A Day in the Life Of...

A Business Link Business Support Adviser

Alison Bowden-Stoker

Joined Business & Enterprise North East:
April 2008

I work as part of the County Durham team as a Business Support Adviser. My main role is to take live calls from start-up and established businesses that are looking for help to develop their ideas or improve their business. First of all, I have a general chat with the customer and complete a diagnosis of their business, where I can, so that I can gain a full picture of their needs.

My day usually starts around 8.00am when I check my emails. I then access our CRM and work through my tasks due for that day. These could be follow-up calls with customers that I've recently spoken to, checking their progress and offering further help or information.

At 9.00am we start to receive live calls from customers. I chat with the customer regarding their business and try to spot areas where we could assist them. I can provide information to the customer such as factsheets, links to websites, contacts we have in the area, etc.

During the call I work through the diagnostic framework, which is a series of prompts and questions, so that I can obtain an overview of their business. I try and keep the call just like a conversation so it's not just a barrage of questions. On completing the call, I agree actions with the customer, whether that be arranging an appointment with an Business Adviser/Business Adviser - People, to visit them or it could be signposting them to other organisations or sending them some information.

Once our next steps have been agreed I would end the call and complete the actions discussed. If I have booked an appointment, I would book it in the broker's diary, book a room at an access point (where required), send a task to the Business Adviser/Business Adviser - People to advise them of the appointment and confirm to the customer via email or letter. If I don't think an appointment is appropriate, at that time, I would then put together an information email or letter for the customer including factsheets, links to websites, and as much help I can offer them. I would then write up my diagnostic on our CRM system and load any follow up tasks for myself.

I have a portfolio of customers that I regularly speak to - keeping in touch to offer further support and seeing if there's anything we can help them with. It is my responsibility to maintain the relationship with these customers and keep Business Link as the first port of call whenever they require help.

We also receive tasks from our Business Advisers or Business Advisers - People to carry out actions following their interventions with customers. This could be to search for some providers on the North East England Service Provider Register or a skills search, if the customer is looking for a training course etc. We also receive requests to make contact with customers who have been referred to us from Enterprise Agencies or other partner organisations. 

Have you had any training whilst working for Business & Enterprise North East?Yes, I initially attended a corporate induction during my first few days with the company, which I found really informative. We've been given a great deal of on-the-job training and we regularly attend training sessions which keeps us up to date with what is happening within the company, in the marketplace and in the business support arena.

I have successfully completed my Professional Development Programme-Relationship Manager Standard. This is a programme that includes assessment against national standards by an assessor who visits and observes you working and talking with customers. I enjoyed the programme and found it helpful in my development over my first few months with the company.

What did this involve and how has it helped with your role?All of the training I have undertaken has helped me learn and develop within my role. The Professional Development programme helped me develop my own systems within my role and my assessor highlighted topics that would be beneficial for me to research.

The ongoing corporate training within Business & Enterprise North East enables me to keep up to date with procedures and enables me to offer a more informed service to my customers.

Do you regularly meet to discuss development/key issues/share best practice/knowledge with your team?We have a fortnightly team meeting where we discuss issues and share best practice and we also regularly have informal chats and share knowledge to colleagues by email. We can meet with our line manager whenever we need to talk and we have set one-to-one meetings fortnightly.

What do you like about your job?I love the fact that every call is different and you need to research and find appropriate help for each customer you deal with. I enjoy speaking with the customers and finding out about their businesses and I get a great feeling when I know I've really helped them.

I love working in here as everyone gets on so well. There's a great atmosphere and it's a great environment to work in, not only in our team but across the whole organisation - everyone's really friendly!

I like the benefits of flexitime. It means if you need to leave early one day, you can always make it up the next day. I usually find my flexitime builds up which enables me to takes a day off every now and again.

Would you recommend a friend/family member to work for Business & Enterprise North East?Definitely - I've already recommended friends of mine apply.

Where did you work before Business & Enterprise North East?
I worked for Lloyds TSB as a business advisor for 11 years so it was a big decision to leave Lloyds and come to Business Link but I definitely feel I made the right choice.

What would be your advice to anyone applying for the Business Support Advisor role?
The Business Support Adviser role is varied and really interesting. Every day is different with a range of customers' needs and requests. I remember thinking when I started ‘there is so much to learn', but you find by observing colleagues and attending training, you quickly pick everything up bit by bit and I'm continuing to learn in the role.

Before my interview I spent a lot of time looking through the Business Link website which gave me a great basis of what the Company is all about and what we can do. I found this really helped me.