Recently, the centre had a customer who decided last minute that they would like some food whilst they were waiting for their car to be serviced. She asked for a salad and said it would have to contain no wheat due to her being intolerant. With Aldi next door to us, Kim went to look and they had no salads available due to it being at lunchtime so Kim decided she would make her one.

Kim purchased salad, olives, salmon, eggs and spinach and gave her this. It was all a very last-minute rush but she was extremely happy and so thankful, she ate it all! The customer was on her phone at the time and she said to the person she was speaking to;

I am just in Porsche and have been presented with this amazing lunch.

We had two very happy customers who had recently purchased a brand new Boxster send in this email regarding the excellent service they received:

Thank you all so much. What a wonderful experience buying a car (with such ease) from Porsche Leicester. It was great to meet you all but even better to be treated like a Queen! An experience I won’t forget. Thank you for my card, my flowers, my Jo Malone, my photo frame and photo, my key box and grey key ring, and the fabulous morning tea and strawberry cream cake, it was very much appreciated. Be sure we will shout your praises far and wide, what a team!
– Mr & Mrs N

We recently had a customer visit the Centre who had a previous bad experience at another dealer. Dave spent a lot of time with the customer and rebuilt his trust in the brand. The customer was delighted with the service he received and sent in the below:

I would like to compliment the Porsche Leicester facility for their outstanding customer service levels and, in particular, David Rodgers who took time and detail in walking me through a journey including help with the spec for my new Porsche Macan 3.0S which I collected from the dealership on Saturday 1st June 2019.
– Mr L

Georgie greeted Mr W a few weeks ago and instantly developed a great rapport with him. Over the next few weeks, they had many conversations regarding his family and his love of cars, especially his beloved Aston Martin.

There was a slight issue with his 911, which meant when he arrived to finalise the paperwork he was not able to drive his car away until the following day, so Georgie took the initiative to make something that extra bit special for his arrival the following afternoon.

Georgie took it upon herself to make some goodie bags for Mr W’s two daughters as he had previously commented on how nice they looked when he was in the dealership.

Mr W came from Rolls Royce and said this was truly the best experience he had ever received here at Porsche Leicester!

We received the below email from a very happy customer thanking David for all of the effort he put in during the sales process.

I am sure that you get a fair share of emails when people are not completely satisfied, but I just wanted to take the time to drop you both a short email to say how fantastic my sales experience was last week, with David Flannagan.

I have to say I was really impressed with David’s knowledge and I found his input really (and genuinely) useful during the buying experience. His enthusiasm and passion also came through strongly and I really enjoyed the conversations. I also found David to be super attentive and incredibly responsive to my calls and questions.

As I say, I am sure people feel more motivated to write to you when they have had a problem rather than when things go well, but I wanted to say what a great experience I had with David. I would be grateful if you could pass on my thanks to David in due course.

Matt, Thank you also for coming over to say to introduce yourself and hello on Thursday when I was collecting the new car.

I have to say that I absolutely love the new car and it puts a smile on my face when I find any excuse to go out in it. Thank you.

We had a customer, Mr M, book his Boxster in for a service after recently purchasing it and identified a total of £15,000 worth of work that was either Amber or Red work.

Claire spent hours going through this with the technician, workshop control and Mr M to ensure that he received the best advice and to prioritise the work that needed to be done. Through many visits from Mr M, Claire built a great rapport with him and Mr M authorised a total of over £9,000 worth of work.

Once the vehicle was finished, Claire had the vehicle fully valeted and had it placed in the DDB bay, covered over and performed a full vehicle handover at 7pm on the Friday evening which also included a handover pack containing a picture of the Porsche Leicester team that had worked on the customer’s vehicle.

Glen and Mark stayed late in order to have a car ready for a customer collecting his vehicle who was coming down from Scotland. The car was having a Sports Exhaust fitted prior to the handover but the parts arrived late so it was all hands on deck the day before the customer was due to collect.

The car wasn’t finished in the workshop until last thing in the afternoon, and the customer was due in at 9am the following morning after coming all the way from Fife. Glen and Mark readily volunteered to stay behind in order to clean and apply Paint Protection to the vehicle, staying until 9.30pm. Upon collection, the customer was delighted with their vehicle.

