About us - Our managing director Till introduces himself
From 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 starts by talking about his everyday life, working life at McParking and also shares a few personal details. We have compiled the questions together as a team.
First of all, a brief introduction:
Till, who are you and 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 a time when Tegel and Schönefeld airports were still in operation. Before that, I worked for many years in the air transport industry in various positions, most recently as commercial manager at Flughafengesellschaft Berlin-Brandenburg. What attracted me to McParking was the fact that it is a genuine medium-sized company. In my previous professional positions, I worked in large corporations and in a state-owned company. I didn't have direct contact with customers or the influence of my actions on economic success there. I missed that. At McParking, quick decisions, flat hierarchies and direct internal and external communication enrich my professional life.
Management, what does that actually mean?
As Managing Director, I take care of the strategic direction of the company and overarching issues. Of course, economic success takes centre stage. But to achieve this, not only do 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 a desk, isn't that boring?
In a medium-sized company like ours, you don't sit in the office all day as managing director, looking at your computer and studying figures. That's just not possible because we have divided our tasks for reasons of efficiency in such a way that the management naturally also takes on operational activities from time to time. It's good to be directly at the operational base. Daily customer contact is not only important to know the processes. Customer contact gives you direct feedback - both positive and negative - so you know whether the business is running smoothly.
Let's move on to McParking:
What is the recipe for success, what makes McParking different from other car park providers?
First and foremost, it's the reliability of the service, that's what customers value. After all, we've been in business for 20 years, so we've already perfected a lot. We also geared our processes at McParking early on to ensure that our customers have as much time as possible for themselves and their travel plans and have to worry as little as possible about the parking and shuttle process. We know that travelling can sometimes be stressful. And many of our customers have already spent several hours travelling to the car park. 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 your stay. The booking process starts at www.mcparking.de - if you can't find your way around, you can also call our staff, who are available 24/7. When booking, all the "annoying" things are taken care of: payment, car registration number, product selection (car park or open space), to name just a few examples. We then dispense with check-in on arrival: thanks to the number plate recognition, you simply drive into the multi-storey car park (or into the open-air car park), look for a free parking space yourself with the help of the parking guidance system and go to the McParking bus stop. This is another advantage of ours: we operate large low-floor buses every 20 minutes - every day of the year and, apart from a short 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. For us, predictability is the be-all and end-all. And this also applies to the return journey: no annoying phone calls to say that you have landed and would like to be picked up at the airport. Our customers go to bus car park B at BER, often one of our buses is already waiting there, and after 20 minutes at the latest they return to McParking. The exit from the car park is contactless, just like the entrance, 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 pay machine 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 coronavirus pandemic and the associated travel restrictions have hit us - and the entire travel industry - hard. But now we are looking forward to the next season with hope. We already noticed last autumn and this winter that people are travelling again. There is a lot of pent-up demand for trips that were repeatedly postponed during the coronavirus period - and which will now finally be taken this year. By the end of 2023, we will have come very close to the pre-coronavirus figures. We are the largest car park provider in Berlin and we will continue to expand this position this year. With the resumption of travel activities, we will further expand our lead as a high-quality and reliable car park provider at BER. This year will also see further product innovations such as automated payment processes.
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 emphasise that we have a very high level of employee retention and loyalty. Anyone who starts working at McParking stays with McParking for a long time. As Managing Director, I am very pleased about this, as it shows that our employees feel very comfortable with us. And this also has to do with the technical innovations of recent years, which our employees find exciting and make their work easier. They can then concentrate on the essentials: serving the customer. Because despite all the preparations, there are still questions. These can be simple questions about the premises (e.g. the toilet) or booking errors that need to be corrected, sometimes start-up assistance is needed or a de-icing agent is used. Direct customer contact is varied and motivating. And in terms of the corporate culture, I attach great importance to communicating transparently on all topics and always having an open ear for my colleagues' ideas/suggestions. This certainly contributes significantly to employee satisfaction.
Now a personal question:
Holidays are an important topic at McParking, as the majority of 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 has also increased considerably. They increasingly prefer our affordable and secure car parks to those directly at the airport. But back to the question - given the choice between the mountains and the sea, I definitely prefer the mountains. In autumn and summer I like to go hiking, and the Krkonoše Mountains are a good place to go from Berlin, for example, as they are not far away, quite inexpensive and you can experience the warm hospitality of our Polish neighbours. Last summer we were on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, and even there we were more likely to be found in the mountains than on the beach. And when I don't want to go far away, I like to go on cycle tours in the Brandenburg region. My last tour was 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?
I don't really think much of good intentions. By the end of January at the latest, you don't even know what you've resolved to do or you realise that the time or motivation isn't right. In this respect, I don't have any personal resolutions. Except: I play football in an over 50s team, so 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 instalment, we look at the important area of Marketing & IT. Two interesting employees are responsible for the functionality of our systems and everything to do with mcparking.de. We will then introduce them and their work.