‘We want to create the marine industry’s warmest welcome’. We’re talking with Tracy Neale, Aftersales Manager for Spain and the Balearic Islands. Tracy joined the marine industry following a career in the automotive service industry which included setting up the workshops, call centres and customer satisfaction processes for Mercedes Benz in Dubai. His mission, to provide the greatest customer care experience of any yacht company in the world.
‘My team cover Mallorca, the rest of the Balearics and even the Spanish coast. We’re in a great strategic position.’ Tracy moved wholesale to Mallorca seven months ago and has spent that time developing and improving the Princess Motor Yacht Sales aftersales and yacht care experience.
‘We have a team of fifteen engineers that look after about 140 yachts directly, and we’re expanding all the time. We have technicians that specialise in specific areas so that we can call on. For example, expert carpenters, trimmers, electricians, air conditioning engineers and so forth. In the past we had to sub contract for more specialist skills, now we handle virtually everything in house. We take on service and repair work, general maintenance, servicing, gardiennage, basically whatever an owner wants or needs, we can cover it’. The team also recently obtained Volvo Penta and Caterpillar service accreditation.
The key to really ramping up the customer satisfaction index is a concierge service. Four team members provide the link to the yacht owners and, once allocated, an owner will always deal with the same concierge by whatever method the customer prefers, be that voice contact or electronic comms such as email. In fact electronic communication is something Tracy is particularly keen to take advantage of. ‘Communication is key. We don’t just let a customer know that his or her air conditioning or passerelle is fixed. Our guys will take a photo or short video clip and send it direct to the customer. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as sitting at your desk and watching the passerelle that was so firmly stuck when you left the boat, operating smoothly again.’
“We have English, Spanish, Catalan, German and French speakers
amongst our team”
It’s that personal link that Tracy stresses is so important. ‘Our concierge team aren’t just anonymous people in a call centre. We get out there and meet the customers. That way a name becomes a face for the customer, and our team get to understand the clients needs and see the yacht that they’ll be looking after. I’m also keen to get our staff out on the yachts when the opportunity arises. It’s vital that we all understand the needs of the customer from the perspective of being ‘in their shoes’ as much as possible so that we can tailor the experience to them.’
That desire to fine tune the service to the client even extends to having a specific team member responsible for certain clients. This is particularly relevant when it comes to communicating. ‘We have English, Spanish, Catalan, German and French speakers amongst our team. So when we have a German customer for example, we have a concierge member who is fluent in German to look after them.’
Tracy likens the experience to a five star hotel. ‘We are the touchpoint for clients, a central point of contact that caters for their every marine need. Whether it’s a warranty repair, an engine service, winter storage, antifouling, a boat care package that covers everything from regularly checking the warps to systematic cleaning, a laundry service, even down to preparing the boat for their arrival. A client can put a call in to their dedicated concierge and arrive to a freshly cleaned craft, air conditioning on, covers off, flowers on the table and champagne on ice. We’re providing a level of service they’ve never experienced before. We’re creating the industry’s warmest welcome.’
To find out more about our concierge service, click here.
If you would like to speak with the Aftersales team in Mallorca, please call us on +34 971 695 437 or email at [email protected]
