As a long-standing yet progressive industry pioneer, Rand-Air – an established leader in the field of air, nitrogen, power, flow (pumps), steam boiler and lighting solutions, and part of the global Atlas Copco Specialty Rental division – concertedly invests in gender equality and diversity, ensuring professional training and development opportunities for improved productivity, increased growth and innovation for greater economic potential.
The company is confidently led, managed and supported by many strong women across various departments – from sales and finance to service.
Forging a strong and secure link in the value chain of customer experience, the efforts and contribution of women within the Rand-Air service department contribute to exceptional customer service excellence.
In particular, Rand-Air service department team members Service Administrator and Support in Jet Park, Denise Moodley, Yard Service Technician in Jet Park, Felicia Masango and Service Co-ordinator and Fleet Support at Jet Park and the Sasolburg depot in the Free State Charlene Maharaj, share the passion to make a transformative contribution through optimal, customer-centric service.
For Masango, Moodley and Maharaj – who have more than 30 years’ combined service experience – their respective passion is firmly embedded in a culture of customer service: “It is within this area that we aim to thrive,” Maharaj asserts.
Moodley echoes this sentiment, adding that while dealing with the daily technical service requests – an essential part of ensuring the company’s fleet is always in premium condition for customers – “we try our best to ensure our customers experience the type and level of service never experienced before! To achieve this objective, we not only continuously work on, build, and maintain – but also improve – our level of customer service,” she says.
For Masango, the resulting success of a diligent and immersive service interface is achieved from sincere interaction, teamwork, encouragement and motivation.
“By working together as a team, we can communicate effectively, share information, skills and gain knowledge to offer trustworthy, reliable and respectful service to ensure satisfied customers,” she emphasises.
Maharaj further observes that the successful synergy, motivation and joint collaboration of all departments within Rand-Air – working as a cohesive value chain – further reinforce the cornerstone of service success.
“As we cannot succeed if any links in the value chain are broken, we work hard to achieve smooth, integrated service within all departments. By drawing on self-motivation, we each know what role we play, what our tasks are and which goals need to be achieved to increase efficiency and come up with innovative solutions to enable our customers to meet their daily operational challenges in the best way possible,” Maharaj explains.
Vested in the Rand-Air value of ‘doing things right the first time’, Maharaj’s strategic service approach includes providing immediate assistance to customers as and when required.
“The buck stops with me, and I always like to assist then and there – therefore I try to address any query or challenge immediately and effectively,” she adds.
Masango and Moodley are similarly aligned in their actions to practice Rand-Air’s guiding corporate ethos of making agility count in each quality interaction.
Aspire to inspire
For Masango, Moodley and Maharaj, notable enablers in achieving service excellence include the unwavering motivation and continuous encouragement from “the inspiring and demonstrative leadership of our General Manager Kim Coetzee”; as well as from their respective managers, including Industrial Plant Rental Account and Communication Manager Mpho Ngamlane – “for not only a shared vision of customer service excellence, but a confidence in each team member.”
“Our buy-in and output are always taken into consideration,” Maharaj says, while Moodley adds that, “you are afforded the freedom to make the most of your strengths, and the independence to make decisions, while being individually recognised for your skills, abilities and contributions.
Importantly – as women within the local industrial rental sector and across industry have the ability to either encourage or discourage others – we focus on always complimenting, acknowledging and believing in one another. In this way, we grow and succeed together,” Moodley enthuses.
To elevate the motivation and enthusiasm among fellow Rand-Air team members, and women across industry to achieve success, Maharaj, Moodley and Masango draw on several guiding principles for inspiration. These include a good attitude, self-confidence, perseverance, hard work, and the willingness to learn from mistakes; as well as the commitment and motivation to follow their own path and strive to achieve their goals – to ultimately be the best they can be.
“If we adhere to these principles, we are capable of almost anything we put our minds to,” Moodley points out.
Masango and Maharaj agree, highlighting that this capability requires careful determination and the visualisation of attainable goals. “Once you have invested the time in visualising goals – to see, touch, feel, taste and even smell them in your mind’s eye – you can, with planning and determination, achieve them,” Masango enthuses.
The acknowledgement of your limitations, planning for potential obstacles, understanding every failure and investing in growth and self-improvement are all important elements which contribute to ultimate success.
Nevertheless, all three women advocate the notion that before you can inspire others, whichever belief you nurture must first inspire you.
“A woman’s strength lies in her beliefs about – and faith in – herself and her abilities. Once we confidently believe in and respect ourselves, know our strengths and work on our weaknesses, we are able to motivate others to accomplish their dreams and achieve agile success,” Moodley concludes.
