Scania Australia has promoted Ashleigh Sinclair to Branch Manager at its Campbellfield workshop, which shares its premises with the company’s head office.
Just two-and-a-half years into her Scania career, Ashleigh has transitioned from a front desk Customer Service Representative role to New Vehicle Preparation CSR to now running the entire company-owned branch. One of Scania’s busiest branches, Ashleigh has 30 staff from technicians to parts interpreters to CSR staff reporting to her.
“I feel this is a great achievement, as I have wanted to be a Branch Manager ever since I started at Scania,” Ashleigh said.
With a history of customer service roles behind her, from a French bakery chain to being mentored by a highly experienced and successful female car dealership Branch Manager prior to joining Scania, Ashleigh is keen to interact with Scania Campbellfield’s customers as well as support her front counter and back-of-house colleagues.
“Initially, I will be focused on establishing a relationship with customers. I want them to see the services we provide as a value rather than an expense,” she said.
“I have learned a lot from the great people around me in the Campbellfield branch to date, as well as having my own ideas about how to keep the customers happy. We can measure success through the feedback from customers.
“I believe that a key element of management comes from setting the tone within the workshop that your people can relate to, understand, and reflect outwardly in customer interaction. When I was managing the NVP workshop I learned to deal with all sorts of personality types and established a strong rapport with the people around me. During my time in NVP our workforce remained constant and motivated, which I believe is a strong indicator of success.”
Since transitioning into her new role, Ashleigh says she’s made herself available to support the company’s people all through the day, aiming to project a sense of excitement and positivity.
“I’ve moved my desk so I can see everyone coming into the branch and can be seen by our customers, and be available to them, but also to be able to back-up our front counter team, if they need it, which increases their confidence and sense of purpose,” she said.
“Scania is a great place to work to advance a career path, and I have been supported at every stage by my managers, all the way to the Dealer Director and the Head of Aftersales, as well as by senior business executives. The training, real world experience and encouragement has been amazing, and Scania as a company is always ready to reward hard work and commitment. I feel confident that Scania will support my long-term career ambitions.
“While it might be surprising for people outside Scania to see a young woman managing a branch, in fact in Victoria currently there are two branches managed by women and they are high performing business units.
“In Sweden we have many female Branch Managers. You can often judge how a customer is feeling by studying their body language when they come into the branch and then adjust your approach accordingly. In this way the customer feels heard and looked after.
“Scania encourages females to reach for the stars, and there’s full acknowledgement that you’re judged on your results. We demand and receive respect through our actions, and I am confident about talking to customers to ensure they understand what is going on with their vehicles. I like to think they appreciate that, and that gender is not an issue when it comes to branch management.”
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