Jo has new approach to sales at Volvo Bus

Ms Standbridge, who lives in Kenilworth, was brought up in Hampton Magna and is a former Coten End Primary and Aylesford High School pupil. She joined Volvo’s administration department in July 1998 at the site in Wedgnock Lane, Warwick.

Nearly 13 years later, after initially moving to a different role in its Rugby office, she returned to administration for Volvo Bus and is now the regional sales manager.

Her big opportunity to become a sales manager came in 2002.

It was a big challenge for a woman who confesses to not be a traditional hard-headed salesperson, believing it is more important to be honest and up front with customers.

It was also a long way from the child care course she took at Mid Warwickshire College, or the travel and tourism course she completed at Henley College.

She said: “At the start of my sales role I took and passed in a week my PSV licence giving an extra edge to the sales role.

“There is no longer room for pushy sales people. In this day and age, you have to understand the customer’s needs, use new tools and do that little bit extra.”

She doesn’t use the old ‘cold calling’ sales technique and firmly believes that those days are gone. She now focuses more on utilising a postcode database which she uses to plan and book her sales visits.

Every Friday, Ms Standbridge selects the customers she intends to visit the following week, and is responsible for sales of new and used Volvo coaches for all of East Anglia, Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, London and Sussex.

She added: “Customers nowadays are busy people. So rather than turning up announced, you really have to understand their situation and help them as much as possible. I have met lovely customers who have become my friends. My job is made easier because I genuinely believe in the product.”

As the only female sales manager working in the full-size coach business in Britain, other women are hard to come by in working life. But one of her customers, Margaret L’Anson, is one of the few female operators in the UK coach tour business and has worked with Jo Stanbridge since 2007.

Ms L’Anson said: “I enjoy working with somebody that I can discuss more than engines and drivelines with. Jo and I also talk about things like passengers’ opinions of a bus, whether or not the styling is modern, and so on.”