Whilst this was a team effort, it wouldn’t have been possible to ‘Make it Special’ for the customer unless Glen and Mark had done what they did in staying late.

Well done and thank you to both.

Shaun had some great feedback from our customer, a Chief Forensic Pathologist and also a voluntary Emergency Response Paramedic for the East Midland Ambulance Services.

Shaun spent time going through the work order 48hrs prior to pre-order any parts needed, he then ensured that this was a top priority as soon as it landed and turned the car around in record time, ensuring it was back on the road and able to assist in saving lives ASAP.

Can I just say thank you again to both of you and all the mechanical team at Porsche for helping me so fast last week. It made such a difference to not only me but the population of Leicester. Within 1 hour of picking up the car, I attended the first of several life-threatening emergency incidents that I was sent to over the weekend. Getting me back on the road assisted a number of members of the public. Thank you again for everything you do. Have a great Xmas.

Following their purchase of a used Porsche from another Centre, a customer who lived in Peterborough brought the car to Porsche Centre Leicester as they were experiencing issues with a seat. Steve was on hand to promptly assess the problem and run diagnostics while the customer waited in the showroom but, following the results, he was not able to resolve the matter there and then.

Faced with the challenge of having to wait 1 week for the relevant parts to arrive and with the customer not being able to return to the Centre very easily, Steve went over and above to make the experience convenient and efficient. The following week when the parts had arrived, Steve, along with all his equipment, travelled the 1-hour journey to the customer’s house and fixed the car on the customer’s driveway.

Very impressed by Steve’s professionalism and willingness to go over and above to provide great service, the customer wrote to the Centre to commend him and his work.

Well done to Steve for being a great example of ‘Making it Special’.

This month, Kurt provided a fantastic example of ‘Making it Special’ for a local Porsche enthusiast. Following the receipt of a complaint email, Kurt went out of his way to turn the situation around by delivering a great brand experience.

A lady and her son attempted to visit our Centre out of hours one evening, which naturally activated the automated security tannoy, causing alarm and fright to her young son who is Autistic. As a keen Porsche enthusiast, with a particular interest in the crest, he had become quite unsettled by the fright from the tannoy, so his mother contacted our Centre to raise her concerns about their experience.

Kurt, who has a son of a similar age, took it upon himself to contact the lady to empathise with her situation and appease her annoyance. After speaking to her for some time, he invited the pair to visit our Centre during the day and arranged a series of things for them, including; a showroom and workshop tour, personalised number plates, a goody bag of branded gifts, posters, sweets etc. The little boy was also able to have his very own ‘test drive’ in one of our children’s miniature Porsches, which he loved!

Following their 5-star experience, the lady emailed the Centre to commend Kurt on his great service, thanking him for making the effort to accommodate them. So well done to Kurt for this great example of ‘Making it Special’!

This month our technician Ben offered premium customer service by assisting a flustered customer that arrived at our Centre. The lady came into Porsche Centre Leicester very distressed looking for someone to help after what should have been routine breakdown assistance with the AA.

Ben happily volunteered to help the lady who had broken down on the dual carriageway outside of our Centre. Her car had a severe puncture and she had been waiting for around 3 hours for the AA to attend. The AA attended, replaced the wheel but on fitment damaged the torque wrench that he was using. The AA staff member advised the customer that although the wheels were tight he couldn’t torque them to the correct setting, he said that they should be fine and left his customer to continue her journey. The lady was concerned that her wheel may come off and felt unsafe to drive, thus reaching out to our Centre to help. Ben obtained the correct settings for the vehicle and torqued the wheel correctly, reassuring the lady that he had completed the necessary checks, completed the task and all was now ok and safe to drive.

This lady was not a Porsche customer but still received optimum customer service from the Porsche brand. We feel that this is clearly is a great example of ‘Making it Special’, ensuring that all our engagement with customers is positive and a good reflection of the brand. This lady may now become a customer of Porsche Centre Leicester and Sytner in the future.

Well done to Ben for going the ‘Extra Mile’ to ‘Make it Special’ for this customer.

