Last month we passed the four year anniversary of delivering SME Servicing in Cape Town, and a lot has changed in that time.
With the relationship with our colleagues in Cape Town around the 3-year mark, we thought it was a good time to reflect on how things have changed and to share the latest developments.
Where to begin? The best place would probably be to describe the inception and growth of the Newcastle Direct Sales Team, in the 4 months since we got started. In summary - we began our journey with 8 Sales Execs and me, and we got straight to work on the Utilitywise Agency database. That way, we could ensure all of the customers who were used to being serviced through the TPI had someone different to talk to about extending their current contracts.
Fast forward to July 7th, and we have a new office, 21 Sales Executives, 3 Team Leaders (+ still me) so it’s fair to say recruitment has been one of the primary objectives across the end of Quarter 2! It’s been a whirlwind, to say the least, but the buzz and the excitement in the office ensure that no two days are the same and everyone is motivated and excited about what can be achieved as we continue to learn and grow.
My day starts with a short meeting with my 3 Team leaders, who share a daily forecast and a key KPI summary from the previous day. This gives us the data so we can make informed decisions on in-day focus – coaching strategy, and an understanding of who needs additional support. It also allows us to establish where we are against targets, allowing us to adjust focus if required (e.g. are we issuing enough quotes to market? Are we making enough customer contact/touchpoints? etc.)
Team Leaders then break off into their teams and spend some time relaying the previous day’s performance and daily objectives, as well as sharing market info and best practice so everyone is on message for the day ahead.
Core calling hours commence and the Sales Execs update their sales boards as and when they complete an extension with a customer, giving visibility to the whole team as to how we are performing as well as creating healthy competition across the sales operation.
Amongst that, I am there to support the whole team with tricky sales calls and obtaining the info they may need to be able to get deals over the line – TLs are on hand for ad-hoc support, between delivering coaching and training sessions across the course of the day.
The sales process here is mostly transactional so requires a lot of ‘thinking on your feet’ – as I have said, no two days or even two hours are the same. What we are doing and the way we are doing it is new, working solely from a matrix and outside of the core TGP systems, so another big part of my role is to grow and develop the right processes so that the Sales Executives jobs can be made as easy as possible.
We have a great team in Newcastle – a mixed bag of energy experience, sales experience and life experience. Everyone has embraced and enjoyed (or so they tell me…) the journey so far!
June saw the latest edition of the Total football tournament that takes place in Valencia, Spain. Our Redhill office was represented by Rowan Taylor, and Eloise Fadden playing for the GRP team ‘Low Carbon Olympics’, and also by Adil Aabala, who joined up with the Total US Convo team, representing Houston, Texas.
Established in October 2014, the Business Change team collaborates with stakeholders at all levels within the business on a variety of different projects to deliver positive change. Whilst projects will have different goals, our primary objective always remains consistent – to support Total Gas & Power in achieving its vision of being ‘the UK’s Most Trusted Energy Supplier’.
As mergers go we’ve had some big ones…Vodafone and Mannesman, America Online and Time Warner, Beyonce and Jay-Z, and not to mention Fina, Elf and Total…but they don’t get much bigger than this. Yes, Major Business Retention and Acquisition have recently merged to create Major Business Direct Sales a new dedicated sales channel boasting an elite team of nine and headed up by Ken McCaig.
Regular readers of this esteemed publication may recall that 12 months ago we introduced you to a newly formed Steering Committee set up to work on projects that can improve the efficiency of business as usual operations. The Business Efficiency Workstream (BEW) was launched.
Switched On is brought to you by an editorial group, a team of hardworking TGPers who volunteer their time to put together this magazine. To celebrate this being our first anniversary issue, the group are putting themselves under the spotlight, so read on to find out more about who they are… and how you can get involved.
Following the last issue’s review of the IT Application Support Team, this month we look further North to our office in Leeds to gain insight into the Direct SME Sales Team that reside there.
The team is run by the inimitable Paul Sidebotham and deal with all direct sales for gas and power customers from a number of sources. These include returning customers, COO (Change of Occupancy), cross sell opportunities, deemed customers moving to a formal contract and new business customers.
The AS Team...
"In 2015 a crack commando IT unit was sent to the 5th floor of BridgeGate by a senior management team for a crime they didn't commit. These men (and women) promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Redhill underground. Today, still wanted by the SMT, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire…the Application Support Team." (– A Team theme music playing in the background - Derrr de de Derr, den der na der der…).