Join Phil as he shares insights, challenges, and memorable moments from his first year in the fast-paced world of customer service at Auto Trader
Hi everyone, I'm Phil from the Auto Trader Customer Service team. This October marks my 1st anniversary at Auto Trader so I'm celebrating with this blog to promote our fantastic team and share how my journey has gone so far. Spoiler alert: it's going well!
Firstly, let me explain what the Customer Service team do. We are the first point of contact for our customers looking for buy or sell their vehicle or use tools like our valuations. We are a multi-channel team so depending on the day and demand, I work across emails, live chat or via inbound telephone calls (not all at the same time, don't worry!)
We work on a hybrid basis, meaning I work in the office 3 days a week and work at home 2 days. As a team, we're in the office every Tuesday and Thursday, and I'm expected to work in the office one other flex day which I can choose. I like a Monday as it starts the week on the right foot, although we do have 'Free Breakfast Fridays' which proves very popular!
Typically, our training lasts 4-6 weeks depending on how the group is progressing. We try and start new joiners together so you're all in the same boat. I had experience in the automotive industry before I joined Auto Trader, but training is tailored to the individual, and you really don't need to like cars to do well here, trust me! You get to know about Auto Trader and our products first so you're competent and have good base knowledge, then you start taking on email queries. After that, you move onto live chat, and eventually take your own calls after you've buddied with a colleague beforehand.
As part of my "Great Start" (Auto Trader's onboarding name), I went on our company-wide offsite induction which is held in the Peak District. It was such a positive experience, and I'd go back if I had the chance. You get to network with a group of new starters from other teams across the business and build relationships that last your career. I still have a laugh and a joke with people from my induction. You learn about your DiSC profile too, which sheds light on what your work personality is, strengths and weaknesses, and how you work at your best. It was so interesting and has helped me understand my own development, and how to gel with someone who might work the complete opposite way to me. It's important to me to be my authentic self at work, and I have sensed that from the beginning. I've since taken courses (available to everyone at Auto Trader) on imposter syndrome, confidence in the workplace, and finding your purpose - which have been super helpful.
Throughout my day, I work on a variety of systems, so I can expect to click through several tabs at any one time to resolve customer queries. Throughout training, you get to know our products, systems, and advertising packages we sell. However, there is always our internal team chat if you get stuck on any complex or new queries. We get plenty of breaks throughout the day, 2 x 15 minute breaks and 1 x 1 hour lunch break.
Every day is different here in the customer service team, and I love the variety of interactions I have with people. We deal with people from all walks of life and everyone we interact with has a different story to tell. I've had lengthy conversations with people about their travel plans (while resolving their query of course!), or about their new pet. Sometimes, we chat to people who are reluctant to sell their prized car due to ill-health or financial difficulty. This is why it's so important to show empathy in your customer interactions, no matter how many calls you've had that day.
I am the Team Champion, which means I celebrate our team as much as I can to the wider business. This could mean posting a positive 'customer satisfaction' score for a colleague on our internal messages, bringing team feedback to our senior leaders, and generally shouting about our success and hard work. I'm hoping to start arranging our team volunteering days (we get 2 per year!) and to organise more of our quarterly team days in the future too. I helped to host a virtual murder mystery which went down a treat - with the help of my very helpful and tech-savvy partner!
The next step for me is to keep on developing and learning. There are many ways to do that at Auto Trader - courses, external qualifications, getting a mentor/coach - and I've got my sights set on progressing to a Senior Advisor so I can help with training new starters and have a full circle moment.
So, here's to another year in the team and another potential 40+ free breakfasts. Oh, and I have a wedding to be planning now too!
If you're considering a career in customer service and a career opportunity at Auto Trader, click here for our live vacancies