Rachel Kovel

• Company Overview: Castle Automotive Group (All 3 companies are under the same corporation)

Part One: Castle Automotive Group

• I was hired for Customer Service for Allstate Insurance but I knew how to perform other tasks.
• I answered calls non-stop for customers who needed to make changes to their current policies.
• Had questions about their policies coverages and premium
• Had appointments set for me for Insurance reviews
• Quoted new business
• Sold new business
• I saw customers face to face in the dealerships mainly Castle Chevy Villa Park most because I had my own private office. I started at Castle Chevy North for one year then went to Castle Chevy Villa Park and occasionally went to Castle Buick GMC for any scheduled appointments made when the employee was terminated at the Buick GMC location.
• Castle Buick GMC was the home dealership of Castle Allstate. When Castle Allstate was googled, the Castle Buick GMC in North Riverside address came up. I am a very organized person and kept documents and notebooks with each phone call. I wrote down the customer’s name and the policy number or who I talked to if it wasn’t the main customer due to language barrier, what I did for them in a very detailed manor just in case we have an issue I can take the notebook turn to the date/time and find the customers name or policy number and what was discussed on that phone call and if a follow up phone call was scheduled. If there was an appointment/follow up that was put into my Allstate calendar. I can go over notes in my notebook or the Allstate Profile that each Agency has on their home customer.
• Took payments. Then I had to take the check or cash right to the bank and deposit.
• Not only did we quote and sell auto insurance we also quoted and sold homeowners, renters, life, motorcycle, mobile home, umbrellas, and event insurance policies.
• Since November 2019 I was the only employee and Dan our agency director who held our licenses.
• Then March 2020 Covid hit, and everything changed. Dan was let go and I solely ran the agency because we had a contract to fill. It was hard and stressful. I worked from home March thru July and put my cell phone number on the voicemail. This worked great because customers would call or text me and it brought a closer relationship with them. When I returned to work and removed my cell number, customers still called my cell phone and others called the office line. I was handling over 2,000 customers' needs and trying to take on new business with all five dealerships. I had to limit sales with the two dealerships in Indiana because over the years we realized customers wanted an agent in their state and our phone number came up as 708 or 630 area code when called, not a 219 from Indiana. Allstate is a higher premium insurance and well known but there are a lot of restrictions, rules and discounts customers must qualify for in order to get a good premium or the price that was said on a commercial. Out of all new customers maybe 15% qualified for Allstate. The Agency was then closed when our contract was fulfilled.

Part 2: Castle Automotive Group

• I started Castle Automotive Group when Castle Allstate Insurance closed. They were impressed how I handled their Allstate agency by myself and asked if I would like to stay with them and work with starting up the Service Business Development Center (Service BDC) for all the Castle Dealerships. I started with three dealerships and got all seven dealerships not including their Autoplex in McHenry because they do their own thing.
• Worked from home at first because I was considered high risk during Covid because I had a serious surgery
• Handled incoming service calls and texts
• Made outgoing phone calls, texts and emails from lists that were given to us.
• Follow up with outgoing calls, texts and emails
• Ordered parts for vehicle recalls
• Call customers when parts arrived
• Schedule service appointments
• Call missed appointments to reschedule service appointment
• Created my own follow ups by looking at their past service records and seeing when services were done. Then created reminders/text/follow ups for myself to contact them and let them know what maintenance is due by mileage and date.

• List dates the job started and ended, make sure job site address is listed, what type of job was performed, who the job was done by and if he needed any help if so how many people did it take to complete the job listed and if we had to purchase materials not included in the quote given..
• Entered data into system and updated customer contacts with information to keep records current.
• Handled sensitive information discreetly, maintaining confidentiality when managing personnel files or financial data.
• Answered multi-line phone system and enthusiastically greeted callers.
• Maintained daily report documents, memos and invoices.
• Prepared professional correspondence, including memos, letters, and emails, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
• Managed daily office operations, ensuring efficient workflow and communication among departments.
• Provided exceptional customer service by promptly addressing inquiries and resolving issues professionally.
• Provided clerical support to company employees by copying, faxing, and filing documents.
• Maintained accurate records of office expenses, assisting in budget preparation and cost control efforts.
• Updated spreadsheets and databases to track, analyze, and report on performance and sales data.