Alana Willetts

The cafe has been a challenging & rewarding role.

My key responsibilities:

• Developed and implemented marketing strategies to generate new customers and increase sales and profit margins.
• Oversaw business budget planning and administration, accounting functions, purchasing, and weekly payroll to handle financial needs. G.S.T
• Maintained a safe work environment by enforcing strict safety protocols and regularly updating staff on industry best practices.
• Trained and motivated employees to perform daily business functions.
• Boosted revenue by identifying new business opportunities and diversifying product offerings.
• Developed a high-performing team through effective recruitment, training, and performance management.
• Worked with marketing teams to create print and online advertisements to bring in new customers.
• Use of social media platforms to boost visibility

The cafe has key people well trained in their daily roles, I have taken a step back and am looking for a new challenge that best suits my skill set.

Team Leader in the Contact Centre. A dynamic team who services all customers throughout New Zealand, 100k plus who may have Electricity, Gas, Broadband, VOIP phone services.

My role was varied from:

- Onboarding new Call Centre agents with a two-week intensive training session.

- Upskilling and developing my experienced agents.

- Supporting my team to achieve their objectives and meet their KPIs.

- Taking escalations, finding a solution, and achieving a win for both the customer and the company.

- Worked with TL’s and Call Centre Manager to achieve engagement within the Call Centre environment, fostered a team environment and insured’s our agent’s felt supported, seen and heard.

- Identify gaps in agents learning, provide feedback and training to best suit the individual.

• Empowered team members by delegating responsibilities according to individual strengths and areas of expertise.
• Set performance expectations for the team, monitoring progress towards goals and providing constructive feedback as needed.

The Nova Energy contact centre was a fast-paced environment. The Call Centre Team maintained a service level of 80%, all calls answered under 6mins and had one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry.

Organised parenting workshops in collaboration with R.E.A.P Whakatane with guest speakers. My dream was to bring together parents with young children and create a "village" for them. With the extensive knowledge of the speakers, ranging from child therapist to holistic coaches, information was passed down to the parents, to help eliminate fears or concerns they may have in their new parenting journey. We provided space for a community of mums and dads to share, learn and build a network or village ih there parenting journey.

I ran the "Bring back the Village" series in 2018.

• Used excellent communication skills to delegate tasks and achieve successful event outcomes.
• Developed marketing and promotional strategies to increase event attendance.

I believe there is a need for more support and education for families when they bring their new baby home and embark on their very special parenting journey. I completed a block course with Dona International in Sept 2017 to become a Post Partum Doula. I completed my Doula training and cared for families after bring their new baby home.

• Promoted self-care practices for mothers during postpartum recovery by providing resources on mental health, nutrition, exercise routines, and relaxation techniques.
• Maintained up-to-date knowledge of current research related to pregnancy, childbirth procedures, newborn care practices through continuing education opportunities.

In this time I was very privileged to work along side my mum and other great people. We trained apprentices and were part of the Hairdresing organisation. Giving back to the industry.

I learnt first hand how to manage and run a small business. 

I attended Enterprise Training here at REAP Whakatane. Great courses that helped me in the early days.

We had lovely clients, some who were with us for over 15 years. We watched their children grow and shared life with special people. It was a great experience.

In this time I learnt about building professional relationships as well as being professional. A big part of hairdressing is the client hairdresser relationship, the people were my favourite part of the job. People from all walks of life. I learnt alot from my clients and in return I helped them feel great about themselves by doing their hair.

I sold my business in April 2017.

Time to try something new, and embark on a new journey.