National statutory compliance planned maintenance services

Working with a well respected, high street retailer, providing national planned maintenance services across their property portfolio

Every now and then you come across a potential customer where you instinctively know that your company can provide them with the perfect solution to their needs. That is easy for us to know but it isn’t always that easy in convincing the potential customer! Read on to find out how we convinced a well-respected high street brand to put their trust in us.

The Prospect

Bravissimo was founded in Sarah Tremellens’ living room in 1995. Sarah and a friend made a catalogue to sell underwear by mail order and started by approaching friends and family. Within a month of setting up they were featured in the Daily Mail. In 1999 Bravissimo opened their first shop in Ealing. They now have 29 stores across the country and are continuing to research additional areas.

Often the smaller retailers are overlooked by larger maintenance providers but JCW specialise in these kinds of contracts. We treat every customer, no matter their size as an important part of our customer portfolio. As Bravissimo were expanding, they may well have been considering a national maintenance provider to look after all their stores, so we made our move.

By chance we received a response, and this was the start of our relationship. Five years ago, nearly to the day, we had our first meeting.

What we could offer

We knew we could provide Bravissimo with what they needed but it did take a few more meetings and a detailed presentation to convince them to give us the opportunity to prove ourselves. We negotiated an initial contract to include a variety of planned maintenance services including:

• HVAC Maintenance

• Gas Maintenance

• Mechanical Maintenance

• Electrical Testing

• Life Safety System Testing and Monitoring

• Statutory Compliance

• Other Hard and Soft Services

We understand how important having uninterrupted trading is in the retail industry. As part of the contract we could provide Bravissimo with a 24/7 emergency response service to ensure that unexpected problems are dealt with swiftly.

The Challenges

Our relationship with Bravissimo is not one of perfection. However, what we have achieved together is a mutual respect and understanding of each other’s industries through working closely together and keeping the lines of communication open.

When we began to mobilise the contract, the information Bravissimo were able to provide on the assets within the stores was quite limited. We needed to learn about each of the diverse range of buildings requirements individually. Gathering this information over the course of the first year was an essential learning curve. It prepared us well for the second year, so we were able to make improvements on the service we were providing.

An element of the contract is sub contracted, especially with regard to the softer services. Working with sub-contractors can often come with challenges and ensuring that our network of contractors are fully insured and accredited is of paramount importance. They also need to understand the ethos of our customers and provide the same level of service as our own engineers do. Again, this took a while to put into place and continues to require high levels of concentration, supervision and communication to ensure an effective level of service is provided across all factors of the contract.

Conclusion

We appreciate that a customer such as Bravissimo expects to receive the same level of service as they provide. We recognise and are committed in improving the service we provide as the number of stores grow. Not all customer relationships are smooth running, but perseverance really does pay. It provides time and insight and knowledge to help us form a strong bond and understanding.

Open communication and honesty remains at the heart of our relationship with Bravissimo and we will continue to work with their best interests in our minds at all times.

The Account Manager for this highly regarded customer added:

“Working with Bravissimo on their store maintenance programme has always been interesting, enjoyable and challenging. There are many elements involved in the contract and ensuring that not only our own staff provide the high level of service expected but also supporting our network of contractors to do the same has been most rewarding.

Like every contract I work on, communication is key, and I have found the team at Bravissimo to be very patient and understanding when there have been issues. I am extremely pleased that we continue to work together, and I am confident and determined that we must consistently achieve the service level that Bravissimo expect.”