International Women's Day 2022: An Interview with Anna Harris

05/03/2021 15:53 Share

International Women's Day 2022: An Interview with Anna Harris

To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, we’re catching up with some of the most inspiring women across the automotive industry.

The International Women’s Day 2021 theme is #ChooseToChallenge and we want to find out what that means for some of the influential women within the industry while celebrating their achievements and successes.

Today, we caught up with Anna Harris, our General Sales Manager at Vertu Durham BMW.

With 23 years’ experience within the automotive industry, Anna has made a huge impact, and in the last five years, has been promoted from Sales Executive to General Sales Manager, continuing to share her passion for providing a first-class customer service every day.

Read on to discover more about Anna’s success and find out who her female role models are and what #ChooseToChallenge means for her. 

What does a typical day in your job role look like?

I usually arrive at work at quarter to eight - I like to have time before the day begins to catch up with emails, any news or announcements or to fit in a bit of training. We have certain non-negotiables that we do every day, like our morning meeting, then after that, I can be doing anything from selling a car to building our stock quota from BMW. We’re not seeing customers at the moment so a lot of our role has migrated over to online and telephone. But as a rule of thumb, if it involves selling cars or giving a 5-star customer experience, I’m generally involved!

How long have you worked in the automotive industry?

I’ve been working in the automotive industry since I was 19 so that’s 23 years. I have, however, pretended to be 38 for the past 4 years so keep that under your hat!

Have you always wanted to work in the automotive industry or did you start out in another sector?

When I first left school, I worked in a guitar/music shop. I then went on to work for a specialist wheelchair manufacturer. One day I saw an advert in my local paper for a Customer Service Advisor working for Daewoo. The role was non-commissioned selling cars, parts and service in a small extension of a Halford’s store. It really appealed to me because they were actively looking to shake up the industry and provide a safe place to buy cars without the stereotypical ‘sales people’ of the time. I applied and the rest is history!

What’s your biggest career achievement to date?

I have a couple, but for different reasons.

I’m extremely proud of my career so far with Vertu and BMW. I reset myself and my career, in 2015, after a life change and became a sales exec again and it reminded me of what I love about the motor trade! In the last 5 years, I’ve gone from there to Business Manager, then MINI Brand Manager and now to BMW Sales Manager.

This is a funny one, but a couple of years back, I wrote to the Queen about a very patriotic customer we had and she wrote to him. I’ll never forget how happy that made him feel and it was great to be a part of it.

What’s the best part about your job?

Definitely interacting with lots of different people and customers. I love working with Vertu, BMW and MINI... they have such an interesting history and the provenance of the brand is exceptional. It’s incredibly important to me to feel like I’m working towards part of a shared vision or a common goal, and that’s what I get at work. I’m proud to work here.

What progress do you think has been made within the automotive industry concerning gender equality?

I think when I first joined, there wasn’t really a recognition of gender equality. I was comfortable working in a largely male populated environment but I was young and, a lot of things that went over my head then, would really annoy me now. For instance, once I was sat in a manager’s meeting with my colleagues (all male) and I was asked to make the tea. There were lots of tiny unconscious biases in isolation that I didn’t have the emotional intelligence to realise at the time. However, now I think there are so many great women working within our industry and it’s good to change the narrative of what ‘car sales people’ look like. Of course, now we are forming our workplace to be inclusive of all genders and, as a woman, that has grown through such a period of change I feel we’re in a great place to do that.

What advice would you give young women who are wanting to pursue a career within the automotive industry?

If you’re hardworking with a desire to succeed just go for it. Be brave. There is no glass ceiling other than the one we impose on ourselves. Be passionate about whatever brand or company you represent. Strive for knowledge and take time for self-improvement. Empathy is a real strength and not a weakness!

Which female inspires you the most and why?

I have to give a mention to Annie Besant. She was a political activist that inspired me to become interested in social justice and join the Fabian Society. In the late 1800s, she wrote and published an article about the poor conditions and pay of the London matchgirls. Many of the girls used to suffer horrific industrial illnesses, like bone rotting and phossy jaw, caused by the chemicals in the manufacture of matches. She helped the girls set up a committee and led the women to strike, marching the streets to huge support. At the time, electric was not widely available, so with the factory at a standstill, their labour was a powerful commodity. In just over a week, Bryant and May were forced to increase pay and improve conditions. Moving on from that, she helped the girls set up a proper union. Her victory was a landmark in early British Socialism.

This year’s IWD theme is #ChooseToChallenge. What does that mean for you?

#ChooseToChallenge to me is a movement for change. Like Annie Besant, it means standing up in solidarity with people suffering inequality, negative bias and discrimination who may not be able to do so themselves. There are so many injustices in the world, it’s impossible to fix everything as an individual, but if every individual stood up for someone or something then we can make a massive difference.

Join us in celebrating the success of more women from the automotive world