How to Win and Keep Corporate Accounts: Proposals, RFPs and the Executive Assistant

Corporate work is the steadiest revenue most black car companies can find. It is also won and lost in two very different places: in a proposal read by someone in procurement, and in a hundred small interactions with the executive assistant who actually books the cars.

You need to be good at both. Most operators are only good at one.

Know who you are selling to

A corporate account usually has more than one buyer.

Procurement or the travel manager cares about risk, cost control, insurance and whether you can invoice the way their finance team needs. Facilities or the office manager cares about whether it runs without complaints. The executive assistant cares about whether the car turns up, the chauffeur is right for the passenger, and they never have to chase you.

The first group signs the contract. The last group decides whether it is renewed.

Write the proposal for the person scoring it

An RFP is usually scored against a checklist. Make that easy for the reader.

• Answer the questions in the order they are asked, using their numbering and headings.
• Answer the question directly first, then add detail. Do not make the scorer hunt for it.
• Attach what they ask for: licences, insurance certificates, vehicle details, chauffeur vetting policy. Make sure they are current.
• If you cannot meet a requirement, say so and explain what you do instead. Evasive answers get noticed.

Do not pad. A short, precise response that addresses every point beats a polished brochure that ignores half of them.

Describe how you operate, not just what you own

Every bidder has clean cars and professional chauffeurs. What the buyer is trying to judge is what happens when something goes wrong.

Explain your process in plain terms. How a booking is confirmed and in what form. How flights are monitored. What happens if a chauffeur is delayed or a vehicle fails, and who the client speaks to at six in the morning. How complaints are logged and answered.

Only state commitments you can keep and measure. If you promise a response time, you should be able to show whether you met it. Never quote figures you cannot back up.

Make pricing and billing simple

Procurement teams dislike surprises more than they dislike high rates. Set out clearly how you price transfers and hourly bookings, and what is extra: waiting time, tolls, parking, out-of-hours work, cancellations.

Then deal with invoicing in the proposal itself. Corporate finance teams usually want cost centre or project references on each line, a consolidated invoice rather than dozens of single ones, and a predictable cycle. If your system can capture a reference at booking and carry it through to the invoice, say so. It is a practical advantage that many bids never mention.

Offer a pilot

If the buyer is hesitant, propose a defined trial: a set period, a set group of travellers, agreed review points. It lowers their risk and gives you a chance to show the operation rather than describe it.

Treat the executive assistant as your real customer

The assistant is under pressure to make travel invisible. Their name is on it when it fails. Your job is to make them look organised.

A few habits make the difference:

• Keep a profile for each executive: preferred chauffeur, vehicle, temperature, water, newspapers, whether they want conversation or quiet. Record it once and make sure dispatch sees it every time.
• Let the assistant book on the executive's behalf and receive the confirmations and updates, so the executive is not the point of contact.
• Send the chauffeur's name, vehicle and contact details ahead of the pickup without being asked.
• Tell them early when something changes. A delay reported in advance is an inconvenience. A delay discovered at the kerb is a complaint.
• Give them one reliable person to call, who knows the account.

This only works if the information lives in your system and not in one dispatcher's memory. If a preference is known only to the person on shift, it disappears when they are off.

When it goes wrong, move first

Every operator misses a pickup eventually. What the assistant remembers is how you handled it. Contact them before they contact you, say what happened without excuses, say what you have done, and follow up. Then look at why it happened and fix the cause.

Keep the account by reviewing it

Do not wait for renewal to find out how you are doing. Meet the main contacts on a regular schedule and bring facts: jobs completed, late arrivals, complaints and how they were resolved, and any billing queries. Ask what is changing in their travel patterns, such as new offices, visiting executives or events.

Reporting helps here. If you can provide a clear summary of activity by department or cost centre, you become part of how they manage travel, which is harder to replace than a supplier who simply sends cars.

The short version

Win the contract with a clear, honest, well-organised proposal that shows how you operate under pressure. Keep it by looking after the assistant, remembering what each traveller prefers, billing cleanly, and raising problems before the client does.

None of this is glamorous. It is consistent, documented service, and corporate buyers pay well for it.