Meet Nick Thackray, Head of Leasing Operations

For the latest instalment in sopp+sopp’s leadership series, we spoke to Nick Thackray - Head of Leasing Operations. Check out the full interview below to learn more about Nick’s role, experience, and priorities at sopp+sopp…

Interview with Nick Thackray…

Tell us about your role, Nick

“I lead dedicated fleet operational teams managing claims for directly contracted fleet customers and fleet customers contracted by an intermediary, such as their fleet or lease company. 

We manage the full claims cycle, liaising with customers, drivers and repairers to manage downtime effectively and proactively. 

One key aspect of our role is to make sure we really get to know our customers and their processes, working as an extension to their team and as efficiently as possible to reduce vehicle down time.”

What do you enjoy most about your role at sopp+sopp? 

“I enjoy the opportunity to influence change and make a real difference in the business. In my role, I drive improvements for our customers, whilst also ensuring the business is a great place for our team members to work.”

Tell us a bit about your professional background 

“I’ve been lucky to find a career that I really enjoy in claims and customer experience. 

When I left college after my A-levels, I took a role as an Apprentice Administrator with a fraud and insurance investigation business. 

I quickly progressed to become a Claims Handler, then a Team Manager, and eventually a Report Writer before leaving to go travelling in Vietnam. When I returned to the UK, I was approached about working at Activate Group by a former colleague. 

I joined the business on the insurance side as a Team Manager, from there I was promoted to Operations Manager, with a focus on leading our customer teams and managing some of our key accounts.  

When the opportunity to work on the fleet side of the business came up, I saw it as a great chance to develop my skills further and widen my claims industry experience.”

How do you tailor our services to meet specific customer needs?

“The first thing we do is try to learn as much as possible about the fleet management businesses that we work with, and their customers. 

It starts at implementation – we focus on getting to know and understand how each customer works and what their key priorities are. 

We continue this through ongoing proactive communication, and we make sure our claims handlers have a clear understanding of their customers too, regularly inviting them to join review calls to maintain and build relationships. The more we can understand why something is particularly important to a customer, the better the service we can deliver for them. 

The great thing for us is that our systems allow significant flexibility, so we can tailor processes and communication preferences to support the specific needs of each customer.”

What are the key benefits of the services your team provide to fleets?

“My team work in partnership with fleet management companies to support their customers. We work hard to make sure each individual fleet receives a seamless service, with access to data and information via a single platform and running review meetings together. 

As I mentioned, we make sure we build relationships with each fleet directly. This is a great benefit because it means fleets can come straight to us for assistance if they need to, and we can continually tailor our services to best support them. 

We take a very proactive approach to do this. As a business, we’re always looking for innovative ways to do things, and when a customer asks us for something our goal is to be as flexible as possible. We always take the attitude that we want to say yes to every request, using our experience and systems to find the best way to make it happen.”

What projects are you most looking forward to over the next six months? 

“I’m working on a really rewarding project to support the development of our people managers. We know that a great manager can have a big impact, so we’re developing the tools necessary to ensure our managers have the time and skills to offer the best support to their teams. 

As part of our drive for continuous improvement, I’m also part of a project team reviewing our customer journey, including our approach to proactive communication. We’re looking at how we communicate at key points in a process to ensure we can tailor our communications to suit the person receiving them. 

As fleet specialists, we send updates an array of key stakeholders, all with different requirements about what they want to receive and how. As we already tailor our approach from the offset, this project is all about how we can improve and refine that even further.”

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