Building Society Sales Consultant - Selina

Case Study: Building Society Sales Consultant - Selina

What do you do?

My job here in the building society is sales consultant, which means that I talk to customers on a one-to-one basis in a private area, gathering information about them, their homeowner status and the investments they hold elsewhere. This is so that I can build a customer profile, and then our financial adviser or our mortgage specialists can offer them the right products.

The cashiers in the branch talk to people on a daily basis as well. They deal with cash and cheque transactions whereas I deal only with cheque transactions, when opening accounts. What is your background?

When I left school, I went into hairdressing. I did that for two years and then decided it wasn't really for me. I then went into retail, selling mobile phones in various outlets.

I wanted to progress and to earn more money, so I started working for the Halifax as a cashier. It gave me the financial bug and I saw an advertisement for a job at the Portman Building Society [now part of the Nationwide Building Society] and I decided that it would be a company that I would really like to work for. I got the job and I've progressed well in my role. What characteristics do you need to be successful in your job?

I think the most important one is confidence, as you're speaking to customers on a daily basis.

And you need to know what you're talking about, so you need to take ownership of your learning about products, so that when you're speaking to customers, it comes across that you know what you're talking about. It's very important, as you deal with their money and they like to know that the people they're investing their money with are professional.

You need to be a bit laid back. It's sometimes a bit stressful, but don't let it get to you.

You need to be very sales orientated. You've got targets to meet on a weekly basis, quarterly basis and yearly basis, but you are rewarded for your hard work. What other jobs could you do using the skills from this job?

With the knowledge you learn inside the branch, you can progress to become a mortgage manager, financial adviser, branch manager or, even, senior branch manager, and it goes up from there. So there's a lot you can do. What changes will there be in the future?

There are no immediate changes for the future that I can see. There are things we change constantly to improve the way we run things regarding issues like money laundering and fraud. We're always making sure that our accounts are being used properly, and we've got a good team up at head office that helps us with that.

There's always a possibility, people think, that building societies will be taken over by banks to become public limited companies, but this is highly unlikely really and it's nothing we can predict. What are the biggest challenges in your job?

One of the biggest challenges is to meet your targets every quarter and throughout the year and you're constantly striving to reach your goals, which can be difficult sometimes. And you can be put off if you have a negative response when approaching people. However, I always turn a negative into a positive and really strive to achieve my goals

Another challenge is creating a positive atmosphere within your team. When somebody's down, it does affect the rest of the team and we have to pick ourselves up to be the best branch in our region and throughout the Society. Are there many opportunities to enter this career?

There are a lot of opportunities for the right people. Building societies are constantly looking for new members to create a good team to reach their goals.

You need to go into your interview (and that's the hardest part) creating a great first impression and a focused impression, so they can see where you want to be in the future and know how confident you are. Those are the qualities that really count so you need to make a big impression in your first interview. What do you like about your job?

What I like about my job is that I really get on well with my manager and my team, which makes a difference. I love working towards a target. I think it's great to have targets that make the day go quicker and you get rewarded for it and that's nice.

I also like meeting my customers on a daily basis, building up a good rapport with them and getting to know them on a more personal level. It's quite nice to get to know our customers. What do you dislike about your job?

To be honest, there are not many things I dislike about my job. I really enjoy it. What are your ambitions?

I'm really focusing on trying to become a financial adviser within the Portman [now part of the Nationwide Building Society]. It's a challenging job role and there's a lot of pressure on you to get the sales in from our customers, and that's something I really, really, want to do. What advice would you give to someone interested in your career?

I would definitely say you'd need to have a 'can do' attitude and a positive outlook on life. You need to be sales orientated and want to achieve goals, be easily motivated, like working within a team, be very focused and want to get on and do well. Somebody who wants to progress in their job role will always do well. It's just about having a great attitude and being confident. A day in the life

8:45 am - 9:00 am

Have a morning meeting with the team - discuss the previous day's work and what we can do today to meet our targets. Prepare the branch for opening.

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Check my diary for appointments with customers. Meet customers, open accounts and book appointments.

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Have lunch.

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Continue working with customers.

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Review the day's work, check that everything is in order and that all work is completed by close of business.

Complete a security check before going home.