Pat Stanfield

Customer Advisor – Member Services

"If I can sell, then anyone can. When I joined the AA from an engineering firm 15 years ago, I'd never sold so much as a raffle ticket. Since then, I've never looked back. The thing is, it's not about the hard-sell here. We do, genuinely, have a great range of products to offer our customers – the Breakdown Repair Cover service we've just launched is just one example. It's definitely a big plus as I could never sell anything I didn't 100% believe in.

"Of course, products don't just sell themselves. At the moment, I work in Member Services and you have to listen carefully to what members are telling you. It's the only way to build up a picture of what they really want and gain an insight into their needs. So whether you're offering additional products, services or an upgrade, you can be certain you're giving them what they actually want. You have to be a good judge of character too. Some customers want to get off the phone as quickly as possible, others are willing to tell you their life story! You learn quite quickly how to gauge which are going to be the most receptive to taking extra services.

"If you give things you're best shot, you're very well rewarded too. There are targets to meet – and if you exceed them, there's a lot of money to be made. But that's not the only way your contribution is acknowledged. I've just been nominated for 'Employee of the Year'. There's a gala dinner for all the nominees and it's a really big deal. It makes you feel good to be recognised – I'm just over the moon to be nominated."