When I left the house this morning I opened the door to the beautiful sunshine and instantly felt its warmth on my face. I got in to my car, put on my sunglasses (any excuse) and turned up my music. I was in a great mood and as I was driving I thought about everybody else going about their daily routine. There are so many people in the world that we donโt know and I sometimes wonder what it is that everyone is doing. Are they heading to work? Are they off to the shop? Have they just gotten married and are off on their honeymoon? There are millions of people whose lives interlink but no matter how many people you know, there are still more that you donโt. It was this thought process that has had me come in to work and start writing this blog. In the hope that I am not the only person with these curiosities I thought I would share with you a typical day in the office so that you can gain a little insight in to mine and the girls little world.
On first arriving to the office you can guarantee that a cup of tea will be made โ we are tea-aholics! As the mug hits our desks we settle in for the day and have a look at the emails that we have received since we left the night before and โflagโ the emails that need responding to (We get a lot of spam but will always reply to genuine emails). We have many customers email in for a variety of reasons such as asking for a quotation, sending in worktop plans, asking questions or confirming their order. Once we have done this we will then look at any calls that we have missed and ring our customers back before noting how we were able to help them.
Ongoing from this, both Victoria and Ami will respond to the emails that were earlier flagged while I get started on the social media. The girls are fantastic at making sure that all emails are responded to quickly and thoroughly. We like to provide you with as much information as possible to help make the ordering process easier for you – photographs and lengthy descriptions are very common in this office! While covering the emails the phones also get answered and similar queries to the emails get answered. So if youโre not sure of something then please do get in touch as we are always happy and willing to help you.
In the office we also take your order and process this for you with the necessary documentation that goes alongside this โ invoices, manufacturing sheets, provisional delivery schedules and CAD drawings. We then e-mail an order confirmation over to you ready for you to give us the thumbs up to proceed with manufacturing your order. If there are any alterations to be made we will then amend the paperwork before re-sending it to you.
We also get many samples and gifts ordered so we make sure that these are all packaged and labelled ready for dispatch. Our courier Interlink arrives with us before lunch on collection days while Ami makes a trip to the post office for all our Royal Mail deliveries.
Alongside this, we get visits to the office not only to purchase our hardwood briquettes but to talk through the many services that we offer and look at displays of our products.
As office manager Ami also has to deal with a variety of other daily tasks and is therefore very good at multi-tasking to make sure that everything gets completed while Victoria is head of purchasing and is therefore in constant demand by the workshop for the supplies that they need to complete your orders.
Whilst the girls are busy doing this I am lost in my own little bubble of social media. I regularly update and respond to comments and messages on our social sites โ Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus and our Google community while also finding/taking photographs for these very blogs that I write for you (Although keep an eye out as Victoria has now started writing her very own blogs which are a really good read). I also from time to time help the girls out when things get particularly manic in the office โ which can be quite often!
Besides us girls we do also have Nathan and Matthew here with us. They are the ones that make our website look as spectacular as it does. They work incredibly hard insuring that everything is clear, informative and useful for you. Their design and technological skills are what make Norfolk Oaks website stand out so beautifully.
So you see, between the five of us, we are all extremely busy making sure that we provide you with the best service possible so that you feel informed, comfortable and most importantly, excited when you order a product from ourselves.
โNow you have an insight into our world,
will you give us an insight in to yours?!…โ
