Spotlight On: Jade Whyte, Project Manager for Business

Jade Whyte, Project Manager for Business at Dennis Eagle

1. Hi Adele, thanks for having a chat with us, it’s fab to be able to sit down and discuss your journey at Dennis Eagle so far. Could you tell us how long you’ve been with the company and what your role is?

Hi! Really good to speak to you too, thanks for having me. I actually hit my 25-year milestone this January. After having started out life at Dennis Eagle as a temp, I’m now the business’ Customer Support Manager. 

2. How would you describe your role in three words?

It’s so difficult to narrow it all down to three words! The first word that springs to mind is fluid – you need to be so flexible and agile in a role like this because your priorities on any given day can shift and change really quickly. It’s also very gratifying when you’re successfully able to help resolve someone’s issue or deal with a frustration – a simple ‘thank you’ can often mean the world. Finally, I’d say my role is very varied and can be quite random. I cover a lot of ground and am somewhat all-encompassing when it comes to (both internal and external) customer problem-solving. 

3. What are some of your key responsibilities? 

There are several different aspects of my role, but the main one is essentially being a troubleshooter for any customer challenges. This can include addressing any issues from the moment a customer places an order for new vehicles to the delivery of the fleet itself, so there’s a lot of relationship management involved. I regularly work closely with our Regional Sales Managers and Service Centres to help enhance the customer experience across all stages of vehicle delivery. I also have to frequently communicate any problems to the right members of our team so we can ensure a fix is made in a timely and effective manner. I love helping to make our customers feel better and get the assistance they need – it’s one of the best parts of my role.

Another huge thing I’m responsible for is overseeing our fleet of demonstration vehicles with the support of our wonderful Demo Engineer, Neil Yarnold, making sure each customer receives the best experience during every demonstration. This consists of arranging several demo vehicles to go to various customers as required, as well as the management of this from start to finish. These vehicles play a key role in helping our customers understand how our trucks can best align with their needs and gives them a chance to get hands-on with our technology ahead of ordering their own vehicles.

4. What did you do before becoming our Customer Support Manager?

While it offered me a lot of transferrable skills, I originally started out in a completely different industry to Dennis Eagle. I initially worked for Birmingham Midshires as a Mortgage Consultant for several years after being promoted from running their cash desks. Here, I was given training that was second-to-none and a role that offered me loads of customer-facing experience that I have readily brought to and applied at Dennis Eagle.

From Midshires, I actually moved into radio advertising for a short while as a Business Development Executive. I quickly found this wasn’t for me, so instead decided to pack my life up into a suitcase and travel around the world for nine months. During this time, I visited Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji to name a few places.

When I got back, I quickly set out to get a brand-new job and happened to see an opportunity for a temporary Service Controller position at Dennis Eagle. At the end of my contract, I was asked to stay on permanently, after which I soon made my way into the Sales and Marketing team. I enjoyed this time because it meant I could get out of the office and have a real-world presence among our customers at various events across the country, which helped me build some key relationships and rapport with many of the people I’m still in touch with today.

Around five years ago a gap in the team was identified for a dedicated customer-facing role that would help streamline the customer experience by providing personable support and problem-solving. So, I became the company’s first Customer Support Manager.  

5. Why did you decide to join Dennis Eagle and what makes you want to stay? 

The role at Dennis Eagle really suited the skills I’d acquired from my previous jobs, so it was a great fit for me at the time. It has enabled me to grow and reshape my role considerably over the years, which has certainly kept things interesting! More than anything though, it’s the people. For me, the word ‘customer’ covers both external and internal people, so I see myself as being here to support both, and I’ve established some fantastic relationships across the business and beyond as a result. Our working ethos and culture here is great – it’s really somewhere you want to come to work every day, and in any given situation I know my colleagues are always going to have my back.

Importantly, being the go-to person for help at Warwick is such a great accolade to have. I’m so grateful that people feel like I’ll be able to help them, or at the very least point them in the right direction. I know my customers exceedingly well now – even to the point where you can name a council and I’ll be able to tell you their key contact as well as practically that person’s life story!

6. What is your favourite thing about working at Dennis Eagle? 

I can come to work every day and be exactly who I am. We have such an open culture that everyone is encouraged to be their best selves all of the time. It’s also brilliant to know that you’re making an active difference to someone’s life – even if it’s a small task that makes their lives easier, there’s nothing better than receiving a genuine ‘thank you’.

7. What is your proudest achievement so far?  

There are countless memories to choose from over the years, but one that truly stands out was when a television company approached us to ask if we could provide a pink RCV for a pilot series they were filming. Such an unexpected request inspired me to begin a fundraising journey! Using our much-loved pink vehicle, who we affectionately named ‘Lily the Pink’, we decided to raise money for Cancer Research UK. We spent the day driving up and down Leamington Parade armed with collection buckets and bags of enthusiasm and thanks to the incredible generosity and support of our customers, suppliers, and members of the public, we raised almost £4,000! Seeing what we’d achieved in such a short space of time really made my heart soar – it only goes to show what can be accomplished when a community comes together.

8. Do you have any specific goals or ambitions for the future of your role? 

For me, I think it’s important across our business for every department to have a true understanding of every other department. If we all know about each other’s frustrations or successes, there would be a lot more support and alignment within the organisation. While we’re working towards this, I still think we have some work to do to get there.

9.  Final question: who are you outside of work?  

Outside of work, I love to go on long dog walks with my gorgeous whippet, Woody. Anyone who’s seen me out on a walk must think I’m bonkers because I chat to Woody constantly, but I can’t help it – he’s a great therapist! I also very much enjoy watching my daughter play football and supporting her team each season, and am currently working on building up my own strength through regular keep fit classes and weight training.