Director of Client Services, United States

About Bonhams

Bonhams is a global auction house with an 18th century heritage poised for transformative change. Our global operations are based in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong where we sell in over 60 categories, including motor cars, paintings, jewelry, and entertainment memorabilia.

Our employees are passionate about their work, and we pride ourselves on a bespoke approach that aims to make every client feel important. It is an exciting time for our business and our global leadership team of art world professionals are now ready to for a People focused team to help them develop their talent strategy, strengthen our people brand globally, build organizational capability and drive process improvement.

Bonhams is an Equal Opportunity Employer. As part of our commitment to fight for equality, we work to ensure a fair and consistent interview process. We celebrate diversity and we are committed to an inclusive work environment.

About the Role

The role of the Director ofClient Serviceswill be accountable for delivering outstanding experience to clients in person and through their online bidding activity. The Client Service Director will be the standard bearer for client service in our salerooms and for clients domestically and internationally. They will focus on the client’s journey through the auction process to ensure we offer a simple, frictionless, and positive service experience for both buyers and sellers.They will collaborate with their peers, saleroom management team and Specialists to deliver the service experience. In addition, a close working relationship with the relevant functional heads at head office level is expected, representing the needs of the saleroom and client at a local level.They will actively enhance the ways of working for Bonhams across all their areas, working collaboratively with other teams to develop new systems and processes to drive the buying and selling experience. The role will provide strong leadership for all client service staff and support to the Specialist Departments and functional teams to deliver the best overall result for the company.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Supervise the performance of the US Client Service function, consisting of Client Services Administrators, Supervisors, Post-sale Coordinators in NY, LA and MA
• Collaborate with Operations/IT to provide necessary tools/equipment to conduct sales
• Organize staffing based on the sale calendar, ensuring staffing and client support as business needs demand
• Manage the continual growth & success of the US Client Service team with a focus on team engagement and retention
• Maintain available training tools to ensure team and new starters have relevant and latest training content
• Foster the flow of information and knowledge across the Service team to maximize awareness of sales, categories, Bonhams’ selling locations and services and a confident knowledge of the digital offering
• Partner with Legal and Compliance teams to ensure KYC processes are being followed
• Identify any service hindrances and work with the Department Head to develop long-term solutions
• Be a consistent champion of the client voice and the Bonhams service standard across the business, identifying any opportunities to improve the client focus
• Set the standards for saleroom and general front of house areas, from staff uniform, equipment, client meeting rooms and auction rooms
• Review KPI tracking and client service data (call handling, abandonment rates, live chat, email resolution etc) to challenge performance issues and drive improvements. Identify other opportunities to measure service delivery and implement
• Act as a key stakeholder/supporter of the NPS program and ensure client feedback is reviewed and improvements made where possible
• Ensure the client experience is flawless & that you are handling all communications and interactions with Bonhams buyers exceptionally
• Easily adapt to, facilitate & manage new initiatives instructed by Managing Director
• Contribute to & oversee improvements to our pre- and post-sale functions
• Allocate staff to brief Specialist departments on interest pre-sale and debrief post-sale

Additional Desired Qualities

• Ensure Front Desk and client facing areas are staffed, tidy and welcoming
• Ensure that our visitors and clients feel acknowledged, welcomed, and well informed, and are quickly connected to appropriate Bonhams department and staff members should they have any inquiries
• Stay informed and aware of the preview, auction & event schedule for each location
• Ensure we are handling client queries by phone, email and in person quickly and accurately
• Ensure the correct processing of pre-sale enquiries and registrations properly and in a timely manner – these include internet, phone, absentee & in person registrations
• Oversee all auction functions, ensuring we are properly staffed/prepared/ready to handle any problems that may arise
• Manage client’s accounts, updating internal systems with client details and ensuring appropriate compliance materials are on file
• Oversee cashiering duties: handling cash, recording payments, balancing sales, invoicing and rebilling
• Facilitate & oversee post-sale processes: incl. payment, shipping & collection inquires – for all buyers
• Ensure we are receiving visitors and booking valuations with correct department and liaising accordingly
• Always Safeguarding the security and confidentiality of information and complying with the Data Protection Act and Bonhams’ policies
• Dealing with catalogue requests and maintain a library of catalogues
• Be flexible with your schedule to support special events, sale previews, evenings, and offsite auctions
• Support new hire and ongoing training initiatives – this includes new processes, programs, technological changes & educating teams accordingly
• Be available and interested in assisting with ad-hoc projects as they arise
• Manage high value & VIP clients
• Ensure staffing and proper service handling of US Motorcar Sales
• Handle escalations for Client Service with high level attention and care

Qualifications

The right candidate must have strong organizational skills and solid management experience with evidence of people development and team engagement. The candidate must have strong cultural awareness, a natural ability to establish good professional relationships with cross-Departmental partners and the ability to adapt immediately to new ways of working. Forward-thinking, planning and the anticipation of risk is an important dimension of this role.

• Confident and knowledgeable in working in a busy customer service environment
• Experience in creating Client Service processes
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrate first class customer service skills and experience dealing with a diverse range of people
• Be a positive team player, able to maintain knowledge of departments, personnel, department experts, names and titles of senior management and executive officers, as well as branch locations
• Experience employing quick and appropriate problem-solving skills, able to remain calm and collected under pressure
• Strong inter-personal skills and natural ability to create immediate good relationships
• A natural ability to lead, communicate and work with internal audiences effectively
• Ability to support staff during logistic set up and be ready to work “on the ground”
• Good knowledge of MS Office tools
  
• Must be flexible to cover a fluid and growing sales schedule, inclusive of evenings and weekends

What We Offer

In addition to an active and progressive work environment, Bonhams offers a competitive benefits package to encourage work/life balance, including:

• Shortened work week: Standard workday is 7.5 hours and work week is 37.5 hours
• Excellent medical, dental and vision insurance – HMO, EPO, PPO with FSA and HSA
• 16 days paid time off (PTO)
• 12 paid holidays and holiday break from Christmas to New Years Day
• 16 weeks fully paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements
• 401(k) retirement plan with company contribution
• Life insurance with AD & D
• Short- and long-term disability
• Paid cellphone and data service
• Tuition reimbursement
• Commuter benefits (transit and parking)
• Employee assistance program (EAP)
• Professional development: free online training and expansive content library
• Onboarding buddy: 90 day mentor to welcome and orient new joiners
• Employee resource groups: social club, diversity committee, mentorship program
• Sponsored socials: annual staff art exhibition, annual summer and holiday parties, monthly birthday treats, weekly breakfast

Applicants who best match the position needs will be contacted.

Bonhams participates in E-Verify.