Greg joined our US operation as a Business Discovery Agent in February 2022 and has quickly worked his way up the career ladder to Team Leader. We caught up with Greg to find out the inside track about the Gungho US office.
What did you do prior to joining the Gungho Team?
Before I joined Gungho I worked for a third party that was contracted with Sirius XM, which is a satellite radio company. My job was essentially to travel across the entire state of North Carolina and some of South Carolina, to dealerships. I was in charge of training the sales team to make sure they knew what Sirius XM had to offer. During my career elsewhere, I did a lot of telemarketing roles, so Gungho was a good fit for me.
What made you apply for the role of Business Discovery Agent at Gungho?
I was tired of always being on the road and staying away from my family, I wanted to get out of that kind of work, so I started job hunting and luckily, I came across Gungho on Indeed. I did some research and it looked like a really good spot to work. I started as a Business Discovery Agent which involved being on the phones and speaking to decision makers on behalf of our RegTech clients. I moved into the Team Leader role after I passed probation because I had management experience and skills that fit the role. Gungho is a growing business so one of the great things about it is the career progression opportunities.
What does your role at Gungho involve?
My role as Team Leader is to make sure that the US team is hitting target and that morale is high. I’m here to ensure that everything is running smoothly, so, day to day, I communicate a lot with the Team Leaders in the UK to figure out how each individual is doing and what I can do to help keep them motivated. My job is to offer support and guidance, tracking where they are in terms of activities and appointments, and helping them to reach their targets. I also deal with general office and human resource management.
How do you keep everyone motivated and ensure the morale in the office is high?
Firstly, communication is key, so I do a lot of 1-2-1’s with the team and check in on how they are doing and find out what motivates them. We play a lot of games to keep energy and motivation up, so I’ll set up games like Jeopardy or Family Feud. We’ll break into teams and whichever team achieves the most activities for the day wins a prize. Prizes include things like a bottle of wine or a gift card. Depending on the percentage of our team target that we hit, I’ll bring in donuts or bagels or we’ll have a team breakfast or lunch.
What is the working environment and atmosphere like?
The atmosphere is great and very supportive. We really cheer for each other and want one another to achieve our targets. There is some friendly competition especially between those who you sit with. We’ll check in during the day and see how other people are doing and that spurs us on to hit our own targets. It’s not aggressive competition though!
Our office is based at ThExchange, which is in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s a nice place to be because we have the hub, which has a gym and fitness centre which is free for us to use. There is also a pool table and outside picnic area.
Generally, we’re friends and get on well in the office. We’ve done trivia nights together and some of us might do other activities outside work, like sports. There’s a fun atmosphere for sure.
What’s it like having 90% of your colleagues in the UK and are there any challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The time difference and working patterns can be a challenge. We have three hours at the end of our working day when the UK has clocked off. It means you have a period of time where you can’t contact your colleagues if you need something. We try and overcome that by being in regular contact throughout the day and the Team Leaders make sure they schedule meetings that suit both US and UK staff.
It’s fun working with a UK office because there’s different slang and terminology and you can develop relationships with different people. It makes the day interesting!
For somebody who is just joining as a new recruit in your office, how does the learning and development work?
There’s a lot of reading and studying to be done in the beginning to get a better understanding of what you’re actually calling prospects to talk about. There is a Learning & Development team, so for new starters, there are regular sessions, covering all things Business Discovery. There is also call coaching and 1-2-1 sessions with your management team.
It is a lot to take in, but it’s also spread out, which makes it easier. The targets start low whilst you’re training, and as you get into your 5th and 6th week they will start to build up and you may be introduced to a new campaign and product, but everything is done gradually. And of course, within the US office, we’re pretty good at helping each other out.
If you’d like to find out more about working at Gungho, visit our jobs page via this link.