After many years of owning their first Porsche, a customer of ours purchased a new Cayman, but this was a bittersweet transaction as their old car had a lot of nostalgic significance to them. The car was part exchanged as part of the deal and scheduled to be brought into stock the day before the handover. Taking this all into consideration, Alex arranged to collect the part exchange rather than letting them drive it in, with a view to surprise them with a small but meaningful gift.

Once at the Centre, Alex had both of the cars valeted early, waited until sunset after the Centre had closed and parked the cars side by side on a scenic part of the pitch. He then took a series of photos of the two cars from a range of angles and had them professionally printed for the couple. Displayed in a lovely presentation box, Alex presented the thoughtful gift on handover as a way to celebrate their Porsche purchase. The couple were bowled over by Alex’s consideration and excellent customer service and were absolutely delighted with their whole Porsche experience.

Well done to Alex for ‘Making it Special’ for this couple.

Jeff assisted an anxious customer through the process of purchasing her first Porsche. The customer contacted our Centre to enquire on a Porsche Boxster and was put through to Jeff who identified her concern from the off. Having had a poor previous car-buying experience with another brand, the lady had some reservations about the service she would receive at our Centre.

Jeff took this on board ensuring that he provided optimum service, going over and above to exceed her expectations. Jeff spent significant time with her, understanding her requirements and discussing the available options at length. Jeff arranged for her preferred car to be transported to our Centre from another and provided specially catered refreshments for the family upon arrival. The customer was nervous about driving an Automatic as she had never done so before, so Jeff coached her through the process, allowing the customer several demonstration drives in the car until she felt confident.

The customer eventually purchased the car and sent Jeff a card raving about her experience, stating how delighted she was with the car and Jeff’s willingness to offer her time and genuine consideration throughout the process. Well done to Jeff for taking the time out to ‘Make it Special’ for this initially reluctant customer.

This month, workshop technician Michael Platnauer made it special for a Porsche customer by assisting them with an air-con issue. The customer arrived at the centre flustered and distressed, due to a combination of the recent unusual increase in temperature and a repeat issue with a non-functioning air-con system. The customer was driving their Porsche on the way to a function due to start at 6 pm. On route to the event, the car’s air-con system failed, thus making the 45-minute journey along the A47 hot and unbearable.

Arriving at 5.30 pm (shortly before we were due to close at 6 pm) the frustrated customer was appeased by the calm and helpful service delivered by centre staff. The service advisor advised the customer that it would be a 40-minute wait to fix the car on the spot, but the customer decided they would return in the morning with more time available.

Technician Michael then intercepted and said he was going to endeavour to fix the air-con fault as quickly as possible there and then, which the customer was very grateful for. He managed to fix the fault in half the time!

The customer was delighted and was able to drive the car away after a short wait, to continue their journey in a much cooler and calmer state. The very satisfied customer commented how impressed and grateful they were with Michael’s willingness to help and efficiency regarding resolving the problem.

Well done to Michael for ‘Making it Special’ for this flustered Porsche customer.

Earlier this month, Dominic assisted a non-Centre customer who had experienced some brake issues during a European driving tour he was undertaking. Following a track day, his brakes had worn down significantly, meaning that his car was not performing as it should. Given that the gentleman still had some way left to go before he completed his tour, he located our Centre on his route and stopped by to see if we might be able to help.

The gentleman arrived at our showroom on a busy Saturday lunchtime without an appointment and was, in his words, ‘warmly greeted by the reception staff and the service centre rep’. Dominic immediately created a small window of space in his diary to quickly inspect the gentleman’s car. Thanks to Dominic’s technical knowledge and experience, he was able to confidently confirm that the customer’s rear brake pads were quite worn.

Dominic, with the help of two Centre technicians, tried to locate the parts required to fix the car, but unfortunately, they did not have the brake pads in stock, which Dominic apologised to the customer for. He advised the customer that had they had been in stock, he would have been happy to replace them on the spot to help him continue his journey. To help resolve the situation, a further inspection was done and the team were able to assure the gentleman that there was enough pad material to cover the remaining 1000km to get him home (providing he didn’t do any more track days on the way!). The following day, the gentleman emailed us to confirm that he did, in fact, arrive home safely and that the pads had lasted him the whole journey as advised. The gentleman also told that he asked for the bill for the inspection, but was told that there was no charge as it had been done out of goodwill. The customer was very impressed with the service he experienced, particularly as it was all off the cuff.

