Meet the Team: Sarah Esterhuizen

ABOUT SARAH

Sarah Esterhuizen has been with Greene King for a remarkable 21 years. She first joined in June 2011 to head up the customer sales team and has seen both the company and her role evolve and grow over the years.

When she first began working at Greene King she had 35 people in her customer sales and service teams. Today that team has grown to 65 and works across two sites at Greene King in Bury St Edmunds and Belhaven in Dunbar.

She has lived in Bury St Edmunds for her entire life and says she is “proud to have played a part in maintaining the fantastic reputation that Greene King enjoys for brewing outstanding beers and delivering consistently excellent customer service.”

Meet The Team: Sarah Esterhuizen

In this issue, we catch up with Sarah Esterhuizen, Head of Customer Sales, to find out more about how the customer sales and service teams go the extra mile for customers.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF SARAH…

Where do I start? Well, I’ve been with Greene King since 2001 so I’ve now been with the company for 21 years. That is quite a long time but, having said that, some of my colleagues have been with Greene King for 30 or 40 years. It’s a great place to work and it’s a great company with a fantastic 223 year heritage, something that we’re all really proud of. I’ve lived my whole life in Bury St Edmunds and I think you can taste a little of that centuries-old history and experience in every one of the outstanding beers that Greene King and Belhaven brew – and I like to think we back that up with some exceptional customer service too.

TALKING OF CUSTOMER SERVICE, CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR ROLE AT THE COMPANY?

My job is Head of Customer Sales which basically means I look after both the Customer Sales and the Customer Care teams. We have teams in both Bury St Edmunds and Dunbar in Scotland and

now have a team of 65 people that help us deliver a seamless service to our free trade customers to help them get on with the business of running their pubs efficiently and profitably.

HAS THE ROLE GROWN AND DEVELOPED OVER THE YEARS?

Absolutely! When I first joined in 2001 I had a team of 35. These days the team is 65 strong and that’s a consequence of the company continuing to grow and develop and it’s been really exciting to be a part of that success and, in turn, to play a role in helping our free trade customers succeed and excel.

WILL CHRISTMAS BE A BUSY PERIOD FOR YOUR TEAM?

I’m certain it will! With the additional excitement of The FIFA World Cup, we’re expecting orders to start ramping up in mid to late October, which is month or so earlier than usual. We’ve already done all of our planning and my teams have agreed to work extra hours and extra days to ensure we deliver fantastic service through the festive period because we know the next few months represent a massive opportunity for our customers and we want to help make sure they are able to make the very most of that opportunity.

WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

There’s no such thing! The only thing that’s consistent every day is a 9am full business call where the heads of the various departments within Greene King have a meeting to discuss everything that’s going on. After that, every day is different. Life is full of challenges but I think that, with the help of my brilliant team, we meet all of those challenges head on and we get the job done for our customers.

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOUR TEAMS DO ON A DAILY BASIS?

The Customer Sales team basically handle all sales calls across two sites, and that involves both inbound and outbound calls. They take orders from our customers over the phone, and also call our customers on a regular basis to help make sure that they have everything they need to run successful venues.

The Customer Care team is there to help our customers with pretty much anything they need. They are the first point of contact when our customers need help, support or advice. Both teams are highly trained and incredibly committed. In my opinion, they embody Greene King’s ‘We Care’ company value. They will do whatever it takes to help because we are completely committed to helping our customers run their businesses as well as they possibly can.