By Charly Andrews • Published on 9th August, 2023
Join me (Charly – Head of Commercial Sales), for a typical day in the Bath & West Office…
7.30am:
Just before I leave for the day I make a fruit smoothie and a black coffee. Then I do a spritz of perfume and I’m out the door and on the road for 7.40am
My commute is quite a long one, hence why I have 2 drinks for the journey, 1 for breakfast and 1 to wake me up! My travel routine is to put Radio 1 straight on as I am a big Greg James fan. It’s the only time I choose radio over a playlist or podcast. It gets me into the zone with some great music mixed in with some laughter. The perfect start to the day!
9:00am
Arrive in the office and do some good morning chats with my team, before getting logged on and making myself another coffee.
My first task of the day is to scan through my emails for anything exciting I am waiting for. I always have quite a busy inbox with a lot of emails in there, so I have to prioritise. I look for replies from people I have been liaising with about whether we are the chosen venue for their event, and for any signed contracts. That is my favourite way to start the day!
Today I am delighted to come in to a contract signed for an event next May which was a brand new event for us this summer, and they are looking to return. We have incredibly limited availability so it’s great to see the free dates start being booked up.
Whenever I get a new contract in, I ding the bell on my desk so that the office team know, and it normally gets a little round of applause which I’ll be honest, I love! I then update our Enterprises Board in the office which we keep up to date with the next event, newest contract signed, where we are looking against budget and any exciting news etc.
10:00am
Now it’s time for a very exciting site visit! A film crew are looking at using us as a base for their trailers in a few months time, as well as perhaps even filming one scene on site with us. Site visits like this are some of my favourites, because they are so different, plus there is a real air of mystery involved. Sometimes I get to know who will be starring in the show or film, sometimes I don’t, but it’s always a really fun meeting to be a part of. Today’s meeting has been really successful, so I will be sending the contract over once I am back in the office which is amazing.
11:30am
Now it’s time for a final details meeting with a client ahead of their event with us in a couple of weeks time. Myself and the team pride ourselves in the relationships that we build with our clients, so we like to try and do our final details in person as often as we possibly can. For this meeting, my colleague Toby is coming along with me as our Operations Coordinator, as we go through all of the details of when and where people are arriving, what entertainment there is, what health and safety measures are in place and basically all of the details we need to know to ensure that their event is a huge success.
1:00pm
Time for some lunch now. Today I have brought a salad with me that I made at home. Then it’s time to go for a walk around the Showground with Jess, our Head of Shows. I am also a fully trained Mental Health First Aider, so I am conscious to always make sure I consider my own wellbeing as well as others. Getting outside for some fresh air is the perfect way to make sure I do that. It grounds me and makes sure I step away from the computer for a bit, and we are incredibly lucky with the beautiful countryside we have here at the Showground, so what better place to go for a walk?! Plus I always love a good catch up with Jess!
2:00pm
It’s now time for our Sales and Marketing Team Strategy Meeting. I hold these with my team every other month and they are a real highlight of my role for me!
I start by going through the figures and explaining to the team where we currently stand – both for this current year, and looking ahead to next year. I will show comparisons and what is going well, and then what areas we can then work on to see even more improvements.
Today we are then hearing an update from two of the team, Zoe and Paul, who have been working on a new wellness package for our Day Delegate Rate as well as an exciting new space to aid wellness.
We are then agreeing next steps for our own events that we are working on and when to launch them, as well as discussing any new angles to attract new business.
I am very lucky to have such a motivated and eager team, so these meetings are always a real pleasure.
4:00pm
Now back to the office feeling motivated, and ready to type up the final details from this morning’s meeting and get them ready to share with the wider team. I will send them their invoice for pre-payment, respond to a few more emails in my inbox, making sure I check if anything urgent came in during my strategy meeting and send any action notes around to my team.
5:00pm
Just before I leave for the day, I write out my to do list for tomorrow. I use an A4 diary for my list, so it’s always per day, which makes it feel more manageable for me. I start by putting my top 3 things for tomorrow on there first, whatever it is that I really want to make sure I get done tomorrow. On this occasion it is to check in with an enquiry I responded to 2 days ago and ensure that they have everything I need, check that next week’s event have paid and prepare for a meeting I have with an agency that we haven’t work with before which is happening next week.
I then copy over anything from today’s list that I was unable to get done today and add on anything additional that still needs doing, before logging off and heading home for the day.
5:10pm
In the car and heading home. Depending on what sort of day I’ve had, I will either listen to a playlist of my favourite music or I’ll put on a podcast. A podcast helps me to switch off if I am feeling a little stressed, however today has been a fun and successful day, so playlist it is! I love a good singalong to wind down from the day.
