Staff Stories - Helen Heggadon, Customer Sales Advisor

Helen has been working with us for over a year in the Customer Sales team.

She loves to connect with customers and provide them with a solution to keep themselves or their loved ones safe. Helen also loves to go wild swimming.

We asked Helen to share what it is like to work at Taking Care.

If I had to describe our workplace in one word it would be 'Caring'.

Helen Heggadon
Customer Sales Advisor

What's a typical day for you at Taking Care?

I take calls from people who are looking for an alarm to protect a loved one or themselves, I help identify the best personal alarm for them, explain how it works and process the order. I also call people back from previous enquires to go through their needs.

What do you find most challenging and rewarding about your role?

The most challenging is when a family member agrees to a personal alarm for the elderly that would keep their Mum or Dad safe but then they are reluctant to wear it. After understanding the situation, and knowing its benefit, I feel for the family member as they just want peace of mind.

I have an alarm for my Dad and we both feel more at ease having it.

The most rewarding is the sense of relief that you sometimes hear from people when they know their alarm is on the way, and when they say what an easy process it was to get started.

Can you tell us about a particularly memorable customer call?

I was ordering an alarm for a gent who told me he was epileptic and during the call he started to feel ill. I offered to call an ambulance and he accepted. I called his local emergency services and they took over. I called him back after the weekend and there was no answer. I was worried about him so tried again another day. He was delighted to get my call and went on to order an alarm.

On another occasion, one lady I was ordering a personal fall alarm for said she couldn't afford the installation service. I described how simple it was to install my Dad’s alarm and she was surprised that it was as easy as it is. She decided to do it herself with her son. It felt great being able to empower someone to try something new.

Do you remember your first day at Taking Care?

When I first started, I was really nervous, I had been working from home in my previous job during Covid and had not been into an office in almost a year. I had no sense of what to expect or what the ‘feel’ was.

I need not have worried; everyone was so warm and welcoming. It felt lovely to be with people again. I felt supported and welcomed. I was even given a goody bag with branded accessories.

I knew immediately that I had made the right decision to join the company. Changing jobs during a pandemic took some courage, but I am so glad I made the leap.

What do you love to do aside from work?

I love to go wild water swimming, I started a group in the autumn of last year, which now has over 30 regular wild swimmers, some of whom followed me into winter swimming for the first time.

I love having an impact on people’s confidence and seeing their self-belief grow.