Mr. Ben Kerin

I spent over ten years delivering high-end customer service and sales, working across the shop floor as well as handling telephone and email enquiries. During this time, I supported customers in making confident purchasing decisions while also resolving queries and complaints in a professional and timely manner.

I worked across all store departments and consistently met daily sales targets and performance goals. I also held lead responsibilities in several key areas, including electrical, homeware, clothing, and travel, where I supported both customers and colleagues.

I remained in this position until the store closed, at which point I was made redundant at the end of 2020. Following this, I took time to reset and refocus after a particularly challenging year.

Key areas of experience included:

• Upselling and add-on sales
• Selling John Lewis financial services, including credit cards
• Selling extended warranties on high-value purchases

As an experienced member of the electrical department, I played a key role in managing customer complaints through to resolution. I regularly worked with multiple areas of the business, including dispatch, delivery teams, and head office, to investigate and resolve complex and often sensitive cases. My role involved handling daily inbound calls, logging cases accurately on customer service case management systems, and closely monitoring progress to ensure timely outcomes. I worked collaboratively with colleagues to achieve fair and positive resolutions, while consistently upholding the values of the John Lewis Partnership.

• Strong problem solving skills with a solution focused approach.

• Confident and experienced in using customer service case management systems.

• Skilled in managing multiple complaint cases across inbound and outbound calls, email, and social media channels.

During peak trading periods, and depending on the department I was assigned to, I led promotional planning for clearance and special events. Working closely with the marketing team, I identified and maximised selling opportunities across the store. In this role, I reduced profit loss on returned electrical products by more than £200,000 within six months by creating and delivering a structured reselling strategy that consistently met performance targets. I also built and trained a team of partners to roll out and maintain this approach across the wider store.

• Proven experience in meeting and exceeding targets.

• Strong ability to develop creative strategies to drive sales growth.

• Experienced in working collaboratively with multiple teams to achieve shared objectives.

Twenty years ago, I co founded a website built around my passion for professional wrestling. What began as a personal project has since grown into a platform that delivers daily news, results, live event coverage, and a well established weekly podcast, reaching several hundred thousand readers each week. Across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, our combined social media audience now exceeds 500,000 followers.

In my role, I have overseen and worked closely with a small team of independent contributors and volunteers, ensuring a consistent stream of engaging and reliable content. In 2010, part of the website’s operational side was sold, after which I transitioned into a figurehead and supervisory role, continuing to guide the platform as a volunteer led operation.

Throughout this journey, I have developed strong skills in web and social media communication, networking, and adapting messaging to suit a wide range of audiences, allowing the platform to remain relevant and trusted over time.

I originally joined Fortnum and Mason within the customer services team through its UK based customer service provider. When the business later brought part of the operation in house at the Piccadilly head office, my role was made redundant and moved to a smaller office based team. At that stage, Fortnum and Mason approached me directly to retain my services, recognising my strong work ethic and consistently high professional standards.

Following this transition, I moved into a varied head office role with a primary focus on escalations, managing the most complex and sensitive customer cases. I have a strong track record of resolving these issues to a high standard. Alongside this, I oversee the Trustpilot review platform, where my direct engagement with customers has helped drive a clear improvement in satisfaction scores, with my name regularly referenced in customer feedback.

I have also delivered group based training for new starters and onboarding colleagues during peak periods, created clear and practical training guides, and acted as a reliable point of support for team members as they developed their skills. My capabilities within the role have been recognised as operating at a managerial standard.

In addition, I am responsible for handling GDPR breaches and have a strong understanding of the importance of timely reporting to protect both customer data and the brand. I have extensive experience using a range of internal systems for note taking, ordering, and case management, ensuring accurate record keeping and effective resolution of customer issues.