Meet-the-clickers-James-A.png

Meet the Clickers Episode 36

Meet The Clickers is back with episode 36 to take you into the last weekend of July with a bang!

In the hot-seat this week is another of our Sales team, James Angelsea and by the end of reading this, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll be trying to hum whilst holding your nose!

James! How are we mate? Good to catch up as always. Could you tell us a bit about your Click journey so far? How did it come about?

Ey up Poddy, I’m fantastic thanks mate, happy to be in the hot-seat!  I was working for another DMS company and fancied a change. I had heard a lot of good things about Click Dealer over the years, so thought I would get in touch, and as fate would have it, they were recruiting for my role at that time. After meeting with Lee Rawlinson (who is now my boss,) I was offered the job, and that was just over a year ago.

Great stuff. Could you now tell us about your current role within the business and how this has changed since you started?

When I started with Click, I was doing outbound field sales, which was a lot of time cold calling dealers, arranging meetings and going out to see them. My role has since changed, and I am now responsible for making sure our dealers are getting the best possible service, and ensuring they are utilising all of the great products which Click Dealer has to offer.

What are some small things that make your day better?

Seeing my two girls laugh and smile. Hearing my customers talk about how much they love Click Dealer. Oh and seeing people trip over… A bit wrong perhaps but always cracks me up!

What is the most ridiculous fact you know?

It’s impossible to hold your nose and hum… Mind = Blown!

If you were a dictator of a small island nation, what crazy dictator stuff would you do?

Crazy dictator stuff eh?  OK I would ban walking and make people run at full speed everywhere, and I would not let anyone sleep, ever.  I think things would get crazy pretty quickly!

What is the best gig/festival you have ever been to and why?

Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chilli peppers gigs stand out for me.  Also I used to go to a dance festival in Wales called Wakestock when I was a teenager. Some very good times were had there.

If you were hosting a dinner party and could invite any three famous people, living or dead, who would you invite and why?

Bruce Lee,  Richard Pryor, Scarlet Johannsen – interesting, funny, smoking hot.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

You know what, I love food so much that this question disturbs me slightly. But if I absolutely had to, probably pizza.

What are some fun alternatives to war that countries could settle their differences with?

Rock Paper Scissors, Conkers, Staring Contests and Dance Offs… Yeah, Dance Offs I think!

What are you most looking forward to in the next 10 years?

Seeing my kids grow up and exciting new technology like hoverboards and so on. Oh and then the next series of Rick and Morty… Can’t wait for that!

Who has impressed you most with what they have accomplished and why?

Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and our very own Gerry Moxham.  The concept of a person creating an empire out of nothing but their own imagination and self-belief is totally fascinating to me.  I am in awe of anyone who has that level of drive.

Lastly, what do you love most about working at Click?

Easy! The bosses.  I have worked for a lot of companies over the years in all sorts of different jobs, and I can honestly say I have never worked for people as decent as Lee and the Directors.  The rest of The Clickers are okay too I suppose!

Stunning stuff James and thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m off to try and hum a few Boyzone classics whilst holding my nose now… Until next time folks! 

I hope you all enjoyed the latest instalment of our series, the next addition will be out this time next week but if that’s too long to wait, please click here to check out our other episodes.

J Pod

This content was originally published here.

Meet-the-clickers-Shahinur.png

Meet the Clickers – Shahinur Miah

Meet the Clickers is back again and for episode 64 we’re meeting Marketing Assistant Shahinur! Here’s what he had to say about the history of the world and much more…

Hi Shahinur, I hope you’re well. Could you tell us all how you started at Click please?

Hi Alex, I’m good mate thanks. I finished my degree last summer in Marketing, Media and Communications and ended up working in my Dad’s restaurant full time for a few months. I saw the Marketing Assistant role and I decided to apply. I got an interview and the rest is history!

What fictional place would you most like to visit?

There’re quite a few cool fictional places knocking about of course, Hogwarts has to be up there or Westeros if you’re feeling adventurous. But I’d love to go to space so somewhere like Asgard perhaps.

If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would you have a good chance at winning medal for?

That’s a hard one! I’d probably say something like watching YouTube or Netflix; I spend a lot of my free time doing that!

I feel like that would be a popular sport! What do you wish you knew more about?

History’s very interesting but if you think about it, it’s just a person’s/group’s interpretation of something, how do we know if it was real or they were telling the truth? Therefore, I’d like to know more about the controversial moments of the human timeline /mysteries of the world.

Who’s your go-to band or artist when you can’t decide on something to listen to?

I’d just put it on shuffle and wait for something good to come on, however I’ve recently switched to Apple music so I’m having to start my playlists again.

