Winter 2001

Excellence In Training Award

It's not very often that a small business triumphs over the large ones but on occasions this happens!

Astley Hire was awarded the Excellence in Training Award at the HAE's awards for 2000.

At a glittering ceremony held in Birmingham, Stephen Dorricott (director) was awarded the trophy by Mark Houghton, director of the sponsor SpaceAir Mobiles.

In doing so they beat two of the largest national hire chains!

"We have always placed great importance on staff training", states Stephen Dorricott. "Training is a major factor in ensuring we maintain a focused approach to the business. Our customers require our staff to be well trained and knowledgeable so we place emphasis on ensuring they are.

As part of the submission to the award judges, Astley Hire showed evidence of having a structured training program. Each year a 'training needs analysis' is undertaken for the whole company based on individual staff appraisals. Training is carried out both internally, in areas such as administration, and externally with new product knowledge.

"Before any training is carried out, the objectives for the course are set both for the individual and the company", states Stephen. "The evaluation of the training outcome is also set, allowing the results to be fed back for analysis of effectiveness."

The employees benefit from training ranging from one-day seminars to block-release courses run by outside agencies. Subjects covered include hire desk procedures, customer service, health & safety, product operation and workshop practices.

"We regard training as giving added value. It builds staff loyalty and and raises productivity. They all feel involved and are empowered to run key aspects of the business such as suggesting new items for the hire fleet."

Astley Hire believes that on-going training in personnel development has brought enormous benefits. "Training impacts on all areas of a business, not just the employees. It improves the quality of the overall operation and promotes an enhanced company profile."

New Price List 2002

We have issued a new price list effective from January 2002. It is 4 years since our last list was properly updated. The new list covers all the range of equipment, we have tried to make it simple to read and quicker to reference items as most are now in table format.

We have introduced quite a few new products and dropped some others. Trends change and the new products reflect the changing requirements of our customers.

Prices also reflect changing trends, some prices have come down! This is due to equipment becoming cheaper to buy. However, overall there has been a 4% price rise.

The price increase I hope will be matched by an increase in our service, if it does not please let me know.

Customer Survey Results

In the summer newsletter we sent all our customers a questionnaire to complete, we are very pleased that overall you feel that we are doing a good job, and that each department is delivering a service that we can be proud of.

There are areas for improvement and we will be working hard this year to do so. We appreciate that transport is a concern to customers who require equipment to be delivered on time, so in the new year we will be employing outside transport to cover for busy periods.

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