:: Clients Corner - Transportation Safety Training
My business is Transportation Safety Training. I have been employed in the transportation industry for 24 years. In 1999 I became a Ministry Of Transportation Signing Authority and a certified Fleet Trainer. My portfolio of training services at this point included Commercial Defensive Driving, Airbrake Instructor, and Commercial Driver Training.
Realizing the importance of the Occupational Health And Safety Act, the Highway Traffic Act, the Canada Labour Code and various other types of legislation, prompted me to attempt to bring the due diligence effort to the workplace by building a portfolio of instructional courses and offering them to the industry.
It is important to appreciate that the elements of due diligence must be present in the workplace before accidents or incidence occur. if it is to be available as a defense to a charge under the Occupational Health And Safety Act. Due diligence cannot be "made up" after the fact. The availability of the due diligence defense depends upon the creation, implementation and enforcement of appropriate health and safety policies, practices and procedures in the workplace. From the perspective of a defense to a prosecution under the ACT, due diligence requires that the company or employee charged be able to establish that they took all reasonable care to avoid the particular event giving rise to the prosecution. (eg. employee training programs) Employers by law, must train their staff. Based on the need for the transportation industry to conform to these standards, Transportation Safety Training was born. Since opening the business I have expanded our portfolio to include various other instructional courses including Lift Truck Refresher Training, Pallet Truck Training, Transportation Of Dangerous Goods, Commercial Defensive Driving, and School Bus Defensive Driving.
Our most recent addition is our new Lift Truck Training course for beginners. Companies spend hundreds, or even thousands of dollars training staff, why not have the edge over the other applicants for a job by already being certified? We have received several requests to provide lift truck training for beginners. Good business practice is being able to provide the type of service that the customers request. Bases on this demand we have secured a warehouse and modern equipment in order to offer this service. Enough about TST (for now) for more information about TST ple ase visit our website www.transportationsafety.ca Let me talk a little about the importance of having a website.
In the beginning, one of our biggest concerns was how to get the word out that we were open for business and the services that we had to offer. Well, the answer was simple, advertise, advertise, advertise. For anyone that is in business or anyone that is starting a business and has checked the prices of doing various types of advertising, I don't need to tell you that you can very easily go broke before you have secured your first customer.
I asked myself and several friends "when you are looking for a certain type of service, or for information, where do you look?". The most common answer was "the internet". I knew immediately that I had to make TST'S presence known on the internet. Like other amateurs, I decided to save some money and build my own website. The long and short of it is that I sure hope that the website I built no longer exists in cyberspace. (I actually get very uncomfortable knowing that it was once on the internet) I realize now that having an unprofessionally built website is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make. Are you going to do business with a company that has a terrible website? Absolutely not.
Time to call for HELP !!!! After doing weeks of research trying to decide on a web designer (on the internet of course), I made a decision to contact Danima Technologies. I fired off an email and was contacted almost immediately by Dave Rotella, we set up a meeting for that same week.
I won't go into the details of our meeting, the direction we decided to take, or the monetary issues that we discussed. I can sum up the relationship that TST has developed with Danima and their staff using a one word description. Since we're talking about web design, allow me to use a "keyword" (you'll catch on when Danima builds your site) to describe Danima Technologies. The one word that comes immediately to mind when dealing with Danima is the word "comfortable".
From the first day that I sat in Dave's office (with my own self designed ugly website on Dave's computer screen staring me in the face) I felt completely comfortable. I had already overcome one of the biggest hurtles in having a website designed. I knew immediately that this experience was going to be a good one. I could go on and on about the excellent relationship that TST and Danima have developed but that's not what I was asked to do. I was asked to explain the importance of having a website.
My business experiences with having the website are many, allow me to point them out
- excellent return on investment (one contract received through the website will pay for my web design, web hosting, and web updates for the entire year.) Need I go on? I will anyway
- portrays a professional image that may win your customer's confidence
- allows us to database our customers. (This is excellent for sending out a monthly newsletter)
- when someone asks "are you on the web"? You'll be able to professionally respond.
- saves you money in print costs (less pamphlets)
- global recognition (where can you advertise globally for the same price as internet monthly hosing?)
- personally, I'm now competing with the "big boys", and you know what? Without the website, I'd just be another small business that planned on failing because a website was not part of my plan.
The last point that I gave is a little harsh for someone to read who is just starting out in business, but the reality is that if you don't have a website, other businesses will have a huge marketing advantage over you. I'm being totally honest when I say if I didn't have my website, there is a possibility that I may not have been successful in business strictly based on the cost of advertising. Having a website is not the only type of advertising that I employ but again, let me say, I probably wouldn't be able to compete without it. My advice to anyone starting a business, or anyone who owns an existing business is CALL DAVE AT DANIMA RIGHT NOW.
One more thing I'd like to add is this, imagine that you're out pounding the pavement all day trying to find new business. Your day is long and you were not able to secure any new business. You end your day by checking your email and find that a corporate giant has contacted you for a quote, can you imagine the feeling? For me it became a reality, and so did the contract. Now, call Danima and get the ball rolling. They'll work with you and for you like no other.
Regards,
Carl Collucci
Transportation Safety Training
P.S. Danima Technologies in no way, shape, or form asked me for any particular content in this article other than "will you write an article that tells about your business and the importance of your website". The content of this article is a true story.
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