There’s no doubt about it. Alongside Wimbledon – happening in a south London Borough near you this week, complete with strawberries and cream – Trooping The Colour at Horseguards’ Parade and the Henley Regatta, Royal Ascot is one of those classic, defining events of the British summer.
Set against the magnificent backdrop of Windsor Great Park, the week of racing is full of colour, drama, glamour, excitement, skill, beauty and – if you happen to win a few quid as a lucky punter – not a little euphoria.
Indeed, Royal Ascot is the world’s most famous race meeting, steeped in a history that began 1711.
For those of you that don’t know this little fact, Her Majesty The Queen’s involvement with racing stretches back some way too, but ‘only’ to 1952! Her Majesty’s first Royal Ascot success, in fact, came when Choir Boy landed the 1953 Royal Hunt Cup, and our monarch was on hand to open the new course after its refurbishment in 2006.
Lots of racing, lots of prize money
This year’s Royal Ascot meeting ran – if you’ll pardon the unavoidable pun – from Tuesday 16 June right through until last Saturday. Featured races included The Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, The Gold Cup, The King George V Stakes and The Royal Hunt Cup. In all, 17 Group races were organised and run during the meeting.
The Kings Stand Stakes and The Golden Jubilee Stakes are Europe’s foremost international races, attracting horses from as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Japan and Hong Kong. The latter race when in combination with The Prince of Wales’ Stakes is worth close on GB pound 1 million, while over GB pound 4 million in prize money was up for grabs.
We at ISS Pegasus Security decided to use this magnificent ‘staging post’ as the perfect opportunity to entertain several of our clients all on one day. Let’s face it, Royal Ascot is such a stylish event that it would have been foolish not to do so!
After all, the action on the track is matched only by the fashions off it with a spectacular array of colorful womens’ outfits and hats on display ranging from catwalk chic to both the interesting and, frankly, the downright obscure!
Dressed for the Royal occasion
One wonders whether some of the women who attend deliberately try to ‘push the envelope’ when it comes to their attire? Either way, it’s not surprising if some of them are confused about what’s acceptable and what isn’t. One look at the official dress code certainly made for interesting – if slightly perplexing – reading.
Said code, as outlined in this year’s event programme, read as follows: “Only formal day dress with hat or substantial fascinator will suffice for ladies. Off the shoulder, halter neck, spaghetti straps and dresses with a strap of less than one inch and/or miniskirts are deemed unsuitable”.
What on Earth is a ‘substantial fascinator’? One suspects the organisers are alluding to those larger than life hairbands with feathers or whatever sticking out of them (like the one that I wore!), but should we girls have to guess? The Campaign for Clear English at Grand Sporting Events starts here, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Anyway, back to matters at hand. This corporate hospitality event gave us the opportunity to really understand our existing and potential customers and how they operate without the need for spending hours analysing information and data.
“There’s only so much you can find out at a business meeting, Roxy” is what my boss, Andrew Reeves – the managing director of ISS Pegasus Security – told me beforehand. “This business is all about building solid, long-lasting and mutually beneficial working relationships.”
Customer Relationship Management in focus
On that note, in addition to fancy hats and great fashion, Customer Relationship Management (or CRM) solutions are a ‘must have’ this season. They are for all of us at ISS, that’s for sure. We want to build those working relationships Andrew talks about and make it easier for all concerned to do business in the long term.
CRM is even more important during a recession and, for me, there are five main ways in which this process, this thing we call CRM can boost dialogue and productivity during an economic slump.
First of all, companies can draw a greater response from their established customers. Even when money is tight, there are opportunities to sell more to some of your existing customers. The trick is to use effective techniques and offer the right service at the right time.
One of CRM’s greatest strengths is that it collects and organises information about your customers and lets you analyse the data for future opportunities.
CRM also allows the practising security company to identify and concentrate on their best customers. While every customer is important when business is slow, some are worth more than others. By allocating sales efforts accordingly, you can produce more revenue per sales hour and higher average sales.
It’s also important to target your customer development efforts. Just because the economy is in a slump doesn’t mean that you should stop trying to attract new clients. However, like everything else in a recession, you want to do it more efficiently. This implies paying closer attention to lead analysis. Which leads are most likely to become customers? What are they likely to purchase?
Loyalty: existing customers are gold
Keep your existing customers loyal. In a recession, existing customers are gold. You want to keep them happy. Customer satisfaction covers a lot of ground, but basically it involves two ideas – keep your promises to your customers and meet their demonstrated needs. CRM can help you on both counts.
Finally, I would say ‘work smarter, not just harder’. CRM lets your sales and customer support representatives work smarter. With better information at their fingertips and Best Practice codified into the business’ policies, you can optimise service for your customers and maximise revenue at the same time.
All of these ideas came to the fore at Royal Ascot. Speaking of which… Did you know that there were 468 runners in 2008’s 30 Royal Meeting races? You do now. And that Ascot celebrates its Tercentary Year in 2011?
Thanks to some super organisation by Ascot Racecourse chairman Johnny Weatherby, all of the leading jockeys for 2009 paraded the course in front of an expectant crowd.
Meeting The Champion of Champions
On Ladies’ Day, Andrew and I were lucky enough to have an audience with a great jockey from days of yore, the one and only Bob Champion. Bob’s superb racing career took him all over the globe, including the American continent where he rode several winners.
In 1979, as many of you will know, Bob was diagnosed with cancer and given less than a year to live. After several months of chemotherapy, however, he bravely returned to race riding, coming back with several winners both in England and across the Pond. It tells you what kind of man Bob is, and what a true sportsman.
Bob eventually retired from training racehorses in 1999 having nurtured many winners. Later, he began a scheme with the Northern Racing College to encourage school leavers to have a career as stable staff and apprentice jockeys. He was fascinating company, a true Gentleman and I feel privileged to have met him.
Never put style before substance
It’s true that Royal Ascot is always much more than just a race meeting. It represents the epitome of prestige, luxury and style. As far as the security guarding sector’s concerned, it’s important that we never put such style before substance.
Striking the right balance between a friendly and welcoming atmosphere that’s also professional and secure can be crucial. Established in 1965, we at ISS Pegasus Security always strive to provide quality security services at the highest standards, while keeping in mind the different security needs of our diverse clients.
As well as providing all the necessary security systems such as CCTV and remote monitoring combined with key holding and alarm response, our security services go far beyond simply supplying the latest technological enhancements. Our team of experienced professionals encompasses a specialist consultancy, the professionals within it using their extensive knowledge and expertise in order to assess potential threats and identify areas of vulnerability and risk. Through this ongoing review and assessment, our response is then tailored to specifically meet the end user’s needs.
It’s those end user customers whom we entertained at Ascot. Those customers have a broad range of business needs, which is precisely why we’ve built a team at ISS with personnel who genuinely share a dedication to impeccable customer care, a flexible approach and a belief in teamwork.
Time for me to alight the Soapbox now. Need to go and manage some more of our customers!
Roxy Ali is the PA to Andrew Reeves, the managing director at ISS Pegasus Security