Customer Services Assistant Manager

Join the Fortnum and Mason Customer Service team. Fortnum & Mason has been the home of extraordinary experiences since 1707. We are now seeking an exceptional individual with a strong retail background to join us as a Customer Services Assistant Manager, helping us deliver world-class service and uphold our heritage of excellence.

The purpose of your role is to manage, support and inspire the customer service team with a clear and engaging vision. Support the 3rd party relationships (for example, our outsource partners) and ensure best practices are followed. We are looking for someone who is passionate about exceptional customer service and has the ability to handle customers with empathy and consideration whilst ensuring our standards of customer excellence are maintained across the business.

Key Accountabilities:

• Achieve and improve on personal and departmental KPI’s.
• Resolve escalations in a professional manner through all channels, including face-to-face.
• Carry out regular Supervisors and Senior Advisor 1:1 reviews and PDR’s and ensure the team are regularly reviewed.
• Managing performance and SLA against annual, monthly, weekly and daily forecasts and targets.
• Accountable for ensuring the Supervisors complete probationary periods, PDRs, 1:1 reviews, absence, timekeeping, agent breaks and holidays, and Fourth.
• Responsible for all HR related meetings for the team.
• Ensuring the team are supported in delivering first-time resolution.
• Accountable for the core team and seasonal team’s rota and Holiday requests.
• Daily, weekly and monthly reporting.
• Attend meetings in the Customer Service Managers and Head of Customer Service’s absence.
• Managing and planning time effectively.
• Working alongside the Customer Service Management team to provide customer feedback and continuous improvement to customers’ journey.
• Complete all administration accurately and with the highest quality.
• Proactively drive the Department by sharing and implementing ways to improve processes.
• Support the Managers and Head of Customer Services to ensure all teams deliver as expected.
• Ensure compliance of company policies and procedures within the team.
• To have a flexible approach to work.
• Ensure regular review of department productivity whilst ensuring customer service standards are maintained.
• Deliver accurate analysis and reporting of customer feedback to senior management with clear sight of the cost implications and challenges to be addressed.
• To attend training courses as and where necessary to ensure personal and team job skills keep pace with legislative and business developments.
• Available to assist the team over the telephone during non-social hours.
• Accountable for team meetings and hosting engaging and informative meetings when required.
• Available to work weekends and evenings over our peak trading period, mini peaks or exceptional times.
• Manage and support the recruitment process for both seasonal and core teams.
• Supporting Christmas seasonal recruits and the core team through peak trading times.
• Support and drive sales for the department using training and incentives.
• Business & Retail awareness for best practices and customer expectations.
• Support the Managers in maintaining and updating the internal and external FAQ systems to ensure they are fully up-to-date.
• Ensure that regular Q&A is carried out by the Supervisors & Senior Advisor to ensure the team maintain our exceptional service standards.
• Support on projects for the business to drive change and improve our customer service delivery.
• Drive your own personal development, advising of necessary support and additional training you require.

We expect the successful candidate to have the following skills and experience:

• Considerable Customer Service and team management experience.
• Outstanding people skills – a keen listener, intellectually curious and highly observant.
• Experience of carrying out training and coaching at an individual and group level.
• Resilient and capable of working with ambiguity and through times of intense change.
• Equivalent combination of experience and/or education from which comparable knowledge, skills and abilities have been achieved.
• Exceptional customer service focus.
• Robust experience of the CRM systems, processes, and reporting mechanisms to enable a function that is growing and maturing at speed.
• Outstanding planning abilities and an ability to deliver on a busy and demanding schedule.
• Awareness and skills in delivering digital technology such as AI, Chatbots, and asynchronous messaging to ensure we remain at the forefront of technology having recently entered an accelerated change.
• Awareness and experience in using Zendesk and LivePerson.

In Return, We Offer:

• Competitive salary and annual bonus (up to 5%).
• Generous store and restaurant discount (up to 40%).
• 28 days holiday (including bank holidays).
• Defined development scheme to grow your career.
• Monthly staff shop and excellent pension scheme.

This is an exciting opportunity to showcase your passion for luxury retail and customer experience while developing your career within an iconic brand. We are committed to developing your career and nurturing your talent, regardless of age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation. We respect and embrace each other’s differences, to create a truly inclusive environment.

In the last year alone, our people have been recognised and celebrated, winning awards for their outstanding contributions to Retail, Technology, Global Hospitality & Tourism, Visual Merchandising & Display, Customer Service and Local Community Awards.