I’m glad you’ve seen the light; Apple Music is the only way to go! What are you interested in that most people haven’t heard of?

Most people have probably heard of this but artificial intelligence. There’s a book I read called Life 3.0 and the first chapter was about how AI will slowly take over humans using real life examples and it blew my mind.

It’s amazing how far that technology has come isn’t it? What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation?

I’m really into Game of Thrones so maybe that? There’s just so much to explain!

I’ve never managed to get into it so that presentation would be pretty useful! If you could spend the day with any celebrity who would it be and what would you do?

I used to be a massive J Cole fan, so I’d probably go for him. I used to watch his interviews and he’s very knowledgeable, so it’d be interesting to just hear what he has to say on various topics.

Great choice! You could make your own Carpool Karaoke! What do you regret not doing or starting when you were younger?

Definitely some kind of MMA or boxing. Everyone should learn how to defend themselves and it’s great for your health.

What do you love most about working at Click?

It’s a very chilled environment, no one’s pressuring you and there are great opportunities for progression and learning!

Perfect Shahinur, there aren’t many places I can think of that provide opportunities like Click!

If you enjoyed Episode 64 of Meet the Clickers, then make sure you read our previous interviews here. If you’re up to date, make sure you come back next week for the latest instalment!

The post Meet the Clickers – Shahinur Miah appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

Meet-the-clickers-Ryan.png

Meet the Clickers – Ryan Weeks

Episode 59 of Meet the Clickers is here! Ryan has been called up to the hot seat to chat about snowboarding with the Kiwis and his burning question about life!

Hi Ryan, could you tell us all how you started at Click?

I moved to Stoke last year and was immediately on the hunt for a new job similar to my last with great career progression. I was offered an interview a few days after applying and was given the job not long after that! Click just seemed like a great place to work and the people I met on the first day really made me feel at home and that has carried on since!

Good stuff. How has your job changed since you arrived?

I’ve been here for just over a year now and I’ve already been trusted with ClickEngage. I love having the responsibility for such a big product and it just goes to show how much trust there is!

I’ve been told you’re a Man City fan, when did you jump on the bandwagon?

Haha, I have been a Man City fan for quite a long time now. Before anyone asks, it was before everyone labelled them Glory Hunters! Sergio Aguero is by far my favourite player.

Sure you have… Do you agree that your favourite music genre is identical to the FIFA music library?

This is very true. Although it seems boring, it has introduced me to a whole load of new artists and with that I’ve broadened my musical knowledge.

There are some top bands on there to be fair! What do you miss most about Cornwall?

I miss how beautiful and quiet it is. It will always be in my heart.

Don’t think you could have picked a more polar opposite place than Stoke! Would you like to guess how much money you’ve spent on FIFA over the years?

Not a lot in all honesty. I’ve only recently started opening packs, although it really doesn’t matter how many I open, I can never get anyone good! Jake Mallin’s pack luck is incredible…

What’s something you really want to try?

I really want to try Rally Driving. It’s something which looks easy but would be incredibly hard to master. I like a new challenge.

See a bit of Ken Block in yourself, do you? Where’s the most interesting place you’ve visited?

It would have to be The Remarkables in Queenstown, New Zealand. First experience snowboarding and loved every second of it. The views are Remarkable… haha.

That looks incredible! What is your most impressive skill?

How positive I am, knowing a result will eventually come out of something if I persevere. I also have quite a keen eye for goal too as a striker, my composure and vision are next level.

What question would you most like to know the answer to?

How we got here and what happens when we leave.

What do you love most about working at Click?

The people and the career progression are second to none. I love how I’ve already been trusted to take on bigger tasks too; it really makes you feel valued.

Thanks for that Ryan! I completely agree.

If you’re new to Meet the Clickers, don’t forget to read our previous articles here. If you’re up to date make sure you come back next week for a new episode!

The post Meet the Clickers – Ryan Weeks appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

This content was originally published here.

Meet-the-clickers-Reece.png

Meet the Clickers – Reece Harbour

Episode 61 of Meet the Clickers is here and this week we have Reece Harbour sharing his thoughts on everything from self-checkout etiquette to an ice-cream only diet!

Hi Reece, I hope you’re well. Could you tell us all how you started at Click please?

I am well thank you, Alex. Just after university I started working at a car insurance company as a website developer and after a while I wanted more variety. I came across Click Dealer who had a vacancy and after a couple of interviews with Shaun, Graeme and Pete; I got the job!

How has your role progressed since then?

When I started out, I was working alongside Austin and Graeme helping to maintain the DMS. After a few months, Shane asked if I could also help him and Martyn with the website maintenance. There was a time where I was only working on the websites which is a great responsibility and I worked directly with web changes and web delivery. Now I float between the two doing what I can. I also started doing the daily stats which has been quite good and a nice responsibility. It’s a good variety from what I was doing originally.

