A Day in the Life of an.. Account Director, featuring Alexandra Penny and Jennifer Wilson at Auto Trader UK
What does a typical working day look life for you, and how is it heightened during September?
The great thing about being an Account Director at Auto Trader is that no day is the same! We both work with large group customers who are based all over the country, which means we could be in Aberdeen one day, meeting with a franchise site, discussing how they can get the best out of our products. The next, we might be meeting with a Managing Director to explore how they can use data and insight to be more efficient, it’s varied to say the least!
September is a plate change month for our customers and as such, it is a busy time for them. In our role, we use the early part of September to take a step back, reflect on our successes and challenges of the previous quarter and plan for the next. Towards the latter part of September, our customers will have a more accurate view of the volume of trade ins and pre-registered cars that will be coming
back into the market. Typically, we would then support using data and insight led campaigns on Auto Trader to help them retail out of the increased levels of stock.
What is your secret to remaining focused and productive during this busy period?
Working in such a fast-paced environment means it’s important to stay focused as in any job. When it is particularly busy, we are lucky at Auto Trader to work with talented, passionate people who will go above and beyond to support both us and our customers. Keeping in touch with our teams with weekly calls, monthly and quarterly face to face planning sessions ensures that we are all working towards clear objectives that are aligned to the goals of the retailers we support.
The amount of travel involved in our role can sometimes mean it’s more difficult to keep up to date with internal updates. However, Slack (our corporate social media tool) does allow us to keep in touch with our colleagues, share best practices and industry knowledge and helps us to keep up to speed with the volume of changes to products and our site.
Do you do anything to celebrate at the end of the month with your team?
We all need to celebrate at times and we do try to celebrate at least once a quarter. As a team we believe we win when our customers win, the removal of commissions back in March 2016 supports this outlook.
We definitely try to celebrate customer successes as a team, which often involves team lunches, activities such as bowling, darts, crazy golf or of course going out for a few celebratory drinks! Taking time out to celebrate with our teams helps us to build stronger personal relationships and ultimately helps us work better together. Outside of work, in a social environment is often where the best relationships are built.
What has been your biggest challenge during a busy September and how have you turn this into a positive learning point?
We’re lucky to work with groups who we have great relationships with and regular contact. However, during September, the biggest challenge for us is getting time in with our franchise customers, who we know are focused on driving the second biggest new car month of the year.
To turn this in positive we try to use this time effectively engaging with stakeholders across our business, working with people from areas such as product, data & insight, trade marketing as well as our operational leaders. It’s often a great time to provide both our own and customer feedback into these areas of our business too, which helps support in making Auto Trader fit for the future in our ever changing industry - for both our customers and car buyers!