You CAN hear a smile!
If you’ve had reason to call our switchboard, you would have been greeted by a cheery voice wishing you a good morning or afternoon and enquiring as to how they may help you?
Now we haven’t invested in very sophisticated answering machines – these voices belong to two very real and lovely members of our Support Team – Sarah Brown and Amanda Clarke and this month, we’re introducing you to them. Sarah and Amanda manage our front office at OPC.
They fill their busy day manning the phones and following up on a variety of administrative procedures important to our franchise network and the OPC Team. In total, they support over 80 franchises worldwide including Master Franchises in both Americas, Australia, Western Europe and our franchisee network across the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland. With over 15 years’ service between them, there are very few questions they don’t have answers to!
Sarah
Sarah joined us in 2006 after working and managing a gym and says she thoroughly enjoys her role as Support Assistant. “I get to talk to all different types of people from the franchisees to retailers and suppliers.
I could be talking to our franchisee from Cornwall one minute and then to a supplier in Leeds the next!” Sarah’s role is a varied one with her primary focus being managing the Resales process, (the sale of OPC’s existing successful businesses), and acting as liaison between the various National Account contacts OPC has access to and the franchisees, providing store leads and other information as quickly and efficiently as possible.
She is also the secondary contact to Andrew Cutler, our National Sales & Franchise Manager for prospective franchisees ensuring that they have everything they need for their initial comprehensive training program right through to the continued support after the handover of the business.
“I take my supporting role very seriously as I think it’s important that our franchisees know that there is someone on the end of the phone who can help them with their query, however big or small – perhaps just a voice to cheer them up a little on a rainy day.”
Outside of work, Sarah relaxes by going for long walks with her two dogs, watching films, reading and managing a slight obsession with Sudoku!
Amanda
Amanda joined us almost a year to the date after Sarah started. It was so important that the Front Office Team worked well together and the OPC Team were very pleased when Amanda and Sarah just ‘clicked into place’. Amanda shares:
“I have worked within administrative roles for many years and joined the OPC Team just over 8 years ago now. My primary responsibility is helping ensure franchisee National Account payments are made timeously to the network.”
This is an extremely important function of the Support Team but Amanda also carefully manages her time ensuring our daily office life runs smoothly too and she’s a really handy oracle of everything on the local scene having lived in the nearby village of Hersham all her life!
Amanda’s strong background in customer service and her bright and sunny disposition means she is a delight to those who call in but she also has a more serious side to her role. Amanda is responsible for ensuring the safety of the OPC Team with strict adherence to all health and safety compliance standards.
“When work is over, I love visiting theme parks – no scary rides mind! Oh! And I love socialising with friends, going to the cinema and shopping! Definitely shopping! I love all animals but my favourites are the big cats, especially tigers and I love visiting zoos and animal parks as often as I can to see them.”