If time and money were no issue, what hobby would you like to take up?

Without hesitation, boat restoration. I’d buy some old boats and fix them up then probably go sailing.

Favourite TV series?

Warehouse 13, Legion, Atlanta and Lost

There are a few more to add to my list… What’re you interested in that most people haven’t heard of?

Tomb Raider comic books, they came out in the 90s and disappeared after Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness the video game. I recently discovered them on eBay and was very much reminded of when I used to play the games on PS1/2. A lot of people would have heard of them back then but as it has been so long most of those people would have forgotten so I guess that counts, right?

That definitely counts, the Tomb Raider games were unreal! Where do you want to visit most in the world?

Any Scandinavian country or Canada, my partner and I are hoping we can move to Canada in a decade or so.

Can’t go wrong with either of those destinations. What do you wish you knew more about?

First aid and generally things that can be useful.

If you were the only human left on earth, what would be the first thing you’d do?

Sail the world, after finding a boat (free real estate, right?) whilst living off of ice-cream.

I wouldn’t mind commandeering Roman Abramovich’s boat! There are two types of people in this world. What are the two types?

Those who know two types of people and those who Google best ways to categorise two types of people.

If you could make one rule that everyone had to follow, what rule would you make?

For people to not use shopping trolleys in self-checkout areas as much as a “first world problem” as that sounds.

I like that a lot! What do you love most about working at Click?

The knowledge. The amount of people in the office provides a wealth of knowledge from vehicles to artisanal skills; it’s astonishing. Paul & I often talk about cooking and he’s given me some good tips on recipes that end up being well received. Jen & I talk about sewing and crafts. I’m sure your desk neighbour can teach you a thing or two about anything.

Great Answer Reece! I’m not too sure what Joe could teach me though…

I’m afraid that’s it for episode 61 of Meet the Clickers, don’t forget to come back next week for a fresh instalment. Make sure you click here to view our old interviews too!

The post Meet the Clickers – Reece Harbour appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

This content was originally published here.

Meet-the-clickers-Pip.png

Meet the Clickers – Pip Moxham

Episode 53 of Meet the Clickers sees us meet Head of Marketing Pip! We sat down last week to discuss celebrity crushes and the Wednesday Club!

Hi Pip, I hope you’re well. Could you tell us all how you started at Click please?

Before working at Click I used to work at a Digital Agency in Manchester, where I had worked for just over 6 years.  Ollie and I had discussed me working at Click for a few years but I wanted to wait for the right opportunity. I came in for a meeting with Gerry to talk about the skills that I can bring to Click and the vision for the future, he offered me the job and it has been a perfect match ever since.

I already knew a few of the Clickers from nights out and I’d already worked with Shaun Alcock and Steve Deighton in my previous job, not to mention that half of Click are actually my family haha so it was the perfect transition for me and I was kindly welcomed with open arms.

How has your job changed since you started with us?

When I first started at Click in November 2016 I worked in the Web and Tech team helping to organise the studio throughput and sprint planning. I then moved up to the Marketing department about 9 months later to work closely with Jamie to help to shape our fabulous Marketing Team.

My department is split into three sub departments, Click Dealer Marketing, Social Media and Content Creation, our responsibilities include work for our dealership customers as well as the overall marketing and communications for the business across different channels.

Have you and Ollie decided on the colour theme for the baby’s bike leathers yet?

Ha-ha, it will not be going anywhere near a bike or sidecar! He has got a Valentino Rossi baby grow but that’s as close as he’s getting.

With any luck he’ll prefer cars anyway! What do you wish you knew more about?

How to be a parent would be good!

How did you earn the nickname ‘The Scoffer’?

I sit next to super healthy Joe Podmore and he always gives me a judging look when I eat anything remotely unhealthy. At the moment I’m eating quite a lot of it too, so he’s got a constant frown of disapproval.

We all know Joe loves a Chico’s though, don’t feel too bad Pip! What’s the Wednesday Club and how do we join?

Wednesday Club started when my Dad came around every Wednesday for pasta and wine night, we’ve expanded our menu choices since then though! Ollie’s also involved in it and we did have a quiz team with the same name consisting of myself, Ol, my Dad, Joe and Jake Mallin. We weren’t very good, so we canned that off pretty quickly!

That does sound like a fun group to be in. Ron Munn mentioned the ‘Visitor Chode’ could you expand on this?

As bad as it may sound, the answer is actually quite innocent! I was speaking in a meeting and instead of saying Ron is auditing all our dealers that were using the Visitor Chat code on their website, it instead came out as Visitor Chodes… I couldn’t contain myself after that, so I had to end the meeting!

