Pure Parking is one of London’s premier valet-parking and storage facilities; located at 8 prime sites across London. Clients expect a first-class service from the attendants and pay a premium rate accordingly.

Valets are required to wear a uniform at all times during working hours, as it offers the perception of quality. Every customer should be greeted in the same courteous manner; and staff should be able to deal with their all their enquiries. Services include:

• Secure Car Park
• Car collection and secure storage
• Secure any-purpose storage units with CCTV
• Car valet and battery charging
• Complementary umbrella and buggy loan

Valets and attendants are responsible for exacting high standards as maintaining customer confidence is vital; any deficiencies would almost certainly result in serious business-loss. Therefore a series of mystery-shop exercises* were undertaken at various sites, to evaluate performance in key areas.

The results showed that immediate improvements were needed, namely:

• General appearance
  The uniform code was not always fully  adhered to.
• Manners and communication
  Secret shoppers were not always greeted  correctly or politely, and customer-enquiries  were not clearly responded to.
• Customer expectations
  Customers were occasionally kept waiting  whilst their vehicle was still being valeted.
• Handling payments and other transactions
  Customer bookings were not always handled  properly and an incorrect receipt was even  given to a customer.
• Up-selling additional services
  Encouraging “parking customers” to opt for  first-class valets can add significantly to  annual revenues.

Simon Burnett, Director of Pure Parking contacted Geoff Langston of Arizion as a result of a recommendation from the Petrol Retailers Association, to discuss the results of the mystery-shop. Geoff proposed a series of workshops for individuals and small teams, focusing on customer service techniques with an emphasis on team members taking responsibility in their roles, their attitudes and behaviours.

Over the past 3 years Geoff has delivered these workshops to over 50 members of staff, based at numerous locations. This training program was designed to ensure that a number of disciplines be followed, namely:

• Staff present themselves professionally in Pure Parking uniform
• New customers are welcomed properly and all services are clearly presented
• Valet-services are always finished on time
• New safeguards remove errors with payments and bookings

A number of subsequent mystery-shop exercises have been conducted and the scores have improved at all sites. Due to the enormous success of the entire project, Pure Parking now engages Geoff to train their managers and staff on a regular basis. They are also happy to recommend Arizion to others, wishing to benefit from:

• Improved management competency
• Increased customer retention
• Higher customer-spend per visit
• Lower turn-over of staff

“We have used Arizion over the past three years and have seen a significant improvement in the way our staff understand the value of excellent customer-service.  Through Geoff’s patient approach and clear, insightful coaching, our staff have gained in confidence and now strive to be the best they can be. We have no hesitation in recommending Arizion to any organisation that’s serious about investing in their people."
 - Simon Burnett – Director, Pure Parking

For a full list of services and locations in and around central London, visit our website: www.pure-parking.co.uk

* NB: Mystery shop exercise was not undertaken by Arizion, but it’s results determined the development and coaching services that were delivered.