About us - Introducing our Managing Director Till
Starting today, the McParking team will be introduced in a loose sequence. Who are the people behind McParking and its successful concept? What are the areas of responsibility, what are the goals of the team members?
Today, Managing Director Till Bunse begins and reports on his everyday life, working life at McParking and also talks about a few personal things. We have compiled the questions together in the team.
First of all, a short introduction:
Till, who are you, where are you from?
I am 51 years old, married and have 2 sons aged 15 and 16. I was born in NRW, in the small town of Ahaus, and have lived with my family in Berlin for over 14 years. I joined McParking four years ago, at the time when Tegel and Schönefeld airports were still in operation. Before that, I worked for many years in the aviation industry in various positions, most recently at the Berlin-Brandenburg airport company as commercial manager. What attracted me to McParking was that it is a genuine medium-sized company. In my previous professional positions, I worked in large corporations or in a state-owned company. Direct contact with customers and the influence of my actions on economic success were not given there. I missed that; at McParking, it's quick decisions, flat hierarchies, direct communication internally and externally that now enrich my professional life.
Management, what does that actually mean?
As Managing Director, I take care of the strategic orientation of the company and overarching issues. Of course, economic success is in the foreground. But to achieve this, not only the figures have to be right, satisfied customers and satisfied employees are at least as important and lead to a financially healthy company in the long term.
A whole day behind the desk, isn't that boring?
In a medium-sized company like ours, you don't sit in your office all day, looking at your computer and studying figures. That's not possible because, for reasons of efficiency, we have divided our tasks in such a way that, of course, the management also takes over operational activities from time to time. It is good to be directly at the operational base. Daily customer contact is not only important to know the processes. In customer contact, you get direct feedback - positive and negative - and thus know whether the shop is running.
Let's move on to McParking:
What is the recipe for success, what makes McParking different from other parking providers?
First and foremost, it's the reliability of our operations, that's what customers value. After all, we have been in business for 20 years, so we have already been able to perfect a lot. In addition, we geared our processes at McParking at an early stage so that our customers have as much time as possible for themselves and their travel planning and have to worry as little as possible about the parking and shuttle process. We know that travelling sometimes also means stress. And many of our customers already have a journey of several hours to the car park behind them. So the customer doesn't want to have to deal with any unnecessary process steps.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
It starts with the booking and ends with our feedback email at the end of the stay. The booking begins at www.mcparking.de - if you don't know how to find your way around there, you can also call our staff, who are available 24/7. During the booking process, we take care of everything "annoying": payment, entering the car registration number, choosing the product (parking garage or open space), to name just a few examples. Then we do away with the check-in on arrival: thanks to the number plate recognition, you simply drive into the multi-storey car park (or onto the open space), look for a free parking space independently with the help of the parking guidance system and go to the McParking bus stop. Here comes another advantage of ours: we drive with large low-floor buses every 20 minutes - every day of the year and, except for a small cleaning and refuelling break at night, around the clock. Many of our competitors say: "We drive individually just for you". In practice, however, this often means that small vans are used that only set off when they are full. With us, planning is the be-all and end-all. And this also applies to the return: no annoying phone calls to say that you have landed and would like to be picked up at the airport. Our customers go to coach park B at BER, often one of our coaches is already waiting there, and after 20 minutes at the latest they return to McParking. Exit from the car park is contactless, as is entry, with automatic barrier opening. And anyone who needs to pay extra (if their holiday is extended - intentionally or unintentionally) can do so conveniently at the automatic pay station at the exit.
What is McParking's goal for the new year 2023?
Admittedly, the past three years have not been easy for us. The Corona pandemic and the travel restrictions that went along with it have clearly affected us - as well as the entire travel industry. But now we are looking forward to the next season with hope. Last autumn and this winter we have already noticed that people are travelling again. There is a considerable backlog of trips that were repeatedly postponed during the Corona period - and which will now finally be started this year. By the end of 2023, we will be quite close to the pre-Corona numbers. We are the largest parking provider in Berlin and we are building on this position this year. With the resumption of travel, we will further extend our lead as a high-quality and reliable parking provider at the BER site. In the process, further product innovations such as automations in the payment process will also be added this year.
Satisfied employees have already been mentioned as a prerequisite for success. What is McParking doing to achieve this?
First of all, I would like to point out that we have a very high level of employee retention and loyalty. Those who started working at McParking also stay with McParking for a long time. As the managing director, I am very pleased about this, as it shows that our employees feel very much at home with us. And that also has to do with the technical innovations of the last few years, which our employees find exciting and which make their work easier. They can then concentrate on the essentials: Serving the customer. Because there are questions despite all the preparations. These can be simple questions about the premises (e.g. the toilet) or booking errors that need to be corrected, sometimes take-off assistance is needed or a de-icing agent comes into play. The direct customer contact is varied and motivating. And in terms of the corporate culture, I attach importance to communicating transparently about all issues and always having an open ear for the ideas/suggestions of colleagues. That certainly contributes significantly to employee satisfaction.
Holidays are an important topic at McParking, as the majority of our customers fly away on holiday - Till, how do you spend your holidays?
That's right, the majority of our customers are private travellers. But since there are no longer any Corona restrictions and city connections are being offered more frequently by the airlines again, the proportion of business customers with us has also increased considerably. They increasingly prefer our cheap and secure parking spaces to those directly at the airport. But back to the question - faced with the choice of whether I prefer the mountains or the sea, I clearly prefer the mountains. In autumn and summer, I like to go hiking, and from Berlin, for example, the Giant Mountains are a good place to go, they are not far away, quite cheap and you experience the warm hospitality of our Polish neighbours. Last summer we were on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, and there too we were more likely to be in the mountains than on the beach. And if I don't want to go far away, I like to go on cycling tours in the Brandenburg region. My last tour went to Neuzelle Monastery on the Oder. If you want to switch off for a weekend, I recommend this tour along the Spree.
What are your personal resolutions for 2023?
Actually, I don't think much of good intentions. By the end of January at the latest, you no longer know what you've resolved to do or you realise that it doesn't fit in terms of time or motivation. So I don't have any personal resolutions. Except: I play football in an over-50s team, and my wish for this season is to finish in the TOP 5 - but not at the top, because then we have to get promoted...
In the next episode, we will look at the important area of Marketing & IT. Two interesting employees are responsible for the functioning of our systems and everything to do with mcparking.de. We will then introduce them and their work.
