Sharpsmart Spotlight: Anthony Banks

When Janice calls Sharpsmart’s Customer Excellence team because she can’t find the right HDMI channel on her Sharp TV, there’s only one man for the job…

We want to take a moment to shine the spotlight on Sharpsmart’s Voice of the Customer, our Customer Excellence Coordinator, Anthony Banks.

Who is behind the Sharpsmart Customer Excellence Coordination?

Anthony is a natural people person, family man, and live music enthusiast. Socialising, family time, and travelling the country to attend concerts are all in a day’s work for Anthony – when it comes to tallying up Liam Gallagher concerts, Anthony might just give Noel a run for his money, at least in the past decade.

As an avid Sunderland supporter, Anthony has mastered the art of controlling success on FIFA, finding solace in virtual victories when real-life matches bring heartbreak. But his passion for football extends beyond the digital world, grounding him in the ups and downs of supporting his beloved team.

Sharpsmart’s rapid growth prompted the creation of localised Customer Service teams, but Anthony remained with the central Customer Excellence, becoming the Voice of the Customer. Responsible for ensuring an excellent customer experience, Anthony plays a pivotal role in Sharpsmart’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

Working closely with regional teams, Anthony extends his influence to welcome calls for new customers, particularly during the roll-out of our reusable sharps waste containers and services.

Anthony’s passion for his work is evident in his dedication to providing excellent customer service at all times and striving to ensure every customer has a positive experience. In fact, Anthony even provides this to non-customers, and that’s where Janice, mentioned in the intro comes into this story…

As an elderly owner of a Sharp TV trying to find the right channel, Janice found herself on the phone with Sharpsmart’s Customer Service where she was met by Anthony who was expecting a clinical or sharps waste-related enquiry. As it turned out, Janice needed help navigating her TV to the correct HDMI channel after changing it by accident. Being the people-focused person he is, Anthony talked her through it and Janice was back to watching her favourite show in no time!

But that’s enough from us – now that you have an idea of who Anthony Banks is, let’s hear from the man himself. The expert at convincing CEOs to don uniforms for go-karting antics.

We sat down with Anthony to better understand his Sharpsmart experience.

What were your first impressions of Sharpsmart?

Even to this day, Sharpsmart was my first full-time job so I was pretty excited to get started. I had no knowledge of the sector beforehand but leading up to and during the interview process I remember being impressed with everything I was learning about the company, the core values and the mission to make healthcare safer.

What do you enjoy most about working for Sharpsmart?

The people I work with. I don’t think I’d have been here for as long as I have without the people I work with who make each day unique and enjoyable. I also love speaking with the customers themselves, no two days are the same, there’s always something new and different.

I enjoy providing customer service and a positive experience, it’s what I’m good at and enjoy doing. Sharpsmart had confidence in me and gave me the opportunity to stay on after my apprenticeship and hone my skills in this area.

What’s the strangest request you’ve had whilst on the job?

That’s an easy one…

I got a call one day from a resident in Cheshire and Merseyside who informed me that due to certain reasons was refusing hospital treatment for gangrene in his leg. He was considering taking off his own leg and wanted an anatomical waste bin to be provided so he could send it back to us for disposal.

To this day I have no idea what happened to this man, or his leg…

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned over your career?

To be as attentive as possible. The more information you can get out of a customer the better chance you have of knowing exactly what they need and why they need it. This gives a solid basis for getting it sorted quickly, you’ll know who to turn to and what to do – people want what they want as simply and as fast as possible, so being attentive simplifies the process both internally and externally.

What’s the most fulfilling thing you’ve done with Sharpsmart?

It was extremely satisfying to help healthcare providers throughout the pandemic by clearing huge amounts of clinical waste. It was much more than a service provision, we met the changing needs of the industry and were able to take a weight off their shoulders so they could continue doing what they do best – providing care.

It’s also been fulfilling to build the rapport I’ve got with customers and get to know many of them well enough to have real conversations with.

What does growth look like for you and your dept/team/plant?

We recently took a lot of what we did with national Customer Excellence and branched out to localised Customer Service to provide our customers with an improved service. Our next step is to bring in a Customer Experience Manager.

Once we’ve done that we’ll be able to grow our team further and give our customers an even better experience by elevating ourselves and offering more value – being the best we possibly can.

How would you describe the culture at Sharpsmart?

Everybody works together with a joint vision and a common goal – it’s not one team against another, we work together to get a solution as quickly as possible and work to a high standard.

If you could dispel one myth about the healthcare waste industry, what would that be?

The smell isn’t as bad as you might think.

What advice would you give someone looking for a career with Sharpsmart?

Just be patient because if it’s something you’ve never done before or you’re inexperienced in this industry it can seem overwhelming.

Take the information in and learn by whatever method works best for you and be attentive because there’s going to be a lot of information coming your way.

Also, be opportunistic because we’re a fast-growing company and you’ll definitely have opportunities to do what you want here and progress if you put effort in.

If you were abandoned on a desert island, which three Sharpsmart colleagues would you want with you?

Rebecca Stanley, so I could wind her up and that would be my source of entertainment. Thinking methodically, Dan Brookes because he’d be able to make a radio out of a tree or something. Robbie Marshall, just because it’d be absolute chaos and hilarious to see how he would function if stranded on a desert island, but we’d need cameras set up.

Bonus Question: If you could go for a drink with any historical figure, who would it be, and why?

John Lennon. No, Liam Gallagher.

It would be utterly mental from start to finish, I'd probably end up coming back four days later.

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If you are, and you’d also like to be a part of making healthcare safer and more sustainable, you’ll fit in nicely with the Sharpsmart pride.

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