Cover Story: Hashtag Biz Solutions Goes Viral
- Details
BY SUSAN ROSE
Harry Dhillon is probably best known as the president of Ecko Worldwide Transportation Group based in San Jose, California, but it’s another of his companies that has been getting the most attention of late.
The Ecko Worldwide Transportation and Hashtag Biz Solutions teams (L to R): Sales Representative Jordan Bolla, Event Coordinator Celia Archibeque, CFO Sruti Dhillon, Founder & President Harry Dhillon, Fleet Manager Billy Sunner, Fleet Supervisor Andy Quintero, and Chauffeur Trainers David Alvarez and Faustino Rodriguez After years of seeing the direct benefits for his own company of using outsourced services in India for reservations and dispatch—together with a core team based locally, including his wife and CEO Sruti—Dhillon knew that his fellow operators could also appreciate those staffing cost savings. And with that, Hashtag Biz Solutions was born in 2021.
“What I wanted to create was a budget-friendly, one-stop shop for any size operator,” he says.
The demand for his services has been so great—dare we say, viral—that Dhillon has been able to expand into other areas such as overnight answering services and digital marketing that covers social media, pay-per-click optimization, content creation, and specialized services. Moreover, they’ve added bookkeeping and accounting services like payroll and day-to-day job settlements.
Harry Dhillon, who was already using outsourcing services for his own transportation company, Ecko Worldwide, founded Hashtag Biz Solutions to help other operators save on staffing costs.
Outsourcing is obviously not a new concept as many other industries have been effectively subcontracting work for decades. To Dhillon, however, the key to successful outsourcing is capturing the perfect level of training so that his Hashtag agents have a thorough understanding of the industry for a seamless customer experience—as well as peace of mind for his Hashtag and Ecko clients. Passengers are paying a premium for chauffeured services and expect flawless delivery at every touchpoint, so the last thing an operator wants is to lose a client due to a bad experience outside their control.
“The talent that does these services are based in India, but the people who train them are based in the US. We trained a core team of five in India, who now train the selected agents through our Learning Management System, which is created and designed in-house. We’ve used client feedback over the years to make our training better and better. Now that I have a database of clients to vouch for me, it’s easier and easier to gain more clients,” says Dhillon.
A sampling of Ecko’s fleet at Levi’s Stadium, home of San Francisco 49ers Before any new agent interacts with a single customer, they undergo a rigorous, multi-month training process of at least 90 days that includes a deep dive into the cultural norms of doing business in the US as well as extensive education of regional areas. Subsequent weeks are spent teaching agents about the ins and outs of chauffeured transportation, from the terminology to the vehicles most popular in our space to the subtle nuances so they can speak knowledgeably when booking service for customers. If they demonstrate competency in those elements, they then move on to learning various industry software platforms: how to enter reservations, search for client data, monitor dispatch screens, and use VoIP systems.
The last 30 days are the real test for agents as they are put to work at Ecko. Trainees are exposed to real-world experiences and situations under senior guidance, where they follow a senior agent and speak with actual customers. Once the Hashtag team feels the new agents are comfortable and well trained, only then will they be onboarded with Hashtag client companies.
“Don’t give up and always keep striving for better solutions. Advertising is key. Understand your financials. Keep grinding.” – Harry Dhillon, Founder & President of Hashtag Biz Solutions and Ecko Worldwide Transportation
Costs were one of the central reasons why Dhillon began outsourcing in the first place. Expenses have been rising in all areas of operations, but payroll has always been a particular sticking point for operators in a notoriously slim-margins industry. In California alone, the minimum wage has risen to $16 per hour statewide, with certain cities in the Bay Area having higher starting wages between $17 and $19. The minimum wage in Washington, D.C. is $17.50, while the SeaTac area of Washington state is the highest in the nation at nearly $20. Even if your starting salaries are above minimum wage, the pressure to increase compensation at other levels is fierce to attract and retain employees who live in the area. It could potentially cripple a budding business.
“You never have to worry about staff leaving you because I have two more people waiting to work for you that understand your operation already,” he says about outsourcing with Hashtag. “And the savings—you don’t have to spend $30 an hour for a local employee when you can get better talent at a much lesser cost—and you don’t have to train them.” Plus, valuable time isn’t spent in the recruiting, interviewing, hiring, or training process.
