The first post of our “Meet Our Team” series features Abbie, who the majority of our customers will have spoken to at some point as our friendly and organised Business Development Manager. We asked her a few questions about her time at Scotia…
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH SCOTIA?
3.5 years
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR CAREER BACKGROUND
I left school with not a clue what I wanted to do. I worked in KFC while going to college studying criminal psychology but being in a classroom is not for me! I then worked in an estate agent as an admin letting agent for a number of years which I really enjoyed but didn’t have much room for progression. I know Sarah the office manager at Scotia personally and when she told me they were looking for an Admin Assistant in her work I decided to go for it. I have now managed to progress to Business Development Manager!
TELL US ABOUT YOUR ROLE AND YOUR DAY-TO-DAY TASKS
All I hear all day, every day is “Abbie, Abbie, Abbie, Abbie, Abbie” and have contemplated changing my name a few times! As Business Development Manager, I have recently worked on changing over our working systems to an online based system and the development of our new online shop. In recent months I have updated our marketing materials and produced new brochures for the company. I also manage a number of 6 monthly contracts and communicate with our customers on a daily basis to help with any enquiries they may have. I research and stalk people on LinkedIn (not creepy at all) to seek new business opportunities and any potential to develop our business.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING AT SCOTIA?
I enjoy the challenge and constantly looking to develop new things. We have such a great working environment in our office & workshop – although most of them annoy the life out of me we are like a wee dysfunctional family and everyone has their own unique part to play in the everyday running of the place!
CAN YOU TELL US A PARTICULAR INSTANCE OF HELPING A CUSTOMER THAT YOU’RE PROUD OF?
One of the customers that I manage the 6 monthly contract of inspections for recently visited our office. He had passed on compliments from the owner of his company for the service that I provide to them. This was nice to hear as it had come from higher up and not from someone we had personally dealt with so it is nice to know that our service has been recognised further up the chain as well.
WHY WOULD YOU SAY CUSTOMERS RELY ON SCOTIA AND ITS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES?
We always ensure we supply the best quality products to our customers and we are open and honest that, although we may not be the cheapest on the market, we provide the quality our customers want. I think our customers appreciate our honesty and transparency. We do always also go above and beyond to be as flexible and available as possible to make things easier for our customers, even out with our office/workshop opening hours.
WHAT DO YOU GET UP TO OUTSIDE OF WORK?
I wish I could tell you that I had some sort of exciting and exotic hobby but outside of work during the week my nights consist of eating and watching Netflix. Come the weekend you can almost guarantee I will be spending too much money in home bargains and drinking cocktails!