Exceptional Customer ServicesZakki Ghauri

Parking Development Manager

Croydon Council

March 2011

Croydon

• Croydon covers an area of 87km2 • Croydon has a population of nearly

340,000 and a working population of 160,000

• Largest London borough by population• There are an estimated 13,000 businesses

in Croydon • Black Minority Ethnic (BME) communities comprise 36% of Croydon residents • Around 11,500 of Croydon's population

are over 80 • There are currently 142,510 properties

in the borough

Services

• Consultations• Traffic Design• Pay & Display• Cashless Parking• Suspensions/Dispensations• Removals• Enforcement• Shopmobility Service• Companion Badges• Permits Processing• Abandoned Vehicles Service• Blue Badge Enforcement

Customer Service Case Study• Angry and Upset Customer

• Calmed situation

• Sympathised

• Gave customer advice

• Reassured that we would look favourably on case

Outcome

• Circumstance didn’t allow PCN to be cancelled

• Explained why

• Turned into complaint

• In financial dire straits!

Customer Services

“Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”- J. L. Scott. (2002)

Customer Services

• Feelings– People– Emotions

Customer Services

• Understanding

• Connecting

Identifying Customers

• Who are your customers?– Residents– Businesses– Visitors

Identifying Customers

• Who are your customers?– Demographical Profiling– Communication

Identifying Customers

• Mosaic– Profiling Customers– Help us to understand our customers better– Accessing of Information– Service Provision

Communication– Customer Engagement – Croydon Festival– Online Survey– Visiting Local Businesses– Drop-in Sessions at Libraries & Town Hall– Neighbourhood Partnership Meetings

Perceptions

• Negative Press

• Managing Expectations– Neighbourhood Partnerships– Online Survey

Surveys

• Where do you park most often when visiting Croydon Town Centre?On street (in bays)

In car parks (please tick all that apply)

• Non-council run car parks in Croydon:

NCP – Wandle Road NCP - St George’s Walk NCP - Fairfield Halls NCP - Allders NCP - Whitgift NCP - Dingwall Road

Q Park – Charles St Centrale Shopping Centre

• Council run car parks:

Ann’s Place Factory Lane Jubilee Bridge Spice’s Yard Wandle Road West Croydon

Vision and Mission

• Top Down Approach

Bottom Up

Side On Approach

Side On Approach

• Buy in from management

• Consultation with Staff

• Customer Led Approach

MISSION • Create a safe and efficient flow of traffic through our

Borough• Create the best possible Parking Services infrastructure

• Continuous maintenance of Parking Services infrastructure• Provision of adequate parking allowance and easy access

to it

• Effective and robust parking/traffic enforcement and debt recovery

• Transparent and professional consideration for customers’ requests and complaints

(Bays, lines, signs, short term parking (P&D) and ICT)

(Variety of parking permits and easy access to them)

TO PROVIDE THE FLAGSHIP PARKING SERVICE PROVISION BY UTILISING THE NEWEST TECHNOLOGY, BEING CUSTOMER FOCUSED,

TRANSPARENT, ROBUST IN ENFORCEMENT AND EFFICIENT IN OVERALL SERVICE PROVISION.

VISION

Customers

Parking Services

Team Performance

Infrastructure + Permits + Enforcement + Customer Care

Policy Finance RiskContracts/

SLAsHR Assets

Comprehensive Area Assessment

Best Value

Team Targets

IndividualTargets/PDCS

Pillars of Organisation

Council B

usiness Team Individual

Unit O

fficers

Performance Framework

Staff

• Front line most important

• Morale

• Training

Training

• NVQs

• Collaborative Working with the Customer Services Division

• Mystery Shopping

Acknowledgement

• Internal– Statistics– PDCS Excellence– Customer Service Excellence– Manager of the Year

• External– ISO 9001:2008 Accreditation – Parkmark– BPA Awards

Acknowledgement

• Continuous Improvement

• BPA Award for Customer Service