​Meet the ASC Team – Cheryl Middleton - Account Manager

Customer care is paramount at ASC Direct. There is nothing more important than making sure that the packaging our customers buy is perfect for their needs. For this you need an experienced, knowledgeable and friendly account management team and ours is second to none. We wanted to find out more so we asked some questions of Cheryl Middleton, one of our Account Managers, who has been with us for four years. 

Where it started

Cheryl has had a long career of customer service, starting in a customer facing role working for an optician and building her experience through a call centre, then a packaging company until finally becoming one of our core customer care team at ASC Direct. “My first job was helping customers with their eye tests and choosing the right frames to suit them. You quickly learn how to communicate effectively when you are in such a client-facing role. I enjoyed my time there, liaising with the technicians and making sure the glasses were the right fit for the customer.”

Wide Customer Service experience

After this, Cheryl worked part-time for an electrical goods company. “My next role had to be part-time so I could take care of my family. I really enjoyed greeting customers and arranging payment plans for their purchase of electrical goods.”

Cheryl went on to work in a call centre for a leading utility company. “You learn a great deal while working in a call centre; most customers know exactly what they want but some are confused about their contract or sometimes upset about elements of the service beyond your control. When this happened, I empathised with the customer, putting myself in their shoes and imagining how they were feeling. I always wanted them to come off the call in a much happier place.”

Recognised for her ability to deal professionally with customer queries, Cheryl provided mentoring services to new team members to help them with their training. “I really enjoyed being able to share my knowledge and experience with the new team members to help them understand how to support customers more efficiently.”

Experience with packaging

Following this, Cheryl worked for Encase, a corrugated box manufacturer, working in the Despatch office. “Initially I covered for holidays until a role came in Despatch, which was a change for the customer-facing roles I was used to. This was more about ensuring all of the deliveries and paperwork were correct. This involved loading the trailers, arranging drivers’ routes and liaising with the sales team.”

Cheryl moved to a customer-facing role for a canvas printing company. “It was great to be back looking after customers. The company was a start-up and hadn’t realised how busy they would get. They went from receiving 50 orders a day to 1,000s! I handled lots of calls from customers chasing their order and so set up a bespoke system so I could make sure customers who were waiting were easily identified. It meant being very organised! I also did some design work too, and when the manager bought the company from the owners, I went with her to the new company.”

Joining ASC Direct

Then Cheryl joined ASC Direct. “It was great to use my packaging and customer care experience and join the Account Management team at ASC Direct. Here I’m part of the team which takes care of the calls, emails and live chat from customers. It means knowing everything about the business so you can help customers get the right box for their requirements.”

Understanding how to deal with customer queries is essential. “Sometimes customers will call or email and only need a few boxes but don’t know where to start. I always ask them what they need the box to do, so I can understand and advise the right format with the right material. Once the customer is happy with their packaging, it’s about providing full customer service from original enquiry to delivery of order so the customer gets what they need when they need it.”

Cheryl is really happy at ASC Direct. “I love this role. It’s a really interesting job and I’m very much a people person. When customers are happy with their order, it’s really gratifying.”

Outside Work

When not at ASC Direct helping customers, Cheryl likes working on her garden. “I had a big project recently that I’m really pleased about. The front garden needed work, there was a big step that everyone tripped over and it just wasn’t good. I had to dig it over, get rid of all of the weeds and stones and dig out the step so it sat lower in the ground. I then covered the area with several slate - lots of it! I’m really pleased with the result – it looks so much better.”

And a very special time of year is coming up soon. “I love Halloween! My house is famous in the area for the huge quantity of lights and decorations I use. Children queue to get into the garden and parents admire the decorations. We’ve got huge witches and ghouls, not forgetting Bob the Zombie!”

A cat lover, Cheryl has got three – Harry, William and Nevill.

Cheryl is there to make sure ASC Direct customers get the best in custom packaging production for all of our customers. When you need custom packaging for your high value products, call our sales team at 0800 0731 126 or fill out our contact form here.