Haha, I’ve heard you make a few of those slip ups in fairness! Is it true that your celebrity crush bares a striking resemblance to your Husband, Ollie?

Oooh yeah, well I think he does. I’m a big fan of Jamie Dornan, I can’t help it. I think I saw him in Fifty Shades first!

Is it true that you’ve eaten at so many restaurants and pubs in the Staffordshire area that the county is thinking of introducing the ‘Pipchellin’ star, as you eat out more often than most food critics anyway?

I do like to eat out. I’d definitely be up for the Pipchellin Star though, I think I’d be a harsh critic! I’ve got a few places in mind already! As everyone already knows, I’m a big fan of pie (much to Joe’s amusement) so whenever I eat one I like I often report back to my friends. I quite like the Plume of Feathers; their pie is really good.

We do love a pie in marketing! None more so than Jamie! What trend do you hope makes a return?

I’d love to see double denim make a comeback!

What risks are worth taking?

Anything that makes you happy.

It’s a shame Ben Wood doesn’t use that logic when taking out another Vale season ticket; who could be happy supporting them? What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

You get out what you put in, so the harder you work the bigger your reward will be.

What do you love most about working at Click?

Of course, I love my fellow marketers, but I also love working for a family business. Working with their spouse would drive most people mad, but I love working with Ol and the rest of the family. It’s a great place where your ideas are listened to and valued, you also leave everyday knowing you’ve made a difference!

Spot on Pip, we really do make a difference don’t we!

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone for supporting this series throughout the year, it continues to be one of our top performing blogs and we’ve got big plans for it in the future… Don’t forget to join us again in 2019 to meet more of our Wonderful Clickers!

Al Bakes

The post Meet the Clickers – Pip Moxham appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

This content was originally published here.

Meet-the-clickers-Phoebie.png

Meet the Clickers – Phoebie Day

Hello and welcome back to Meet the Clickers! For episode 62 we’re joined by Phoebie! She’s here to tell us all about Ben Wood’s food addiction and her irrational fears…

Hi Phoebie, how’re you? Could you tell us all how you started at Click please?

I wanted to change my career path completely and found Click advertising on Indeed, I liked the look of the job, applied and quickly got an interview with Ben and Kate.

What’s worth spending more on to get the best?

I’d probably say a car or a house, they both get better the more you spend.

Ben says you’ve got an unhealthy McDonalds obsession, is this true?

That’s not true at all! It’s Ben with the obsession, he just likes to blame me. I wouldn’t say I have a particular obsession with any food.

What’s one thing you’re certain you’ll never try?

Bungee jumping. I absolutely hate heights.

If you knew you had an hour to live what would you try and do?

Other than the obvious stuff, like seeing my family and friends, I’d steal a really nice car and take it for a joyride.

Is it true you’ve nearly killed Ben in your car on multiple occasions?

It is actually, I’ve even started doing it on purpose now to scare him! Although driving like that has had an impact on my black box score…

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I’d love to go back and live in Antigua again. It’s such a beautiful place and I’ve still got loads of friends there! There’s just something about working in the sun that makes everything better!

Would you say your best skill is eating other people’s food without buying any yourself?

Definitely, I only need to hear a wrapper rustle and I’m right there next to them asking for a piece! Ben Wilde’s eating healthy at the minute so I’m having all of his unhealthy snacks too.

What’s the most annoying question people ask you?

“Are you ok?” I know they’re just being nice, but it normally comes after I’ve been quiet for more than 30 seconds!

What irrational fears do you have?

Spiders, they freak me out. As soon as I see any type of bug I have to run.

What do you love most about working at Click?

It’s a really happy place, I think in other jobs people come in, sit down and just work for eight hours and go home without really socialising; Click isn’t like that at all. I love the happy, family environment and I’m not sure I could work anywhere without that now!

You’re not wrong Phoebie, everyone always seems to have a smile on their face here!

If you’re itching for more Meet the Clickers, make sure you come back next week for a new instalment! If you simply can’t wait that long, click here to read our previous episodes now!

The post Meet the Clickers – Phoebie Day appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

MTC-Martyn.png

Meet the Clickers – Martyn Ball

We are back once again to bring you another episode of Meet the Clickers!

For episode 31 I caught up with Motorbike lover and ‘Egg in a bag’ enthusiast, Martyn Ball!

Martyn! How are we mate? Good to catch up. Could you tell the readers at home when you joined Click Dealer and how it came about?

“Hi Joe, not too bad thank you. Well I joined Click a little over 2 years ago now, March 2016. I had not long finished University and was just working as a doorman on the weekends.

