D*****h
About Candidate
Hi, my Name is Dane Wampach, situated in Johannesburg North.
I commenced my working career as a property assessor which lasted 8 years, before I made the decision to move into another industry (any at that stage). My decision was solely based on my inner intuition which advised me that I had far too many strengths and ambitions to leverage elsewhere, opposed to a “cushy” lifestyle in a rather mundane field of work.
Once I made the bold step to move, the first company that sourced me was a call center. I sold short term insurance, this was initially daunting as it was so new to me. I ended up as the best salesman of 2018 and obtaining my RE5. I changed the narrative of cold calling to suit my personality (from the script, rebuttals, pre-closing and closing). I was promoted to training and an underwriter.
I soon found my self selling hearing aids in a very competitive market. In my first 3 months I broke sales records that had lasted for the past 15 years. There are so many nuances to elevate a sale, and empowering my team (assistant, audiologist and secretary). I ensured on sales days we wore suits, collaborated as a streamlined operation with my assistant building hearing molds, my secretary doing pre-vetting on medical aids, while both myself and audiologist ensured our clientele our reliability. I would drive to elderly patient homes after work to drop off batteries and clean their devices. This started great retention and referrals.
Soon I was the “fixer”, and aided other branches when higher revenue was required.
I was relocated back to Johannesburg to save a few stores within the area, and became a Regional sales manager.
My training really was not on how I pitched but how I cultivated client relationships, ethically with sincerity. If you are in sales, you soon learn the product sells only so much, the sale really is who you buying from.
A BPO head hunted me, to increase their sales specifically. I had already started boasting my arsenal with a variety of tools that I knew I could execute for the client I was being handed in the United States (cNBC). I increased their sales by 589%, the adherence from 86.7% to 96.1%. Decreased shrinkage from 24.3% to 8.5%, attrition from 7.1% to 1.9%. I implemented a cultural baseline where my 170 agents, 7 supervisors and 2 coordinators on 2 sites (Panama and South Africa), were constantly upskilled ensuring I had a succession plan – I wanted to see my guys get promoted, and have my plan always be in good stead. Certain SOPs were changed to ensure SLAs were constantly met, with all metrics and KPIs being delivered. As an Operations Manager with a focal lens on customer care, we were able to increase our Csat from 38 to 61, with a high NPS. I drafted a matrix for our client due to their constant process changes which needed remediation so my team had a level playing field and were executing as per our standards. Financial leakage became my next project, which has many components, but a great effective start was collaborating in more depth with WFM.
I did personal training, mentoring and coaching. I took calls on the floor so my agents could hear how I would tackle a FCR, eliminate the escalation process and the resolution desk. This holistically benefitted everyone.
Our clientele knew me personally (which is usually something Ops like to avoid), but I took calls when I could which kept a healthy perpetual based client relations.
Another BPO / RPO, presented me with an offer. It took me time to make the change as I was really fine-tuning my skillset, eventually I took the offer as they wanted me to spear up 4 departments (operations, facilities, HR and the recruitment).
This was a challenge that resonated with my growth. The company had a sour relationship with a major client as they had struggled with recruitment. I started with optimizing their recruitment by mitigating their fundamental flaws. The client after 1 month started to view 20 candidates opposed to 2, with the right attributes requested. The recruitment was on an “auto-Pilate” concept.
Once I executed with the main ache and pain, I was able to create open dialogue with the client which became a very mutually conducive and happy environment.
Again, to reiterate, great client relations, consumer needs and customer service comes from leadership who is constantly innovative to optimize what has not worked and is quick to bring out the best from the client to serve their clients needs.
Kind regards,
Dane Wampach
Further Development and Education
I feel it necessary to finish my BCom Law - I chose a BCom, as it gives one a wider range of expertise to venture into various industries and be executionable.
I enjoy the law and to be knowledgeable utilizing all the elements studied outside of law alone.
With my experience, I believe having finished my BCom, it will provide more leverage to higher seniority in terms of trusting my process (POC of course) with more autonomy.
I only did my first year, 15 years ago. Regrettably did not complete this, hence my consistency in upskilling myself online.
Location
Work & Experience
GoFlow BPO presented me with different challenges as they required experience and strength to give me full autonomy within the Operational, Facility, HR and recruitment departments. It was evident from the beginning that the recruitment process had no ingenuity to source the required candidates nor the volume of candidates. I began here, with innovation, ensuring this department had the legs to go on auto-Pilate, with "now skilled" recruiters to keep the momentum. Their was a need to be adaptable in the operational sphere, as the client had a slight sourness to past experiences. The open dialogue that was enforced allowed me to really understand their aches and pains. I would gather findings and put in remediations. This was not easy as, in any relationship, you need to compromise and show results that perhaps had not been seen before to regain trust and unity. I delivered on this. HR, was great as I did an online course with ample experience with the LRA of SA from my previous company, so to execute in this realm was highly organic and the trust built with employees showed within their work.
Ran 4 LOBs for cNBC, as the Operations Manager. I had 170 agents, 7 supervisors and 2 coordinators at our peak season to ensure effectiveness with execution. I worked closely and collaboratively with WFM, QA, Training, HR etc to create a certain baseline that we would ensure the best possible service for our client and our customers. The day to day, became easier and easier after I revamped some poor decision making from the previous Ops and started on a cultural change that shifted a positive movement into the business. Running 4 LOBs is never an easy task, outside of organic grit and perseverance, my team were dedicated to me (vice versa) and we were exceptionable even on some of the more difficult days. I would present the deck weekly to the president of cNBC weekly where we would have objective discussions on how to keep continuity. Some of my strongest skills were developed within this company.
To hit high targets, build ear molds, ensure client retention. This was interesting, as it was a company where you not heavily trained at all, "swim or sink". I used my personality to not only hit high SLAs, but build client relations using my cross-skilled abilities. Due to my ability to sell well and with exorbitant monthly results, I was continuously asked to assist at other branches, before being moved back to Johannesburg and became the Regional Sales Manager. This is an exceptionally competitive market with high expectations on a salesman, however, if you run your store as an operation and not a shop, it becomes a lifestyle, specifically to the client relationships that have been fostered.
I started as a cold caller, selling short-term insurance. As in any cold calling environment, it was relatively havoc and initially difficult. I started analyzing my strengths against stronger salesman, and changed my approach / narrative to the whole concept, hoping I would not be noticed. I won salesman of the year and became an underwriter (I was seen - however, my tactics were conducive to me). Being an underwriter was a great promotion as it kept migrating my mindset towards further growth.
I would assess both residential and corporate dwellings / buildings. Our accounts were with Nedbank, Standard Bank, Alabaraka and HBZ Bank. I had a really good eye on assessing properties, grew quickly (after starting as a secretary) and eventually assessing and report typing under the Managing Director. It was a great job, however, I never saw it as a career but rather a stepping stone to my next venture. Sadly, the owner passed away in 2023.
