AO, the UK’s most trusted major electricals retailer, announces that it will be recruiting over 250 people to grow its team of customer service specialists, to serve customers even better.
The Bolton-based employer is now offering a development pathway, which will see applicants able to carve out a career in customer service – with a starting salary of £24,000, and the ability to increase this up to £31,000 within 12 months.
AO is investing in the people who serve its customers brilliantly, with contact centre agents having had pay increases of over 20% in the past 12 months, along with a £400/month performance based bonus for all colleagues in this team.
Jo Salisbury, head of contact centre transformation at AO said: “Making customers happy is at the heart of everything we do and as such, we are delighted to be investing heavily in our people – especially the ones who speak to our customers and are exceptional in the moments that matter! AO now has over 400,000 positive Trust Pilot reviews and they haven’t happened by accident – we have the right people delivering the best proposition to our customers and we wanted to reward them with a new progression pathway.”
“Our customer service specialists go through AO’s Academy process, seeing them grow and develop their existing customer service skills. All colleagues will then have the opportunity to progress every three months, through four achievable development bands, to the stage where they are an expert on all things AO and earning a fantastic £31,000.”
“Our contact centre has a fantastic atmosphere, a calendar loaded with awards days, incentives, and social activities to keep the energy high and recognition front of mind.”
Though the customer service development pathway is a recent introduction, there are many colleagues who have taken advantage of career development opportunities in the AO contact centre.
Gemma McGhee, contact centre quality manager at AO said: “I joined AO over 10 years ago, in February 2013 as a sales specialist, with no experience or qualifications and have been given all of the tools to develop at my own pace, enabling me to progress.”
“After just a few short months taking inbound calls, I was able to progress to a senior team member position, which opened the door for me to grow to team manager. From there, I was able to gain a wealth of experience, which led me to become a manager and to my current position of quality manager.”
“I have always obsessed about doing the very best for our customers, so I feel like I’m now in a role that is perfect for me, as I’m able to ensure that the very best quality of service is delivered by my team, to every single customer, every single day.”
For information about applying for a role at AO, visit: https://www.ao-jobs.com/
To apply for the contact centre roles, visit: https://www.ao-jobs.com/jobs/customer-service-specialist-9/
About AO:
AO World plc, headquartered in Bolton and listed on the London Stock Exchange, is an online electrical retailer, with a mission to be the global destination for electricals. Our strategy is to create value by focussing on being brilliant for our customers to make AO the destination for everything they need, in the simplest and easiest way, when buying electricals.
We sell major and small domestic appliances and a growing range of electrical products in the UK, delivering them via our in-house logistics business and carefully selected third parties. We also provide ancillary services such as the installation of new and collection of old products and offer product protection plans and customer finance.
In the UK, AO operates in five main categories (Major Domestic Appliances “MDA”, Small Domestic Appliances “SDA”, Audio Visual “AV” and Consumer Electronics “CE”). Following the acquisition of Mobile Phones Direct Limited in December 2018, AO has significantly broadened its mobile phone category.
In September 2020, AO was named the headline sponsor of the AO Arena in a five-year deal.
AO also has a majority equity stake in AO Recycling, a WEEE processing facility, allowing AO to ensure its customers’ electricals waste is dealt with responsibly in the UK.