I got told there was a position here in the Web Team by Kev who was here at the time, he is friends with my dad. So that’s when I sent in my CV and got an interview with Oli!”

Great stuff. Could you now tell us a bit about your role within the business and what it involves on a day-to-day basis?

“Well I’m now within the tech department as I made the move from Web not too long ago. I perform a large range of tasks day by day, from adding data into the database for redirects or blogs, to fixing any technical issues on the dealers websites.

I also help with developing new functionality and improvements for the websites.”

What is the most annoying habit that other people have?

“Other peoples annoying habits? Well, everyone here will be used to my rants, but INDICATORS! 99.8% of drivers these days don’t use indicators and it drives me mental!

It’s right next to your hand and lets people know where your going, so you don’t crash… even more important for me being on a motorbike. That’s probably the biggest annoying habit that other people have for me.”

Hahaha, 99.8% of drivers, that a bold claim Mart! What are the best and worst purchases you have ever made?

“Best purchase I have made is my Kawasaki Z800 Sugomi! Absolutely love my bike, it’s just fun to travel anywhere! Not too sure on what my worst purchase has been, I tend to get bored late at night and buy random things from eBay, so probably just purchased loads of rubbish haha.”

You have been known in the office for bringing in some quite random lunches in, such as scrambled egg in a bag. Could you tell us where you get these culinary ideas from?

“Well Joe, this was a ONE TIME event! Not too sure what went through my mind when I did that, there was a reason (excuse?) however.

People in the office seem to find it strange that I had sausage rolls for breakfast sometimes when I’m running late, not entirely sure why that’s so strange!?”

Sausage rolls not so bad, egg in a bag is a whole different kettle of fish Mart. What is the dumbest way you have ever been injured?

“Where do I start? Well probably the dumbest was when I put my hand through a window when I was younger… I had friends around, something happened, I got angry and slammed the back door, but I pushed it shut with the glass pane – unknowingly at the time – which smashed and cut open my thumb, wrist and an artery. Pretty messy, I must say!

Probably ONE of the stupidest ways, another 2 would be being hit by a Transit Van, and breaking my jaw, but stories for another day!”

Not an ideal situation that Martyn I must say. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

“This is a tough one! I would probably go with the ability to fly, simply so I could just go anywhere I want anytime.”

What is the hardest thing you have ever done and why?

“Probably the 3 Peaks Challenge! I found this quite mentally challenging, get up and down one mountain just to go to the next one and go up! But since then I have been up Snowdon 6 times! I want to try the challenge again, as I was 1 hour 30 minutes late and failed the challenge.”

The 3 Peaks Challenge was definitely a slog! What are you most looking forward to in the next 10 years?

“Hmm, I don’t really plan too far in advance at all! But maybe getting myself a house, with a nice big garage and many more motorbikes! Finally packing in the doors would be nice, would love to get my weekends back.

Maybe all my hard work in the gym every night will pay off and finally be ripped maybe!?”

Last but not least, what do you love most about working at Click?

“Just the general working environment, and the people! Click is a cracking place to work.”

Thanks for that Martyn, some cracking answers there. Big thank you for getting involved in Meet the Clickers, really appreciate it.

As for everyone at home, we hope you all enjoyed the latest instalment of our series, the next addition will be out this time next week but if that’s too long to wait, please click here to check out our other episodes.

J Pod.

The post Meet the Clickers – Martyn Ball appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

This content was originally published here.

Meet-the-clickers-Lyane.png

Meet the Clickers – Lyane Bartlett

Episode 57 of Meet the Clickers is here! This week Lyane found a spare five minutes to sit down with me and discuss everything from strange accents to her soup club preparation!

Hi Lyane, I hope you’re well. How did you start at Click Dealer?

I was looking for a new opportunity and was contacted by Gerry having been introduced by a mutual contact. I came in to speak with Gerry to learn about Click Dealer, discuss my skills and how I could fit in and help Click Dealer grow. Having worked in large corporations previously, it was refreshing to see what an SME was innovating and the passion to make it work.

I realised Click Dealer has a lot of data at its fingertips that can be used for key business decisions as well as using the data for the benefit of its customers. I was excited by the prospect of what could be done.

Interesting, how has your role changed since you started?

When I first started at Click, there wasn’t anyone dedicated to the data itself and the knowledge of how much power the data had was minimal. Over the eight months I’ve been at Click, the knowledge and excitement about what data can do has grown massively, which I love, being the data geek I am!

I have created logs to make Customer Cares’ lives easier, dashboards for product performance views and we are regularly producing bespoke reports for our dealers. Just before Christmas, the Data Team expanded with the addition of Sophie, who has now taken over a lot of the regular reporting and ad hoc data requests.

