What first attracted you to Builtvisible?
It was the values and policies for me. I remember getting a call from Karly-May and her sending me through the website for a full look, I’d never had that feeling before where I read through a company’s values and felt “yeah, that’s a bit of me”. They were saying stuff I’d say if I had my own agency, and it’s how I’d want my staff to feel reading it.
At the time I actually had three other roles I’d been accepted for and was waiting on next steps with Builtvisible, but when I got that call for the second stage, I told the other jobs I was turning them down because I’d got another job…yup, before I’d actually got it! I just kind of knew it would work, it made too much sense. And I haven’t been disappointed!
I started during the pandemic and my mum and sister would hear calls and say, “it’s really good they’re so attentive and they really put their staff first”. The biggest thing for me was knowing that if I worked for this place, I was going to be looked after.
How would you describe the Builtvisible culture?
It’s honest. It’s real. We’re all just people coming together to work for the same thing. We have fun while working hard and nine times out of ten people look like they’re in a good place, you don’t see anyone run down even when we get busy periods.
Sometimes you go into offices and people are just trying to fit the model of what they think the CEO wants to see. Here, Geoff wants to see us as individuals and for who he hired, not us trying to be what we think he wants. Everyone’s truly themselves. It’s real.
What are your favourite Builtvisible perks?
Oh, I would say the socials! Especially because of the pandemic, it’s nice to just be able to just connect with people somehow. British work culture after a long day is “let’s go to the pub, let’s go to a bar” and that’s been missing for so long. The socials kind of make up for all the lost Fridays or days when I’d have been in the office and we’d probably have gone for drinks after. I have a great time with the team and it’s an opportunity to create memories.
What’s a typical day like for you?
Because I’m in client services no day is typical, everyday kind of comes at you differently. It’s exciting, I’ll say that much, because you don’t really know what’s going to happen. You can plan and always have a to do list, but often things change fast. So making sure you’re adaptable and not feeling like you’re doing anything wrong if you’re not getting everything you had on your list done is key… Unless it’s for a client of course, then that’s different. You gotta get that done!
Generally speaking, a day at Builtvisible is blissful. No one’s patronising or micromanaging me, and in the same breath no one’s leaving me out in the cold either. You’ve got all the support you need, and you know you’re not doing this thing alone.
What would you look for in a new team member if you were hiring?
The first quality would be ‘a good spirit’. There’s no one I’ve spoken to where I’m like “you’re bad vibes”. Everyone is genuinely nice, and I’m not new anymore so it’s not because of that, they’re just nice people! So I think it’s important that to fit into the team, and business, there’s a good spirit about you.
Also that you’re open-minded and quite resilient because client service jobs can be really tough somedays. It’s about not taking things personally, just understanding we’re in between someone needing something done and someone getting it done. If you take out the personal element, keep that good-spirited nature and resilience, it makes the job that bit easier.
Lastly, honesty. Because it can be easy to feel you’re falling behind as there’s so much to learn. Something I was taught very early by Flick (my manager) is just to be open about where I’m at with things and never say “I’ve got it” just so you’re not judged by the team if you haven’t, because we don’t have a judgmental team. We’ve all been through the early stages and know how difficult it can be. Saying “you know what? I don’t get this thing. I do find it confusing. I’m better at these things, but I need help with those things” is so important.
What’s the most exciting product or project you’re working on at the moment?
I’d say Scott Dunn, purely because I love travel so that’s number one! I love what they do, their packages, and that we’re getting to a point now where they’re recognising Builtvisible’s talents and wanting more support. There’s a great relationship there and that’s a big part of it.
What has your training and development looked like?
It’s been interesting because for a long time everything was online, and it still is really, so there’s been a lot of time put into making sure that I’m good with what I need to be good with. If I’m ever having trouble understanding something, Flick will say to me “okay let’s jump on a call and I can walk you through this”. It’s the same if I was to go to anyone else, everyone makes time for you.
For me, it wasn’t the easiest of processes when I started actually because I’m a visual learner. But because I’m aware of that I was able to say, “things might be slow when it comes to reading and conversations because of how I learn” and that was respected with adjustments made to fit my learning style.
Now I’m at a point where I’m setting new goals for the next six months and it’s looking really promising because Flick helps me recognise where I might not give myself the full recognition too. She has the hindsight to say, “actually you got through this in this type of way and maybe this should be your goal next”. I appreciate they take into account my way of working because it’s hard to put seven people in a room and say all of you have got to get the same exact outcome the same way.
Do you feel supported by the business?
Oh, 100%. Again, it ties into their values and making sure we’re good, because they know if we’re good, the clients are good. They really understand that.
Also, for me personally, the biggest support element was when we did the non-bias training following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. As a black woman I’ve had a lot of ignorance thrown at me over time so to come into a workplace where they openly say ‘we’re not going to wait for there to be a situation, we’re going to go out of our way to educate staff before it gets to that’ is amazing.
That attitude that ‘prevention is better than cure’ was a big moment for me, and I could tell the support was real – it was past the trend and because they genuinely cared about what staff might go through.
What are your hopes for the department and agency for the year ahead and future?
I would love to get to a point where hopefully the real world opens up and we can take our expertise outside of London again. Just really spreading our wings and representing Builtvisible in a way that people know we give the best client service experience you’ll see in market.
How would you describe your job to others in general, and to people who aren’t even in digital marketing?
I describe my job as ‘making sure that things get done on time’ because client service is such an elusive term that most people think it’s just customer service. And there’s elements of customer service, but also project management and so many other things it’s hard to just describe it in one term. I don’t want to over-simplify it but ultimately our job role is really about getting shit done.
How would you describe your client relationships?
Clients feel more like my children to be honest! I feel like a parent when I’m away from work, like “okay, has this been done? Has this been looked at? Were they fed on time?” That’s what it’s like. You want to make sure they’re always taken care of. I have great relationships to the point that we’re comfortable enough with each to say “this is what I’m doing on the weekend with my son” or “what have you got planned? Tell me more about your culture. When you go on holidays, what do you do?”
But we know how to balance it too and make sure they’re getting the quality they need from the work too. I’m happy that we’re getting to a point where things are opening up again so we can actually start meeting up with some in person too.
Lastly, what’s your proudest client moment to date?
I feel like my best moments are yet to come, but so far, it’s been around building great relationships. Especially where we’re keeping business and haven’t actually delivered yet. In those cases, we can just say “hey we’ve done all these great things for you, this is why you should do more with us”, but having a good relationship means they just trust that we can deliver and do the things they need to succeed even before that stage.
Being able to lead those conversations and get to that stage so early on in my journey with Builtvisible shows me I’m on the right path. I’m giving them what they deserve and the experience of someone who’s ultimately here to look after them. But my Grammy award-winning moments, my mic drop moments if you like, are yet to come…
If you’re interested in joining Monique and the Client Services team, let us know here and we’ll be in touch when there’s an opening.
