What are your responsibilities within your role? In my current role as an Area Sales Manager, I am responsible for leading and developing a team of sales individuals in the northwest.
Describe a typical week in your role Typically 2 -3 days per week would be spent out with my sales team, so coaching, developing, sitting in joint meetings with customers. There will be a day of sales meetings and admin time built into that week as well, but the majority of my job is spent out in the field with the guys, coaching and developing and meeting with customers.
What do you enjoy most about your role? Probably the varied customers that we have, each day is different - we can be in front of an MD one morning for a fleet of 20 vehicles that we are presenting on and he could be in his high vis jacket with egg down his top! That afternoon we could be presenting in front of a board of 5 directors for a similar size fleet - it's really varied which just makes the job all the more enjoyable.
What’s the working environment like? The work environment is really good for me and my team, we just try and keep it fun and energetic - we spend 40 plus hours a week at work plus any potential extra hours in the evening - if you’re not enjoying it, it's not going to be a nice place to work so you have to make sure it is fun and energetic!
How does your role compare with others you've had? It's very similar in the fact that it is still sales orientated so it's still meeting new clients, growing existing customer base and defending the existing one. The difference here is that the opportunity out there is massive within the fleet market, so this really is a great opportunity.
What resources do your team have in place to support them? The main resource for the sales team would be myself as an Area Sales Manager - that's then backed up with the Sales Academy - the induction and the training that they receive is second to none in my experience.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career with Northgate? I'm looking for energy and positivity combined with the right attitude - by the time they have come to the interview, we will have vetted them through our partners already to see if they have got the right skill set - after that it's all about the energy and attitude.
