Irene Dumaquita’s official title is Internal Sales Representative, but her superpower is keeping customers happy.
“I think the key to customer happiness is having the expertise to provide them with the right container solution to meet their needs – and delivering it in a timely way,” she says from her base at Royal Wolf’s Christchurch office.
Irene has won the United Rentals regional Inside Sales Representative Award for 2023 which honours a team member whose exceptional customer service supports both existing and new customers.
“I love talking to customers,” she says, “but I’m also really good at finding out exactly what they need, giving them the right advice, and then facilitating a prompt delivery by making sure I've coordinated with the wider team to make it happen.”
Expertise with a smile helps increase revenue
Submissions from Irene’s managers, who nominated her for the award, highlighted her commitment to excellence in customer service, her ability to establish enduring relationships with customers, and her “powerhouse” sales skills.
“Irene's positivity and expertise have helped the business increase revenue as well as strengthen our relationships with customers,” says District Manager – New Zealand, Graham Allison.
“Customers are at the centre of everything we do and as a sales representative, Irene consistently goes above and beyond to make sure her customers have a positive and memorable experience. This contributes to our reputation for excellence in customer service and keeps customers coming back.
“Irene is also a team player who loves collaborating and sharing her knowledge with the wider team. She is establishing herself as a future leader in the business,” says Mr Allison.
Consistency drives sales records
Irene is humble. She’s coy about saying why she thinks she won the award other than: “I’m really honoured but I think I've just been really consistent with hitting my KPIs and achieving my targets.”
Last year she broke the record for most hire units in a month and consistently ranked at the top of the Customer Service Team leaderboard for the majority of 2023.
She also won Royal Wolf’s Core Fleet Challenge which saw her hire the most Wolf Lock containers across both the New Zealand and Australia teams.
“One key to this achievement is my goal to be consistent. But the support of the Royal Wolf team - right from management, the Customer Service Team, and my local branch, through to the fleet team - play a crucial role and I share this success with them,” she says.
A love of logistics
Her first job in her home country of the Philippines was in logistics, which exposed her to the industry's dynamic nature.
However, until she started her role at Royal Wolf in 2022, she had yet to learn how versatile containers are.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about containers is people think they are only used for storage. But you can do anything in a Royal Wolf. I honestly had no idea how diverse and flexible containers can be,” she says.
Her main goal when she first joined Royal Wolf was to learn as much as possible about the range of container products the company supplied.
“Product knowledge helps you build confidence when you're talking to customers. I’m still learning, and I’m constantly amazed because there are some many different uses for containers.”