Well done to Dominic for being extremely helpful to the customer and going out of his way to help make the customer’s Porsche experience a special one.

Absolutely fantastic service, 1st class. Thank you very much to Dom and the team at Porsche Leicester.

Recently a customer called into the Centre requesting an unusual favour. The gentleman had a flat tyre on his Cayman and was at work over a mile away from our Centre. He wanted to see if we could go and help him get it repaired. One of our technicians, Joe, drove across to the customer’s work place to assess the damage to the tyre. Luckily we had the correct spare tyre available back at the Centre, so Joe returned to collect the tyre and then took it back out to the customer, replacing it right there in his office car park.

The customer was delighted with the service Joe had provided, more so that Joe had gone out of his way to make the experience convenient for him. The customer commented that he was very impressed with Joe’s responsive and pro-active approach to resolving the unfortunate situation. He was very pleased with the overall result, so well done to Joe and the team for offering quality and personalised service, going the ‘Extra Mile’ to ‘Make it Special’ for this customer.

During the sporadic period of bad weather and heavy snowfall we experienced this month, Ash borrowed the Centre’s Land Rover to get home due to him living very far away.

During his travels to and from work, Ash noticed a number of people were struggling to move their cars in the snow, some who had become entirely stuck and had skidded off the road. Ash went out of his way to offer help to people he saw and in a couple of cases actually towed some drivers out of their snowy rut of his own accord.

Although this wasn’t ‘Making it Special’ for a specific customer, Ash was in Porsche Uniform the whole time and demonstrated great brand values and professionalism to the many potential prospects who saw and passers-by. We feel that this act promoted the business in a positive light and showed great character from Ash – something which we very much value.

Thank you, Ash, and well done.

An existing customer contacted David about purchasing a new car for his wife, as a gift for her birthday. Upon learning that it was to be a special gift, David took it upon himself to help his customer plan the surprise of a lifetime, arranging a glamorous handover at one of the couple’s favourite restaurants.

As well as inviting a long lost friend, getting the restaurant on board, arranging a huge bouquet of flowers and of course the unveiling of the stunning white Cayman, David really pulled out all  the stops to ‘Make it Special’ for the couple.

With every detail thoroughly planned to perfection, David executed a fantastic handover, leaving the customers utterly delighted, to say the least!

Well done David for this stellar service.

This month’s ‘Making it Special’ nominee is our Parts Apprentice, Kieran Bedi-Archer. Kieran has been dealing with a customer for several months, as he is in the process of restoring a classic Porsche he purchased. The 1988 911 requires a lot TLC and therefore requires someone to offer thorough advice on which parts to source and from where. The retired customer visits the Centre 2-3 times each week and enjoys restoring the car little by little. Each time, Kieran spends between 30-45 minutes with the gentleman, taking a keen interest in his project, offering genuine advice and guidance, while sharing in the customer’s excitement. Last month, in particular, Kieran sourced a number of suggestions in anticipation of his arrival, which really delighted the customer as he was touched at Kieran’s proactive and personal approach. Upon completion, the customer presented Kieran and the Parts Department with a framed photo of the finished article and commended Kieran for his consistent consideration, time and involvement in the project. Well done to Kieran for ‘Making it Special’ for this lovely Porsche enthusiast in his personalised way.

This month, David went out of his way to add a very personal touch to a handover experience for a new customer who was feeling a little down. The customer, who is a self-professed workaholic, mentioned in passing that he rarely has the time to do some of the things he loves, as he is always working and never takes time for leisure. David took a genuine interest in the comments and struck up a conversation encouraging the customer to recall hobbies and things he used to enjoy when he felt happier. The customer mentioned always having had a passion for nature and wildlife, which David took note of.

The following week, David went out of his way to visit various specialist bookstores, to find a gift he thought the customer would greatly appreciate and brighten up his day. He ended up purchasing two wildlife books, then gift wrapping them in Amazonian themed wrapping paper!

When the customer came to collect his car, he was overwhelmed by David’s thoughtfulness and care, commending David and the stellar service he had provided an authentic rapport that he built.

Well done to David for his originality, thoughtfulness and personable approach.