Jack Johnston

Telesales Executive

Name:  Jack Johnston

Role:  Telesales Executive

Location:  Darlington

Joined Northgate: 2015

"It’s a really good place to work at at the moment, I love it, because you come in and it doesn’t feel like you’re at work, because not only are you having rapport with your customers, you’re also having it with your colleagues."

What do you do at Northgate? My name is Jack Johnston, and I’m an account manager within the telesales team. I mainly focus on customers; building relationships with people and trying to get growth where we can be a business partner to their needs.

Describe a typical day  I’ll come into work and have a list as long as my arm of emails to deal with because even though I only work 9 until 5, my customers are 24/7, so you’ve got to jump on them and make sure everybody is ok. Then just find out what business you need to have.  Because I’m fairly new to the role, it’s finding out common trends within the customers, what do their needs require. It’s not just a day to day job where you come in, speak to one person once and that’s it. I’ll be speaking to people I first spoke to when I started and I’ll be building relationships with them. A few of the customers now speak to me like I’m their best friend, just because you get to know them, and you get to know the business, how they tick, and that’s the nicest bit.

What’s the working environment like? I actually really do love my working environment because we all came through the same time and training, we’ve gelled so well together and it’s more like a family. It’s a really good place to work at at the moment, I love it, because you come in and it doesn’t feel like you’re at work, because not only are you having rapport with your customers, you’re also having it with your colleagues.

What about training? The training at Northgate is superb. When I first started I didn’t expect to have a full months’ worth of training dedicated to the role I’m going to take on. A lot of companies will say that you’ve got to hit the ground running, but with Northgate it really is. Not only did I go through training that was specifically for me so I’m doing everything I needed to when I started the role, but also when I went and did branch visits, so I’m speaking with people that I’m going to speak to everyday over the phone and put faces to names, and I know what everyone’s job role is, it made coming in seamless.

How does Northgate compare to other jobs? In the last job I was in, it was like you had a bar code, so you came in, you did your job and you went home. When you work here it feels like you make an actual impact, because I’ll come in and I speak to customers and their feedback will come back on me, so I’m accountable. It’s nice, it really is nice, you feel like you’re doing everyone a favour. The biggest skill that you can have is that you’re open to change, the worst thing you can do is come into a business thinking that you know everything about the field you’re going into. I’ve done sales in the past, so I had a bit of a sales background, I’ve come to Northgate with an open mind, and all the skills that I’ve learned has made me even better.