15/05/08 At Your Service
Published in RBS Business Connections Magazine Spring 2008
At Your Service
Quality service from suppliers is helping outdoor equipment provider Alpha Plus raise their own high standards of customer care, says Steve Matthews
We're making 2008 our Year of Customer Service. That doesn't just mean we're focusing on delivering quality service to our customers - we're demanding it of our suppliers too. After all, we're all in the service industry and if we can't deliver to our customers' expectations, they'll go somewhere else.
Alpha Plus Group is a leading provider of equipment and services for local authorities, ground care and facilities maintenance in Scotland. We sell and hire out machinery for grass cutting, street cleaning and waste management, as well as things like golf buggies and smaller machines for the home and garden, like hedge trimmers and pressure washers.
24-HOUR BACK-UP
We're one of the biggest renters of this type of machinery in Scotland - we rent out more than 400 machines, and much of that has been funded by the Bank. We operate from locations in Kintore, Perth and Livingston providing a Scotland-wide, 24-hour back-up to customers in industry and local authorities alike. We also supply to most of the golf courses in North East Scotland. Since this is a competitive industry and service quality can make the difference between success and failure, our marketing department has developed key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure what our customers think of our service. We've also created KPIs for how our suppliers look after us. We've approached all of our suppliers - of which there are about 20 - and given them benchmarks explaining the levels of service we expect from them. We want to work with every one of them, and we've told them that, but they know that there are certain standards they have to meet.
BIGGER PROFILE
The Bank is certainly doing its bit. It has helped to fund the purchase of new machinery and the expansion of our sites which has helped to give us a much bigger profile in the market. We have demonstration facilities, warehouses and workshops, offices and training facilities where we run courses, such as health and safety, for our customers.
We turned to the Bank about four years ago after we had been with a different bank for 13 years. We decided to conduct a market test of other banks - not just for the financial services they could offer, but for the support they could contribute to the business.
TREMENDOUS SUPPORT
We were looking for new premises in Livingston at the time and approached four different banks, including the providers we were using then and the Bank. We built up a good rapport with Alex Scanlon, our Relationship Manager at the Bank, straight away. We've kept in close contact ever since, through good times and bad, and they've been a tremendous support to us. It was a big step for us to move to a new bank. But the transition was seamless - they did a very good job. The initial agreement was for them to provide a mortgage and working capital facility for the Livingston site. But in the last couple of years, Alex has helped to fund new premises in Aberdeenshire which might have stretched us a bit far if it wasn't for the funding package he was able to provide. We've done a lot in the last couple of years including a few acquisitions so we're consolidating that growth just now. We'll be making more acquisitions in the future, but I've got enough to be getting on with right now, such as ensuring our commitment to service quality is matched by our suppliers.