My piece yesterday about commoditization brought this response from rta:
People do not go anywhere to park, they park because they are going somewhere. What we as an industry need to do is make these property managers and venue owners understand that the parking experience is the first and last impression of wherever that customer’s destination happens to be. I’ve seen more examples than I can count of properties sinking millions in to renovations of lobby areas and landscaping in an attempt to make their property more attractive, while at the same time do everything possible to reduce the expenses of the associated parking.
We as an industry have no one to blame but ourselves for this trend, for years we’ve been beating each other up in various bid responses and marketing calls telling prospective clients how we can do everything for far less money than their current parking management. We have devalued our own industry. I’ve been on both sides of the RFP process many times, and with very, very rare exceptions the basic sales pitch is ALWAYS “more for less”.
The mantra of our business is “There is no such thing as free parking”, but we keep selling our services for less and less. All any property has to do to lower their parking operations expense is put out an RFP, it’s almost guaranteed every proposal you get will be for less money than what you’re currently paying.
We need to sell Clients on the value of the parking experience, and the difference in the value between a good and bad experience.
I can add nothing to that.
+JVH
