The road to success with Jay
Success means different things to different people. This could be a promotion at work, finding your soulmate or simply just being happy. At Checkatrade, we love a good success story! We love hearing them and we love telling them. We share stories about wins which both inspire and teach our audience. So, let’s first take a deeper look at success and then see what the road to success looks like for one of our people…
If success to you means job satisfaction, being rewarded for your efforts, and being promoted then look no more. Come and join Checkatrade, where reputation matters!
Employers can no longer pick from a vast pool of applicants, as candidates are now more selective about where they apply. So, businesses who want to be an employer of choice (like us!) who are looking to recruit new staff must think about what’s important for candidates. Here’s just some of the things they need to consider:
· Work-life balance
· Opportunities for career advancement
· Pay
· Good management and/or team to work with
· Positive work culture
· Sense of purpose at work
· Employee benefits
With success in mind, we caught up with Jay Kennedy who has recently moved into our National Accounts Team from Field Sales. This is a fantastic testament to what hard work, passion and determination can do. Here’s what Jay had to say:
So, Jay, you joined Checkatrade as a Field Sales Rep in April 2021. What did you enjoy about this role and the team? What did a typical day look like for you?
Having worked for Yell.com for 20 years, Checkatrade was always on my radar, as most trades preferred Checkatrade to Yell.com. I took a considerable pay cut initially, and backed myself to do well at Checkatrade, and it worked. 20 years’ experience of prospecting and local knowledge really helped me. Most days I would make 30-40 calls. I would be setting up appointments in the field and virtually, plus I would attend trade shows and host breakfast meetings at local trade merchants too.
I would be constantly hunting for new prospect data to call, using social media, collecting local print mags, business cards, and walk-ins on local businesses. Some leads were also provided by the business, but by the main part I mainly worked from self-generated ones.
Why National Accounts? What made you want to progress into this role?
I missed account management and wanted to really start growing my own base of clients, building trust and rapport working with clients end-to-end. I signed up over 600 new memberships in field! I got a lot of call-backs from members wanting to upgrade and add on extra products, but the role of a Field Sales Rep is a so called ‘hunter’ so these would be passed on to our Cross Sales Team to follow up on. That said, members coming back to me proved they trusted me, and I was recommending the right products and setting correct lead expectations. When the National Accounts role came about, I was ready for a new challenge. I’ve never missed a monthly target as a Field Sales Rep, and I wanted to be involved in selling our new Pay-Per-Lead model to engage with bigger clients.
Why would you recommend working at Sales at Checkatrade?
We are the No.1 trade brand in the UK, and I use it myself! Tradespeople love the product and recommend it too, so it sells itself. Targets are achievable. We have great benefits like a company car (or monthly car allowance) in some Sales roles, work laptop, flexible working hours/hybrid working, and so much more. The role is also varied too with face-to-face and video calls, so you get a nice mix of work week-on-week.
What are the top three reasons people should join Checkatrade?
1. We are an ethical company - we help homeowners and our trade members.
2. We offer a great salary and uncapped commission structure.
3. We sell a product that new customers want to hear about!
And finally, we like to get to know our staff personally as well as professionally, so what is your favourite film and why?
Jaws. It’s an all-time classic! And as a keen scuba diver, I now love diving with sharks. They are the most amazing creatures and I love being in the ocean too.
Our congratulations go to Jay for his promotion and a huge thanks for sharing your story with us. We can’t wait to hear all about your success as a National Account Manager as you progress your career within our Enterprise function at Checkatrade.