people often won’t be returning customers. “You rent a limo 1 to maximum 2 times in your life. For me, it is important to constantly generate new clients via Google searches. Currently I’m in the top 10 of search results for 20 key terms surrounding limousine ride, which is great.”
Hurdles.
Michael has experienced little hurdles in the process of starting and operating Splendeur! There are, however, issues of time demanding legal hassles surrounding a delivery and installation error of a board computer that Michael bought. He now has to write letters to the government, write appeals and wait for all the parties to reply… “It takes up a lot of my time, which is just a waste”.
Michael is quite risk averse. It is therefore, for instance, that he only allows payments up front or at delivery of his service and does not accept payments afterwards. “I don’t want any debtors. Around me, I see companies who lose 5% of their revenue to not paying debtors. I just want to avoid that.”
Future of Splendeur!
There is a clear plan for the future of the company. The goal is to create a luxurious transportation platform where private individuals can offer their luxury vehicles (Ferraris, party busses, etc.) in return for a fee and where other individuals can book these vehicles for certain time slots. Splendeur! will still provide the drivers for the rides, to guarantee the quality and safety. The platform is supposed to operate as a web shop where real time information about all the vehicles is available and where payments can be made online. The same sort of concept already exists for normal transportation, but does not for the luxury segment.
The initial startup period was extremely busy for Michael working 80 to 100 hours a week. He tries to reduce that now to around 60 hours, but he is thinking about hiring an extra employee. This is also in line with his plan to develop the luxurious transportation platform. “I’m looking for someone who is ambitious, is open for growth and definitely knows a lot about IT, since the whole platform (including an app) has to be developed.”
Until then, it’s business as usual for Michael. That is, as usual as it can be when you’re dealing with fancy limousines.
Click here for the website of Splendeur!
P.S. If you are or know a Young Entrepreneur just like Michael and you wouldn’t mind getting a feature on this blog, please contact us by sending an email!
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