As I start writing this I have a pang of guilt that I haven’t nominated Andy before as the reasons behind my nomination are not just one-off or recent behaviours; but qualities that Andy has consistently displayed throughout his employment here and those qualities I believe embody this award – going above and beyond, rallying the team, leading by example and putting customer delight first and foremost each and every day.

Andy is always the first to put his hand up to help without complaint, to put himself out and push personal plans aside for the sake of the business. Andy will always happily help to resolve last minute issues with very little (or occasionally no) notice.

As we all know, working with the unpredictability of component supply issues and the resulting delays to the delivery of customers’ cars, time is of the essence once a car does arrive on site. A rapid turnaround ready for handover is hugely important both to the business and the customer. Andy is wholeheartedly on the same page when it comes to looking after our customers and will go above and beyond in order to get the customer into their car as soon as possible. Andy will stay on, working after hours without complaint, occasionally meaning that he won’t head home until 11pm and yet he will still arrive on time the next morning with the same positive hardworking attitude. Andy has naturally become a leader and role model for the team, effectively encouraging them to follow his example.

For me, Andy is a great team player, who will always ensure that the needs of the business and the delight of the customer are first and foremost in everything that he does. His hard work, attitude, flexibility, leadership and commitment are a huge asset to myself, the Sales department and to Porsche Centre Mid Sussex.

We have been down to  oneValeter at Ferrari. Angus comes in really early every morning and leaves well after his finish time. He has ensured our standards have been maintained as well as ensuring the cars in the showroom are still valeted.
He has given up his weekends to ensure no car is left.

He has not compromised on standards. Angus is always looking to ensure cars are ready on time.

Angus really is demonstrating a one-team ethos and we wanted to recognise his hard work and commitment.

Last month we had a customer in the showroom for a tailor-made session and to make it special I made the meeting room for him with some nice flowers and a breakfast. We also arranged for the Little Car Company to have the new Testa Rossa J to be here on display as he had ordered one but not seen it.

Mr Bhandal had purchased some artwork by Paul Oz who displayed some art at our 296 launch on the previous weekend. We thought it would be great if Paul would come and present the artwork and statues to Mr Bhandal personally, which he agreed to do.

Whilst Mr Bhandal was completing his Tailormade meeting, we displayed all the artwork and statues.

Mr Bhandal couldn’t believe that we had gone to so much trouble. He was overjoyed at meeting Paul Oz. So much so he ended up spending over £45,000 on his artwork!

“I cant believe that you have arranged all this just for me, thank you so much to the team for doing this”.

Over the past 2 years a customer Lord Royale has become a friend of the dealership regularly visiting Sam for a coffee. A few months ago he purchased a ride on McLaren 720 for his Granddaughter as a present. Before he had the chance to give the gift they suffered a tragic suicide in the family. Lord Royale and his family were devastated. On one of his weekly coffee visit 2 weeks ago Sam reminded Lord Royale of the ride on car for his granddaughter and suggested they make a fuss of his Granddaughter and create a special handover. This quickly escalated into the ride on car being built up and delivered to the McLaren showroom for the Granddaughter’s 3rd birthday. Sam and Julie purchased balloons, a caterpillar cake and banners and even put her own private number plate on the ride on McLaren. This morning the Granddaughter, her parents and Lord Royale were invited to the McLaren showroom where Sam and Julie unveiled the 720 ride on. Hazel, the granddaughter was absolutely delighted and there wasn’t a dry eye in the showroom. What made it even more special for Sam was Lord Royale’s daughter actually pulled Sam to one side and thanked him for looking after her Dad who since the suicide has been extremely lonely and really appreciates the time he gets to spend at the dealership.

As you know, we discussed recognising individuals who consistently go beyond the call of duty for customers in our HOB meeting.

I would like to recognise Andy Baker.

One of Andy’s real strengths is that he always like to speak to the customers directly and openly and honestly discuss what he has found and what he proposes to do. He is in most cases always having to deal with customers who are very frustrated with product issues. He manages to get them on side every time.

Tom Gunter runs a computer company and went from :

“Can you also please provide a list of confirmed faults for the history of the vehicle and fixes applied. I can compare this to my list to ensure you have all the facts for the rejection.

A swift response I believe would now be appropriate.

Kind regards

Tom Gunter
Director

To :

Dear Andy

Just a quick note to say thank you for all your help and big thanks to your team for resolving the issues with the car, so far all appears well. Andy Baker demonstrated great communication, ownership and determination in achieving a resolution to the faults even after additional faults presented themselves following the central computer replacement. He clearly went above and beyond. I could hardly ask for a better service following your involvement in reaching the resolution.

Kind regards

Tom
Tom Gunter

In addition :

Today, he went out to a customer, Arthur Maxfield 20 miles from the dealership to do a check on his Taycan battery after he had a failure notice. Two weeks ago Andy did the same thing for the customer when his car’s smaller battery got drained by an alarm issue. (see his emailed comments below)

We had another customer in December who had a number of issues with his Cayenne and the new 911 he bought from us. Andy without being asked offered to go out to the customer at his home in the evening to reset the service lights on the Cayenne and bring the 911 back to sort out a number of frustrating rattles on his doors. Both cars are resolved.

Andy always orchestrates the PDIs so they can be done outside hours by rallying the team together. Last week, having had massive delays on new cars, Andy arranged for him and three Technicians to stay late to PDI 15 customer cars in one night.

He starts early in the morning and stays up to midnight if he needs to to get the new car customer cars out, an absolute team player for all departments

I believe he needs to be recognised for consistently “Going beyond the call of duty”

I hope you agree he should be recognised as a worthy winner

Thank you

Andy

Dear Andy Just a quick note to say thank you for all your help and big thanks to your team for resolving the issues with the car, so far all appears well. Andy Baker demonstrated great communication, ownership and determination in achieving a resolution to the faults even after additional faults presented themselves following the central computer replacement. He clearly went above and beyond. I could hardy ask for a better service following your involvement in reaching the resolution. Kind regards Tom Tom GunterGood morning Andrew, Thank you I appreciate your email. On a more positive note I have the utmost praise and respect for the help and communication shown by Andy Baker, absolutely first class also the same from Micheal in service, Two exemplary employees.I will leave my beloved car in your hands and look forward to its return. Kindest regards, Arthur Maxfield.
–

This customer was on a journey of restoring an old Ferrari 412i over a 4 year period and Rob had supported him well in realising his dream of being able to get the vehicle back on the road. The customer sent a video of his proud moment and a thank you note to Rob.

To the amazing Maranello team, and Rob in particular who helped me put together the parts for this 1987 unloved beauty. After 4 years, and thanks to Maranello, this 412i attached in the video started for the first time since 1995. Looking forward to doing more business with you guys, stay safe!

We had one Valeter off recovering from COVID and then unexpectedly the other two Valeters on site felt unwell so had to be sent for a PCR test.

Glenn, who was the fourth Valeter, was away and cut short his holiday to come in and get the cars prepared for the end of the month and really saved the day. What a hero!