Good Sixty (Aug 2019-July 2020)

My office internship at the food delivery company that is paving the way for a more sustainable future.

Background/Overview: Good Sixty is an eco-friendly food delivery SME that is changing the way individuals shop locally, using their eco-friendly bikes. All of the produce available on Good Sixty comes from independent highstreet businesses with ethically conscious processes.

My role: Due to the small team of five, I have assumed a general role in order to help anyone with their workload. This has allowed me to explore different areas of marketing, sales, admin, operations, and research. I was initially offered this role through the Santander SME internship scheme and then kept on as an employee beyond the end of the scheme.

Skills:

Research:

A large part of my job was conducting secondary research.

The research encompasses:

-Potential retailers to reach out to

-Seasonal days and events we should be aware of (either to post about or to attend)

-Partnered retailers and if they are receiving awards or have new seasonal products

-Our competition to analyse and compare points of difference

-Potential associations or influencers to partner with

-Content for social media and speeches.

I also conducted 'retailer management' which entailed calling all retailers to check-in with their business and their relationship with Good Sixty. This would be heavily documented on PipeDrive, including feedback and action lists to later follow through. This is something that I enjoyed doing because it provided primary qualitative B2B user feedback about the service, which informed the way it was run, and helps to build personal relationships with clients.

Communication:

My role required good communication skills. Firstly, open communication with my team was important because my role was undefined and so I often had multiple individuals requesting my time without communicating with each other.

I often aided the head of marketing by scheduling all social media posts across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I used the software Hootesuite to do this. Each platform has a different target audience and so I always made sure to tailor my posts to suit this. Also, through this process I have had basic experience in using the photo editor GIMP for resizing and editing images.

As mentioned above, I conduct retailer management. This is done over the phone and so I have to be able to think on my feet and communicate clearly to the individual I am speaking to. In order to prepare myself for the tone of the call I will look at all the recent correspondence on Pipedrive, as well as how many orders they have recently received. Depending on these factors I will either prepare myself for a positive call or a constructive one.

I was also involved in sales meetings with retailers. Recently I had been doing research on independent retailers in Bristol, found one with points-of-difference to our current ones, reached out to them. Then added them to Pipedrive and conducted a sales meeting with them. This was a great experience and boosted my confidence in face-to-face communication and sales.

Problem Solving:

Due to my large role in direct communication with retailers, I often have to think on my feet regarding potential problems or complaints that they may have.

One of the first retailer calls I made was to an individual who had been on Good Sixty for a number of months but had only received one order. Whilst I was on the phone to them I had a look at their website and found cheaper products that hadn't been added Good Sixty. I uploaded these with permission, because they make good presents and stocking fillers, and scheduled a post on Instagram to highlight them. Their mood improved simply because I was taking initiative to help. In the lead-up to Christmas their orders are picking up and most have one of the cheaper products included in their basket.

Admin/Organisational:

As an intern I also spent time uploading retailer profiles to the website, organising office orders, organising the calendars so that each rider is allocated an order, chasing up retailers who are having issues with orders, editing images, scheduling social media posts and answering emails. Platforms that help me with these tasks are: Pipedrive, Basecamp, GIMP, Hootsuite and MailChimp.

Whilst these tasks can be mundane and repetitive, they have taught me to be diligent. If I were to make a mistake when making an office order or uploading retailer product prices then I could cause a disruption in the riders' schedule or cause the retailer to be out of pocket for an order.

Customer Service:

During the COVID-19 outbreak customer service became essential and I contributed to this role in addition to my other workload. This entailed B2B customer service, such as keeping regular contact with all retailers regarding issues such as: changing opening hours, stock, cancellations. I also took on B2C customer service, such as answering emails, calling customers and contributing to a protocol of common responses, based on an analysis of common questions.

Time Management:

Since I started my internship, I have always worked alongside other commitments. Initially I had to manage my time between my internship in Bristol and nannying in Surrey. Then, when I moved back to Bristol for university I managed my time between online tutoring, university and my internship. At the end of the year I was balancing my final year projects and increased hours at Good Sixty whilst working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, with careful scheduling and open communication with my team I was able to be flexible with this and manage my time well between my commitments.