ales of feminine laughter bounce freely into the third floor corridor of the Business Development Center from the office at the end of the hall. Inside, three women sit round a desk chatting merrily as they complete their morning paperwork.
The secretary leans across her desk, thumbs in the direction of her co-workers, and mouths, “Doing your job is pretty easy when you love the people you’re working with.”
Elizabeth Madden, owner of Madden Coach Lines and Tours, says the interpersonal warmth exists between staff and clients as well among her employees.
“What sets our business apart from other coach lines is our customer care,” said Madden of her newly-opened travel consultation and motor transportation service. “We love people and we want to do things our customers don’t expect.”
Specializing in group trips and tours, Madden Coach Lines and Tours caters to all types of travel needs. In the past, the company has assisted with leisure trips, family reunions, church outings, school trips and vacations abroad.
Madden’s people skills and flair for organization first became evident while she worked for BlueCross BlueShield, processing claims.
“A co-worker and I wanted to take our husbands to see The Color Purple on Broadway,” she said. “I decided to post our plans to a BCBS employee message board to see if anyone else wanted to join. Emails started flooding in, so we rented a bus. Within a short period of time, all the seats were full. So I rented another bus, and it sold out, too. I ended up taking 103 people from work to see the show!”
After the success of her first trip, Madden opened a home-based travel agency and operated it during her free time for three years before moving into the BDC. With the purchase of one tour bus and the hiring of five employees who share her passion for people and travel, Madden is now making her mark among travel agency owners.
In keeping with Madden’s commitment to customer care, the company employs special means to make traveling possible for those who could not otherwise afford to do so.
“We implement specialized payment plans for those who cannot afford to pay all at once,” she said. “Once we show them they can pay every two weeks, traveling becomes more realistic and obtainable.”
In the same way her company smoothes out the details for its customers, Madden says the BDC has helped transport Madden Coach Lines and Tours from a home office side-job into a fruitful fulltime enterprise.
“The networking opportunities this place has provided me are priceless,” she said. “Recently, we were able to take a bid from Volkswagen. I didn’t know how they even obtained our phone number. Later, I found out it was from the Chamber! They’ve done a great job of providing us with inside information.”