Apprentice Business developer/ Telesales Review

As a business developer, you manage a system called lead management, this is our customer database where we will call customers on a monthly basis and offer our products and services to, over time we build strong relationships with some and this builds trust and creates a loyal trader. This helps us as a business because it allows us to keep track of who trades with us more frequently than others. By speaking to different people on a daily basis you get an idea of which people buy different things and how we can tailor to their needs and bring in more custom.

I have certainly built up my confidence in person and over the phone. By having these two types of contacts you build up more courage and learn how to present yourself better in different situations and over time you slowly learn how to deal with more difficult and awkward situations with little help or even alone.

In all honesty the job can be quite hard on some days and you do get bored, however I find it easier to manage if you can do a little bit of counter work on some days as it mixes it up. I have also found it easier to set a limit for yourself. For example try and do at least 20 calls and a couple leads.

We get given a section to cover on the lead management and work our way through , this helps structure our day and keep our time managed well. By doing so we usually go over our daily target and puts us a step ahead for the next up and coming day.

We do get trained from a provider usually once a month. However we are supposed to get 4 hours learning time a week. Most cases you don't get the time to complete this as you're so busy with work. When it comes to the actual working job, there is support there but most people are busy with their own job you just have to stick your head down and try and get on with it.

When the provider comes in, I have a lovely guy from DIDAC. They're extremely helpful and help out where needed. They work well with you because if you're struggling they help prompt you in the right direction so you figure it our for yourself instead of telling you the answer.

They let you know tips and tricks to help you limit yourself and direct yourself so you come across in the right way. so far this has helped me build my customer service level and be able to work with different people quicker and more efficiently, it has also helped me progress my knowledge so I can apply it to where its needed/ wanted.

There is but on the rare occasion, usually its at the mangers discretion. Recently I did go out on a baby course with other business developers where we talked about how we could have more effective calls and how we can get more customers in and trading with us. What things we should say, what offers we could give and much more.

Yes

Howdens is overall a good company to work for as you're treated like a genuine employee and you're shown the ropes. Yes you may be thrown in the deep end, it's hard at first but pushing through it will pay off. Once you have a general swing of things the job slowly gets a little bit easier. Even months into the job now I still find things difficult but if you don't do it, you'll never learn.

Don't step down from what you are and what you can show them, being yourself, outgoing, quiet, scared anything like that ,doesn't mean it will stop you from reaching bigger within the company. Tell them and make them question you but then prove them wrong and show them what you bring to the company