Name: Charlotte Channing-Jones
Job title: General sales manager, Carparison
How long in role: Nine months in GSM role
What’s your role? General sales manager, responsible for the people and performance of the sales department
CHARLOTTE Channing-Jones started at Exeter leasing broker Carparison last year and says it has been an incredibly exciting time to join, with the business seeing rapid growth post covid. She joined the company as transaction manager and progressed to general sales manager after just nine months.
As general sales manager, Charlotte relishes the fact that no two days are ever the same. In addition to leading a sales team of 22, Charlotte is also responsible for strategy, new initiatives, people development plus budget and process management.
Within the sales team, there are specialist areas for group sales, vans, customer loyalty, local and national business.
Encouragingly at Carparison, 40 per cent of the total headcount is female and Charlotte is pleased to see the automotive industry making good strides towards more equal representation for all. Charlotte commented:
‘I think it’s brilliant that women are becoming more visible within the industry. Now that there are more women in automotive, we will naturally start to take more of the senior positions. I’m a real believer in fair representation, not just for women but for everyone.’
Charlotte says she is grateful to have been well supported throughout her career and feels lucky to have been surrounded by forward thinking, like-minded people. Charlotte is passionate about the people development side of her role and enabling her team to do the job to the best of their ability. She says that her ethos aligns with Carparison’s approach, and she is proud that the business was recently awarded the title of Best automotive company to work for.
From aspirations to be a teacher to working for Mercedes-Benz
Despite such a positive experience in the sector, it wasn’t where Charlotte expected to end up. Her original plan was to go to university to study teaching, but she took a year out, got into working and, in her words – ‘That was it!’
From her first post-college job at EDF Energy, Charlotte was soon lured into the world of automotive. A vacancy at Mercedes-Benz South-West caught her eye, attracted by the idea of working for a prestigious brand, she says that she also received plenty of encouragement from her car-loving father.
Starting out as sales administrator, Charlotte spent six years at Mercedes-Benz, working her way up to corporate account manager before making the move to its associated broker business, Carparison. The years at Mercedes-Benz clearly had an impact as Charlotte says that she remains very loyal to the brand and still drives a Mercedes-Benz. She describes the car as quite a step up from her first wheels, a basic Fiat Punto which definitely did not self-park. However, there might be a change of brand allegiance on the horizon as Charlotte says she is ‘desperate to go electric’ – a trend Carparison is seeing with many of its customers.
Charlotte says that she has been amazed by the innovation over the past seven years in the sector, both in the vehicle product and technology. She cites the pace of change as one of the key things she loves about working in automotive, commenting:
‘It’s a really exciting time to be in the industry as everything is changing and it’s brilliant to be a part of that. Now is the time to do things differently and rip up the rule book.’
About Carparison
Carparison works with dealerships and funders countrywide to bring customers competitive options across both personal and business car leasing. Carparison launched in 2018 in response to a growing demand for quick and personal online lease comparison services.
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Laura is a writer and Head of Marketing for Broker News, with extensive automotive experience from senior marketing roles with RBS/Nat West, Lombard Vehicle Management and Unipart. She is also a self-confessed petrol-head.