I believe I’m right in saying you weren’t lucky enough to be born in the North! What would you say is the weirdest thing we do or say is?

There are plenty of sayings that I really don’t understand. Someone said, ‘can you kick a ball against a wall without it bursting’. Due to their accent, it was gibberish to me unfortunately! Oatcakes are weird things too.

Even I struggle with some of the phrases Poody comes up with every now and then! If you could live in any movie universe, where would you choose?

This is a tricky one, I don’t really have favourite films or follow any movie franchises. I suppose if I had to live in a movie it would be something like Clueless or Mean Girls; going back to 90s fashion and the constant cheesy music would be fun.

I like it! I’ve also been told your sweet drawer is always fully stocked, what do you always ensure is topped up?

I have to have a good mix of sweet and savoury. So, I’ve always got crisps in there, peanut butter is a must too; smooth of course. I’ve not kept on top of it recently but if I did I’d definitely have jelly sweets in there!

I doubt it’s on Jamie’s level just yet! Are there any tv shows or movies you refuse to watch no matter how many times they’re recommended?

Breaking Bad or Sons of Anarchy. There are about 9 seasons of 20 something episodes and I just haven’t got time for that. I also avoid all horror movies!

I’m exactly the same, who wants to spend hours catching up? I hear you’re a keen home cook, what’s your favourite thing to make?

I’ve got a subscription to Simply Cook that sends you all the stocks and spices you need for each recipe. From that I’ve made paella, and tonight I’m making a veggie curry! It’s nice to experience food from different cultures and obviously it’s normally quite healthy. I’ve enjoyed making soup over winter too.

Is that a cover for your soup club practise? You’ll need all the training you can get to compete with Pip! What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

There’s a book called Lexicon by Max Barry. It’s a fictional piece, but it’s all about the power of words. They trained people to use phrases and syllables to control people. It sounds a bit strange but it’s really interesting!

Are you a cat or dog person?

Cats. I’ve got one myself, but I’d love a dog. If I had more time to properly look after a dog I’d definitely have one. I’d love to take Ziggy home!

I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t like Ziggy! What would you like to know more about?

I love Scandinavian culture and their approach to life. I‘m currently learning more about Hygge and how to live a Hygge lifestyle.

What’s something you’ll never do again?

Zorbing. I’ll definitely never do that again. I’m not a fan of rollercoasters, or anything along those lines, but my friend bought me a zorbing experience for my birthday. We were both strapped into this ball facing each other and we’re rolling and bouncing down this hill towards a net that’s supposed to slow our progress to a gentle crawl. The net actually stopped us dead with me at the top of the ball staring over my friend; how I didn’t throw up on her I’ll never know!

I wasn’t expecting that answer… What do you love most about working at Click?

For me it’s the freedom to have ideas and know I can take them to people and they’ll be listened to. With my role, I can look at the data, find something in it and take it to whoever I need and say if we did this, this and this we could have x, y and z effect on something. I know I can take these things to Gerry, Ollie, Pip or Shaun and they’d follow me along with it. That’s how the CRM came about. It’s nice knowing you’re listened to and a part of it, rather than just being expected to sit there and be quiet.

Perfectly summed up, it’s nice to hear it from a different side of the business too!

If you enjoyed this week’s episode, make sure you come back next week for a new instalment. If you can’t wait that long, click here to see our previous episodes!

Al Bakes

The post Meet the Clickers – Lyane Bartlett appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

This content was originally published here.

Meet-the-clickers-kieran-brown.png

Meet the Clickers – Kieran Brown

Welcome back to another episode of Meet the Clickers!

This week I caught up with one of our award winning tech programmers, Kieran Brown!

Hiya Kie! How are we mate? Good to catch up. Could you tell the readers at home when you joined Click?

“Alright mate! Yeah I’m great ta shug, I joined click just under 2 years ago, 3rd October 2016 to be precise. I’d recently moved to Stoke-on-Trent and needed a local place to work, it all fell into place beautifully.”

Nice one! Could you now tell us a bit about your current role within the business?

“Sure buddy, I joined Click as part of the new product team, I’ve been working very closely with Mr. Steve Deighton developing some ace products. One that can’t go without a mention that I’m sure you’re all familiar with by now is Click Dealer’s award winning product – ClickEngage.

While Steve focuses more on colouring in, I play a part in developing Web API’s. Now I’ve really struggled to explain what this is so I’m going to leave you with this top description from Google.

“a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of applications which access the features or data of an application”

Giving an example from ClickEngage, the API allows the ability to enquire, store the part exchange and get a valuation, reserve, arrange a callback, receive emails/sms etc.”

