Coutts Woman

On call for success

There are not many 23 year olds who would risk their savings to establish a business despite having no prior experience in running one, but Chey Garland, chief executive of Garlands Call Centres, did just that.

Chey (pronounced Shy) left school at 16 with ambitions to become a receptionist at a local roofing firm. Over 30 years later, she is a former recipient of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year award while Garlands Call Centres has an annual turnover in excess of £43m. 

“Show your people that you value them, develop them as well-rounded individuals and give them the tools to make a difference.”

Chey, 50, grew up in a working class suburb of Middlesborough; her father sold fruit and vegetables and her mother worked as a waitress. ‘When I left school at 16, I didn’t have any clear ideas of what I wanted to do. My early years hadn’t exactly put me on the fast track to success,’ admits Chey.

‘I began work as an office junior in a roofing company and saw things that I never knew anything about, such as sales departments, sales ledgers and all the components that make up a business. I quickly realised that I wanted to have recognition and make decisions that shaped something.’

But without qualifications, Chey realised that the prospects of that occurring within the confines of an established organisation were limited. Having progressed from office junior to working in the credit collections department, Chey saw an opportunity to establish her own business. In 1980, using savings of £600, she set up CJ Garland & Co, a credit collection agency. ‘I wanted to be the one making decisions,’ she explains.

By 1997, CJ Garland, which operated out of attic space in Middlesborough, was employing 60 staff but the marketplace was getting increasingly saturated. ‘I knew it was time to branch out in a new direction,’ explains Chey. ‘I thought: ‘why not take the lessons we’ve learned from handling credit control calls and develop a new customer service proposition?’ It was the best business decision I’ve ever made.’

The company won a 20 seat, 12 week contract to handle overflow customer service calls for Vodafone, an existing client. ‘We invested in new technology and two purpose-built call centres on a fabulous new development in Hartlepool Marina,’ she says. ‘We entered the market at a time when call centres were attracting a lot of negative publicity. There was talk of sweatshops and workers labouring under strip lights in sterile warehouse-like offices. I resolved that we would be different.’

Today Garlands Call Centres employs almost 3,500 staff who handle three million inbound and outbound calls a month for clients, such as Virgin Media, Vodafone and easyJet.

‘If you want the secret to my success, it has to be this: show your people that you value them, develop them as well-rounded individuals and give them the tools to make a difference,’ says Chey. ‘If you do that, it’s amazing how often they’ll want to go that extra mile for you too.’

She learned that lesson in her first job. ‘The managing director used to take us out to restaurants, organise activities for us and a lot else besides,’ she recalls.  Today Garlands Call Centres have chill out zones, where staff can eat, play on games machines or pool tables; a company radio station, GaGa, which is presented by call centre staff on a rotational basis; and Touch, a personal development and training scheme.

‘I began the scheme when I became aware that some members of staff had a number of personal problems,’ explains Chey. ‘It really made me stop and think that if they can manage to get into work then the average reward and recognition scheme seems trite in the face of that.’

Staff go to local schools, to help children with reading and mathematics, or into the local community, to help in hospices. They return with renewed coaching skills and, so the reasoning works, better patience and understanding of colleagues’ differing needs and a greater tolerance and empathy. This should also translate into better customer service. ‘I can’t think of a classroom course that teaches people to be empathetic or tolerant,’ explains Chey. ‘They’re the skills we need in our people.’

Some detractors may dismiss such initiatives as too ‘feminine’, but Chey believes that being a woman and having a female view of life has been an advantage. ‘Way back in the 80s a lot of women adapted male behaviours. I haven’t done that I think women concentrate a lot on the minutiae of business relationships,’ says Chey. ‘I do think that success in these situations comes as a result of the depth of relationship you’ve bothered to build with someone.’

She adds: ‘I don’t categorise myself as a businesswoman. By creating a man versus woman thing, we create two tiers that shouldn’t exist. You’re either a player or you’re not.’

Chey certainly is. Her five-year plan is to achieve an annual turnover in excess of £100m. ‘Sometimes it feels like I’m climbing a hill and as I get to the top and look out there are lots more hills there to climb,’ she explains. ‘Failure to an entrepreneur is not having tried in the first place.’