Customer Service Apprenticeship - Sales (Ayr)

As a corporate Customer Service Apprentice,  your role revolves around providing support and assistance to corporate clients or businesses, ensuring their needs are met and concerns are addressed promptly and effectively. The Customer Service Apprenticeship in Ayr will join our Internal Sales Team.

The Internal Sales Team is central to Castle Water’s Sales strategy in the Scottish Market. The apprentices primary responsibility is to support the growth of company revenue via all sales channels. You will receive training to provide a broad understanding and competency in all aspects of Scottish Sales activities, from producing customer proposals and direct sales, to customer retention and supporting colleagues in completion of national tenders.

Responsibilities include:

Client Communication: Act as a primary point of contact for corporate clients, handling enquiries, resolving issues, collecting payment and providing information about products or services. This communication may occur via phone, email, or webchat.

Problem Resolution: Utilise effective problem-solving skills to address client concerns and complaints in a timely and satisfactory manner. This may involve investigating issues, liaising with other departments, and proposing solutions that meet the client’s needs.

Account Management: Assist in managing client accounts by maintaining accurate records, updating client information, and ensuring that contractual obligations are fulfilled.

Product Knowledge: Develop a comprehensive understanding of the companies services.  This knowledge enables you to effectively address client queries and provide relevant recommendations.

Documentation and Reporting: Maintain detailed records of client interactions, including enquiries, complaints, and resolutions.

Team Collaboration: Work collaboratively with other customer service representatives, sales teams, technical support staff, and other departments to ensure a seamless customer experience.

Training and Development: Participate in training programs and workshops to enhance customer service skills, product knowledge, and industry expertise. Continuous learning enables you to stay updated on best practices and emerging trends in customer service.

Quality Assurance: Adhere to company policies and procedures related to customer service standards, ensuring consistency and quality in all client interactions. Strive to meet or exceed performance metrics such as response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction scores.

By fulfilling these responsibilities effectively, you contribute to building strong relationships with corporate clients, fostering loyalty, and driving business growth and success.

Throughout your apprenticeship, you’ll have the opportunity to learn and develop a wide range of administrative skills while gaining practical experience in a professional setting. You’ll likely work closely with experienced administrators and managers who will provide guidance and mentorship as you progress in your role.

We can promise you a hardworking and lively environment that will equip you with skills that could be used across many areas of the business. You can expect to be part of a collegial and supportive team, with a strong emphasis on knowledge-sharing, continuous learning, mutual respect, and personal development. We will ask a lot of you, and in return, opportunities for advancement in our company are available for those who put in the effort. We value our people and love to watch them develop and advance in their careers with us.

• Confidently communicate with customers via email, phone and webchat
• Understand, review and respond to customer queries, taking ownership and following through to resolution
• Build rapport, identify customer needs quickly, efficiently, and proactively to deliver excellent customer services
• Assist and collaborate with ALL other area of the business when required
• Manage workload effectively ensuring all tasks are completed within given timescales
• Actively work on apprenticeship during allocated 3 hours of allocated study time
• Attend weekly meetings with GP Strategies appointed assessor
• Closing and facilitating new business
• Client retention through proactive communication
• Reactive client retention
• Negotiating with “non-contract” customers including new occupiers, facilitating their onboarding and contract agreement
• Collection, collation and analysis of sales figures as required by the management team
• Any other ad-hoc task as required

Company Values

• Understand and model behaviours on company Values, and adhere to all regulatory requirements
• Ability to work in a high pressure, challenging and fast paced environment, working to tight deadlines

Delivering and reporting KPIs

• Fully understand the KPIs in their area, and takes responsibility for their delivery
• Ongoing monitoring of performance statistics to evaluate and ensure that the set goals and targets are consistently achieved

Subject matter expertise

• Understanding key processes throughout the customer journey, particularly those processes within your area of responsibility
• Identifying and implementing process improvements to improve operational efficiency and customer service throughout the business

Proficient use of company systems

• Creating an environment and culture where everyone is or becomes proficient in using key company systems, related to their area of responsibility
• Ensuring you and your team are effective and efficient in using all company IT systems
• Identifies and facilitates training as required

Compliance

• Understands regulatory requirements and the company code of ethics and applies these to all tasks
• Undertakes all mandatory training required by the company including GDPR, Equality & Diversity
• Undertakes ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 responsibilities associated with the role

Undertaking continuous professional development

• Taking responsibility for self-development
• Attending all Apprenticeship meetings with Assessor from GP Strategies
• Using allocated study time effectively

Any other duties

• You will be expected to carry out any other duties that may reasonably be required in line with your main duties

• Communication Skills: Clear verbal and written communication is essential for conveying information effectively, whether it’s through emails, phone calls, or in-person interactions
• Organisational Skills: The ability to prioritise tasks and manage time efficiently
• Attention to Detail: Being meticulous and thorough ensures accuracy in tasks like data entry, document preparation, and record-keeping, minimising errors and oversights
• Problem-Solving Skills: The capacity to identify issues, analyse situations, and propose solutions is valuable for resolving challenges that may arise in day-to-day operations
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Working well with others, being cooperative, and contributing positively to team dynamics fosters a productive and harmonious work environment
• Adaptability: Flexibility and openness to change enable you to adjust to shifting priorities, new tasks, and evolving business needs effectively
• IT Proficiency: Basic proficiency in using common office software such as word, Excel and PowerPoint is often necessary, along with the ability to quickly learn new software tools
• Qualifications: Minimum Nat 5 Maths and Nat 5 English preferred