Hahaha, thanks for clearing that up, you’d lost me there. If you could choose one person to be your mentor, who would it be and why?

“Taylor Otwell, a name that probably won’t mean anything to anybody reading this, is the founder of a popular PHP Framework – Laravel/Lumen. As sad as it is my entire life revolves around programming and without this guy the applications I have developed wouldn’t be as they are today.

He’s a big inspiration to a lot of developers and his efforts have definitely made me a better programmer. Big up.”

What are your 3 favourite video games of all time?

“This is a tough one, I’m not as big into gaming as I used to be but I can definitely name 3, all quite recently released/played actually.”

  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
  • God of War

What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

“I guess mentally, living with university students for 2 years while trying to get up fresh for a 9am start. I can’t even remember the amount of sleepless nights and hungover days. Although on the other side I was living the dream, university life while earning plenty of dolla!”

What is your proudest achievement in life so far?

“My proudest achievement so far has to be having a massive part in the development of an award winning product in such early stages of my programming career. It’s not everyday you’re given the opportunity to develop a product from scratch that thousands of consumers get to use.”

For sure Kie, you’ve all definitely smashed it with ClickEngage. Favourite Netflix series of all time?

“I’ve only had Netflix for 2 months so I’ve not quite scraped the surface of content yet! But I’m quite into psychological series, especially horror, so I’d have to say Hannibal.

My favourite series of all time however would have to be Game of Thrones, team Night King!”

If you were a dictator of a small nation, what crazy dictator stuff would you do?

“Finish what my grandfather started…”

What is worth spending more on to get the best?

“Everything, I’m absolutely terrible with money. Being a techy I would have to say anything hardware related, you buy cheap you buy again. My other half would probably disagree though, I’m not quite sure she agreed with buying a £1500 TV, which then obviously needed a high spec sound-bar to go with it.”

Haha, brilliant. Last but not least, what do you love most about working at Click?

“Other than the absolute obvious, the clickers themselves, there’s countless reasons. There’s freedom in development. The attitude, willingness and creativity of employees and everybody’s ideas are always welcomed!

But the main thing I love about Click, is the support and investment you get from the business. Click Dealer invest in their staff more than any other business I’ve seen. One example is having access to unlimited training resources through what we call ClickAcademy! We get personal development time fortnightly on a friday afternoon to further develop ourselves which gives us the opportunity to improve or learn something new!

The banter between Austin and Shane, 2 other tech team members, is also quite enjoyable to listen to.”

What a fantastic answer! Probably the best one we’ve had so far so kudos to you for that Kie.

Well Kieran, as always a big thank you for taking some time out of your day to get involved in Meet the Clickers, I hope you enjoyed it! As for everyone reading at home, I hope you all enjoyed the latest instalment of our series, the next addition will be out this time next week but if that’s too long to wait, please click here to check out our other episodes.

The post Meet the Clickers – Kieran Brown appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.

This content was originally published here.

Meet-the-clickers-Jamie-P.png

Meet the Clickers – Jamie Peters

Episode 58 of Meet the Clickers sees us meet one of five Jamie’s at Click! I sat down with Jamie Peters this week to discuss his detest for WordPress and love of Portuguese chicken!

Hi Jamie, I hope you’re well! How did you start at Click Dealer?

Hi Alex, I’m fine thanks. It all started a little over a year ago, I’d been self employed as a web designer for a couple of years, and in December 2017 me and my fiancée started talking about our plans for the future, the money we were earning wasn’t enough for us to get our own place or anything, so I decided to start looking for a full-time job.

In January 2018 I applied for a job with the web team, got interviewed by Ollie, Will and Keiran Munn, and in the interview we talked about my PHP skills, so they passed me onto Shaun, I had an interview with him a week later, and then started in the Tech team the Monday after that, which also involved moving to my fiancée’s parent’s house in Crewe full-time from my parents’ in South Yorkshire, rather than just stopping there every few weeks!

How has your role changed since you joined us?

When I originally started I was in the Tech Maintenance team, working closely with Graeme, Austin and Jen with changing or fixing little things on the DMS for our dealers. In April/May I had my first big task of creating something new for the DMS, the GDPR dashboard. From then on I’ve been on the projects team, developing new exciting functionality for the DMS, such as Click Leads in the new Accelerator Pack, launching in March. I’ve also worked on functionality for Making Tax Digital and submitting your VAT Return through the DMS.

What do you have against WordPress?

Haha, how long have you got? My main gripe with WordPress started when I was self-employed, unfortunately these days the market is saturated with build your own solutions, such as Wix, Go Daddy, WordPress, which small, new businesses use rather than having a customised website, then there’s the whole market of people who sell themselves as “expert” web designers/developers who just hack together a paid for WordPress theme and a few plugins and sell it off to a client at an inflated ridiculous price, whereas every website I did, I created from the ground up.

