AA approved, worth it or not?

[andrew@AMW]

Hi All

 

Just new to the forum,

 

We as a company are constantly striving to improve our service and to that end see the AA approved contractor scheme as an end goal.

 

I just wondered purely from a business point of view have AA aproved companies found it to be beneficial financially.

 

I.E. since becoming approved did they notice a significant increase in revenue.

 

I realise this isn't the ultimate aim of the scheme but it must play a role.

 

Interested in anybodies thoughts.

 

All the best

 

Andy

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Hi All

 

Just new to the forum,

 

We as a company are constantly striving to improve our service and to that end see the AA approved contractor scheme as an end goal.

 

I just wondered purely from a business point of view have AA aproved companies found it to be beneficial financially.

 

I.E. since becoming approved did they notice a significant increase in revenue.

 

I realise this isn't the ultimate aim of the scheme but it must play a role.

 

Interested in anybodies thoughts.

 

All the best

 

Andy

 

Hi Andy, 'So far, so good eh?'

 

I too would be interested to read peoples feedback, i.e existing ACCs, here but it looks like we may need to wait a while. I am aware of several AACs who monitor where their enquiries come from and the AA website/Directory/Head Office is often a good source for this.

 

As you say whilst financial returns aren't the key aim of the scheme, stanadrds and preformance are, nonetheless the two things are instrinsically linked.

 

However, in the meantime, what I would say is don't see attainment of AAC as your 'end goal', in part as this should be readily achieveable by all competent contractors, but set your goal much higher in terms of status and financial gains and view the accreditation as a step along that road. Many firms, and increasingly, view AAC status as a baseline for further accreditations, i.e. ISO 9001/14001, NHSS 18, 'exor', Achilles etc. etc. albeit retaining the AAC status as it's the only one of these which is industry specific and checks performance standards in terms of tree work quality.

 

The end goal should also be about 'continuous improvement' and advancement both of you as an individual and of the firm as a service provider.

 

In some respects, I guess a good end goal would be repeat customers, both tree owners AND the trees themselves.

 

Best of luck along the road.

 

Cheers..

Paul

[tommer9]

If you search around, this topic has been covered in many threads before on arbtalk.

[andrew@AMW]

Hi Paul

 

I think your right when its comes to goals to aim for, I think end goal was maybe the wrong term, more of a stepping stone.

 

One of the best things about being in business is acheiving those goals, getting new clients and taking new ideas forward.

 

Probably why I'm up till 1 in the morning doing tenders.

 

Better get some sleep.

 

Cheers

 

Andy