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60 Posts
I've been a member here for some years now. I haven't posted much lately. I've been Uber/Lyft full-time since July 2016 and driver ratings aren't a huge deal to me; but I always try some personal experiments from time to time for myself; for improvement. Usually when a pax gets in your vehicle you attempt some sort of "HIYA!" dialogue and maybe try to engage in some small chat. Veteran drivers develops a 6th sense usually on when a passenger might want to engage in conversation. Sometimes you don't feel it and refrain because you're unsure if you're over doing it and could potentially be alienating your passenger with "too much conversation". Yes, too much can also reduce your rating depending on the passenger. I guess it depends on what mood they're in (which you can't predict).
My latest experiment, that I started about 3-4 months ago was something simple and it seems to work greatly. My rating is pretty close to 5.0 on both platforms as you can get.
Here it is: When a passenger gets in the vehicle say "Hi, I'm <insert your name>, Pleasure to meet you! That's it. Try to say it with a "smile" in your voice and sound sincere (even though you could care less). That's it. Most likely they will repeat their name and say pleasure to meet you, too. At this point you've created a pretty positive experience. Whether or not you choose (or feel it) to engage in more conversation during the trip is up to you. But this statement is a very powerful ice breaker. I find it more powerful then the other misc chit chat you might do.
I know to reduce fraud you usually want them to say their name first. Women will mainly want you to confirm your name first for safety reasons. That's why this statement is also powerful (if you're a male driver). You've also quickly confirmed, to them, that you're the correct driver and they know they're not getting into a vehicle of potential doom to their health. If you have any concerns that this might be a fraud thing (wrong passenger gets in vehicle) then you can do this. Start the trip to fetch the address they're going to. Say out loud, 123 Park Place, correct? They should of course agree. If they say "Oh no, I must've put in the wrong address. Change it to something else". This should throw up red flags to you. Now you dig deeper. Grab your phone so that can't see it. Then ask the passenger to confirm the name you see on the trip. If they start stuttering then hmm, time to abort this mission. I know we're trained to confirm their name first; but sometimes this is a bad approach. I've seen some YouTube videos of drivers who refuse to confirm their name until the passenger confirms their name. That's not a good approach, especially with women who want to feel safe (you've heard of those bad stories on News, right?). My approach is to go a head and confirm my name (mainly to women) first so they can be sure they have the correct driver and feel safe/assured they've got the correct driver. Again, I've seen some YouTube videos where drivers demand and argue that the passenger say their name first. Women aren't going to give in to this tactic as this ride could be a life altering experience (you're a crazy psycho of potential death - and not even a real driver hoping on some victim getting in your vehicle when the bar closes and not paying attention). Yes this has happened many times and you're going to find women who actually read Google News (or some other outlet) daily like me and know this is a potential threat.
I guess my post has turned into a 2-fold issue. One: My "clever" greet. Two: Why you shouldn't force women to say their name first (even though this is to reduce fraud, it can potentially backfire, unknowingly). If you argued with your passenger about this issue, then rest assured you got a < 5 star if you accepted the trip, ultimately. Never accept a trip with anything negative that has occurred. By doing so, you allow them to rate you. Once you accept a trip you better make sure it began with nothing negative in the picture. If you already did the "Accept/Start" Trip option then do your best to make it positive, going forward, hehe.
My latest experiment, that I started about 3-4 months ago was something simple and it seems to work greatly. My rating is pretty close to 5.0 on both platforms as you can get.
Here it is: When a passenger gets in the vehicle say "Hi, I'm <insert your name>, Pleasure to meet you! That's it. Try to say it with a "smile" in your voice and sound sincere (even though you could care less). That's it. Most likely they will repeat their name and say pleasure to meet you, too. At this point you've created a pretty positive experience. Whether or not you choose (or feel it) to engage in more conversation during the trip is up to you. But this statement is a very powerful ice breaker. I find it more powerful then the other misc chit chat you might do.
I know to reduce fraud you usually want them to say their name first. Women will mainly want you to confirm your name first for safety reasons. That's why this statement is also powerful (if you're a male driver). You've also quickly confirmed, to them, that you're the correct driver and they know they're not getting into a vehicle of potential doom to their health. If you have any concerns that this might be a fraud thing (wrong passenger gets in vehicle) then you can do this. Start the trip to fetch the address they're going to. Say out loud, 123 Park Place, correct? They should of course agree. If they say "Oh no, I must've put in the wrong address. Change it to something else". This should throw up red flags to you. Now you dig deeper. Grab your phone so that can't see it. Then ask the passenger to confirm the name you see on the trip. If they start stuttering then hmm, time to abort this mission. I know we're trained to confirm their name first; but sometimes this is a bad approach. I've seen some YouTube videos of drivers who refuse to confirm their name until the passenger confirms their name. That's not a good approach, especially with women who want to feel safe (you've heard of those bad stories on News, right?). My approach is to go a head and confirm my name (mainly to women) first so they can be sure they have the correct driver and feel safe/assured they've got the correct driver. Again, I've seen some YouTube videos where drivers demand and argue that the passenger say their name first. Women aren't going to give in to this tactic as this ride could be a life altering experience (you're a crazy psycho of potential death - and not even a real driver hoping on some victim getting in your vehicle when the bar closes and not paying attention). Yes this has happened many times and you're going to find women who actually read Google News (or some other outlet) daily like me and know this is a potential threat.
I guess my post has turned into a 2-fold issue. One: My "clever" greet. Two: Why you shouldn't force women to say their name first (even though this is to reduce fraud, it can potentially backfire, unknowingly). If you argued with your passenger about this issue, then rest assured you got a < 5 star if you accepted the trip, ultimately. Never accept a trip with anything negative that has occurred. By doing so, you allow them to rate you. Once you accept a trip you better make sure it began with nothing negative in the picture. If you already did the "Accept/Start" Trip option then do your best to make it positive, going forward, hehe.