When you look at code behind WordPress, its such a mess, there’s no modern coding standards or technologies, it supports out of date versions of PHP out of the box, and if you install the wrong plugins or don’t keep it up to date, it’s a huge security risk.

Done properly, I’ve got nothing against WordPress, I have seen some great WordPress websites and I know people who make decent money creating and selling bespoke custom WordPress plugins, it’s the other end of the spectrum I have issues with!

At least you can back your views up! Favourite Food?

Nando’s. I love a cheeky Nando’s, I’d eat at a Nando’s restaurant every week if I could, I even get their spice packs from the supermarkets and cook my own chicken in it at home if I really fancy one, which is usually a couple of times a week!

We’re huge fans of spicy chicken in the Marketing department too! What fictional place would you most like to visit?

I’m not sure really, I love the Star Wars universe, but I couldn’t pick one place there to visit, there’s so many! I’m also a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, so Hogwarts would be cool, and I love The Big Bang Theory, so maybe I’d go to Pasadena and visit the apartment and meet Sheldon Cooper and everyone else, it’s a tough question!

Some great ideas there, they all sound interesting! What skill would you like to completely master?

Being a techy and a web dev guy, my first thought was Web Development, who doesn’t want to master their own craft? But Web Dev is an ever changing, ever evolving industry, an industry standard now could be completely out of date in six months time, it’s an impossible trade to master.

My other love is playing guitar, I’ve got a sweet Epiphone Les Paul at home that my other half got me for my birthday last year. I love playing guitar, I’ve been playing just over nine years, people tell me I’m good, but I’m good at playing other people’s songs, not writing my own or anything. I’d love to master the guitar though, play solos like Slash, write amazing songs, play on a stage to other people; that’s the dream!

It sounds like you and Steve Connor would make quite the partnership, we just need a drummer and we’ve got a Click band! What’s something everyone is completely obsessed with that you don’t get the point of?

There’s a lot of popular culture I don’t like, a prime example is Game of Thrones It’s huge, and I hear people talking about it regularly, but I just don’t like it, I like fantasy, I read every day on the train to and from work, but I like stories that are semi-grounded in reality, and set in the modern day, Game of Thrones just doesn’t interest me at all.

Can’t argue with that! Would you rather live in the city or the countryside and why?

I like both for different reasons, but I’d like to throw in a third option, the coast. I absolutely love being by the sea, whether that’s a beach, or a cliff top, a hustle and bustle sea side town full of tourists, or a remote cliff top in the middle of nowhere, put me in either, no matter the weather, and I can sit there for hours watching the world go by, watching the water, and just not get bored.

Top answer, there’s something special about the seaside. What do you really want but can’t afford?

I love Lego, I see all these cool Star Wars Lego sets, and Harry Potter Lego sets, and I just want them all, all of the decent ones are ridiculously expensive, and of course it’s having the room to put them. When me and my partner finally get our own place, I’d love a room just full of Lego, and probably guitars and amps too, somewhere for me to just to have fun.

I can’t think of a better use for a spare room! What would you like to know more about?

Since I’ve been at Click I’ve learnt a lot from Kieran Brown, he’s great at what he does, and he’s got a great mindset when it comes to development, standards, good practices and stuff like that. Over the past six months or so I’ve been really trying to up my game and be the best I can be at what I do, challenge myself to learn more and get out of the bad coding habits I’ve been in for 10, 15 years. So, the more I do, the more I learn, and the more I improve.

What do you love most about working at Click?

I love everything about being here, it’s a great company, with a great workspace, and all the people are great. Here in the Tech team we have a lot of laughs and banter and we all get on great with each other, as I said before, I’ve learnt a lot while being here, there’s progression here, and the managers can see that you want to learn more and give you more challenging work to do. Like I said at the start, I went for the Web job, and then ended up in the Tech Team, and then progressed into the projects team after just a few months of being here, and now I’ve had a part in building fantastic new features for our dealers.

The directors are great too, late last year something awful happened in my fiancée’s family, and I had both Pippa R and Ollie, and even other managers asking how we were, offering their support.

It’s great to be part of a family run business, which in the 12 months I’ve been here has progressed so much, I always tell myself I dropped incredibly lucky getting a job at Click, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

You’re not wrong Jamie, Click really is one of a kind!

If you enjoyed this week’s episode of Meet the Clickers and want to find out more, read our previous episodes here. If you’re up to date, make sure you come back next week for a new instalment!

The post Meet the Clickers – Jamie Peters appeared first on Dealer Management Systems, Dealer Websites – Click Dealer.