Ben, Teamlead Partner Management
Ben has been working at CHECK24 since 2017. He is now a team leader in Partner Management at CHECK24 Mietwagen, where he was given the opportunity to build up his own team. In the interview, you will gain exciting insights into the day-to-day work of a Partner Manager and learn about the internal training and development programs CHECK24 offers its employees.
Hello Ben, please introduce yourself briefly.
Ben:
Hi, I'm Ben, Team Leader in Partner Management at CHECK24 Mietwagen. My journey at CHECK24 began in 2017 in Operations Management, after which I moved to Partner Management a year later, with the chance to create my own team. There are currently four of us, and we are also actively supported by a working student. In November, we will get further reinforcement for our team.
Please give us an insight into your day-to-day work as a partner manager. What does a typical day look like for you?
Ben:
My day-to-day work is very varied, and every day is different. An essential part of my work is monitoring the performance of our partners. We are supported in this by a detailed monitoring and alerting system, in which we can quickly see whether everything is running smoothly. If there are any irregularities, we have to intervene promptly to solve problems and ensure we can offer our customers the best possible user experience.
My daily routine also includes regular meetings and appointments with our partners, which, now after Covid, always occur in person. We discuss current operational issues and evaluate performance.
My team and I work on new concepts and strategies to continuously improve our website and the overall car rental experience for our customers and meet the changing market conditions.
Partner management tasks also include the negotiation/creation of new contracts with existing and new partners. As input for this, we create booking forecasts and conduct competitive analyses, among other things. Last but not least, in partner management, we also care for customers who are unsatisfied with their car rental experience. Here, the aim is to eliminate the cause for other customers and to solve the problems of the customers concerned. In doing so, the customer always comes first for us.
Overall, my workday as a partner manager at CHECK24 is hugely varied and requires close collaboration with our partners, my team, and IT to ensure that we offer our customers the best possible experience while driving the success of our company.
You have developed from junior to team leader - How do you feel about the career opportunities at CHECK24?
Ben:
The career opportunities at CHECK24 are auspicious and fulfilling for me. As mentioned, I made my way from junior to team leader in the area of partner management, whereby a decisive factor for my career development was the growth of CHECK24 Mietwagen. This opened up the opportunity for me to build up a complete team in Partner Management. During my development as a team leader, I was optimally challenged and promoted.
Among other things, CHECK24 offers programs such as Excellence, Leaders of Tomorrow (LoT) or Product Owner (PO) to prepare employees for roles with leadership responsibility. These programs have provided me with valuable skills and knowledge for my role as a team leader. CHECK24 recognizes the potential of its employees who want to pursue a career path and actively promotes their professional development.
The best thing about CHECK24?
Thanks to a wide range of internal training programs, I was able to make valuable contacts with employees from other CHECK24 products.
Ben, Team Lead Partner Management
Are there any inspiring projects your team is currently working on?
Ben:
Yes, in our team, we are continuously working on exciting projects. An important issue for us is to constantly improve the performance of our site to increase customer satisfaction and ensure that our platform is efficient and user-friendly. To minimize the loading time of our search results, we have intensively studied the best practices on the market and researched innovative solutions.
One of the most exciting developments in this context was the decision to introduce a new programming language. This allows us to realize the ambitious goals regarding the speed of the offer display after a click on "Find a rental car".
You participated in the LoT program in 2021. Tell us more about it!
Ben:
In October 2021, I took over as team leader in Partner Management at CHECK24 and had the excellent opportunity to participate in the Leaders of Tomorrow (LoT) program that same year. The program included various trainings and workshops, sometimes even for several days outside the office. The skills and knowledge I gained there are beneficial in my current day-to-day work as a team leader, for example, when it comes to giving constructive feedback to my team and promoting the development of team members. Through the LoT program, I was able to make valuable contacts with employees from other products in the CHECK24 universe. The exchange and experiences are beneficial for me in coping with my professional challenges.
I must emphasize that employee development at CHECK24 is not limited to special programs like LoT. All employees can access training courses from the internal training catalog, which are offered across all products. This makes it easy to build a network across the various CHECK24 products. In addition, every effort is made to provide external training opportunities.
And finally, please tell us what your favourite thing to do after work is.
Ben:
After work, I always look forward to spending time with my two-year-old daughter. When the weather is nice, we like to walk along the Augsburg Kahnfahrt. Augsburg has some beautiful places to offer that we love to explore and enjoy after work. This is the perfect way for me to end the day and spend time with my family.