Dhillon (center) with his team (L to R): David Alvarez, Billy Sunner, Jordan Bolla, and Andy Quintero Dhillon, a native of India, travels back to his home country at least twice a year to ensure everything is running smoothly, and because he “doesn’t want to be an absentee owner.” In addition to Sruti, Dhillon relies heavily on Hashtag Director Sanjay Singh, who handles all the operations in India and manages a team of about 50, although they are in constant contact. Dhillon has arranged his work schedule to accommodate the time difference by starting his day around 3 a.m. PT as India is about a half-day ahead of San Jose.
“Sruti, my wife, has a living, educational, and working background in India over the years, so I’m using her expertise to ensure that we are following the regulations, and everything is in place. She is the CFO of both my companies—Ecko and Hashtag. If I continue the way I am now, making sure I continue the quality of service that I am delivering to my existing clients, growth is inevitable.”
Additionally, Dhillon has become an authorized seller of Ring Central.
“I also provide VoIP phone services to small businesses through Ring Central. If you work with us, you’ll definitely save at least $5 per line and you’ll never have to call customer support. You call us and we handle all your technical support and whatever you need,” he says.
Dhillon says that one of the questions that his clients frequently ask is about data security and safety, and it’s an issue he takes extremely seriously.
Summer interns? Dhillon’s 11-year-old daughter Zoya and 13-year-old son Yuvi hang out in the Ecko office with the Dhillons “I’ve been in the industry for 15 years and would never do anything that would jeopardize the safety of my companies or those of my clients. I bring my reputation and loyalty to the industry that your data is protected with us,” he says.
That safeguard works in both directions.
“We do have a solid contract in place that explains all of the privacy and security, including that they cannot approach my agents after they leave working with me for at least 5 years. I have to protect my ROI, all of the time spent training agents,” he adds.
Beyond the obvious economic benefits, he sees outsourcing as a way to strike a work-life balance, especially for smaller or newer operators who are overwhelmed by handling operations and other tasks with few or no staff to help.
It’s certainly been an advantage to Dhillon, who is the father of a teenager and a tween: son Yuvi, 13 and daughter Zoya, 11. His kids have expressed interest in the business, with Yuvi shadowing his father and other team members over the summer at Ecko in dispatch and when assigning drivers. The younger Dhillons have even enrolled in some classes on financial literacy—so could we see a second generation leading the organization in the next decade?
Dhillon with a few of his fleet vehicles Among his core team based in California is Sunny Patel, who has been with the company since 2016 and is the head of operations. Dhillon also works with his brother-in-law Balwinder “Billy” Sunner, who is the company’s secretary and fleet manager. A few additional key team members include Team Leader Koushik “KD” Das, Senior Customer Representative Sayak Bhaduri, and Head of IT Sambit “Scott” Das, with a chauffeur roster of about 30.
After two gangbuster years in 2022 and 2023, Dhillon says that Ecko has been steady, a pace that he says is “comfortable.” The swings in Silicon Valley business have been drastic and impactful since the pandemic, but he doesn’t see it as a bad thing.
“We lost many of the events that those businesses used to do, but other than that, there is enough growth in the Bay Area to balance it out. I’ve noticed that meetings are starting to come back,” he says. “Don’t give up and always keep striving for better solutions. Advertising is key. Understand your financials. Keep grinding.”
While launching Hashtag has certainly required the lion’s share of his time, Dhillon says he reserves his afternoons for Ecko. Among his current priorities is to find a high-level salesperson who can seize the reins and capture some of that new business that is popping up in the area. Additionally, he has been considering adding motorcoaches to his fleet of 30—he thinks between two and four could be a manageable number to meet demand.
You’ll probably start seeing a lot more of Dhillon, especially if you belong to an association. As a longtime champion and active member of industry associations, he debuted Hashtag at a Greater California Livery Association event in 2022 and has been speaking to his peers at several other regional meetings in the past few months. Most recently he spoke during a Colorado Livery Association video call, where he received a welcome reception to Hashtag’s offerings.
Dhillon has been open to other projects as well, especially those that are technology based. While he’s thoughtful about taking on any new ventures since he is generally self-funded, he places equal importance on ensuring that he has various streams of revenue—a lesson many learned in 2020.
“The CD/NLA Shows have always been a great platform to talk about and promote Hashtag. At the last show, we got a software project too and we are working on it progressively,” he says. [CD0924]