Job title: Customer Service and Sales Support Manager
Department: Sales
Reports to: Director of Sales
Status: Salaried
Download Announcement
ALL Power Labs is looking for a customer service expert to create and manage the next stage of all our customer facing activities. This is a newly created position which previously has been patched onto the sides of other positions. The time has arrived to create a formal customer service department. We are looking for the person with the skills and ambition to lead this endeavor, from the near term direct tending of customer needs, to longer term managing a growing team and department.
Summary
The Customer Service & Sales Support Manager to be responsible for managing the processes and systems related to servicing our customers and supporting the sales staff.
Duties and Tasks
- Provide superior customer support by identifying issues, devising solutions, and accepting ownership to a successful closure.
- Lead, manage and direct the all customer service activities.
- Create and maintain daily, weekly and monthly reporting requirements for Sales department and the company.
- Responsible for order entry, answering Customer Service phones, message management, data entry in CRM and performing all Customer Service activities as needed.
- Oversee, qualify, and manage inbound leads. Sales inquiries and other marketing-generated leads come from a variety of sources that need to be regularly monitored (i.e. email boxes, phone inquiries, social media, web forms, event marketing, etc.)
- Manage Customer Service efforts to resolve customer issues in a timely and effective manner. Ensure effective procedures are in place to resolve customer issues.
- Organize sales and marketing events and ensure all specific details are completed.
- Assist in office management as needed.
- Account management.
- Monitor expected ship dates to ensure timely delivery and expedite as needed. Communicate with internal and external customer on any deviations to established Ship Date.
- Liaison between Sales, Manufacturing/Scheduling, Quality and other departments to ensure customer needs are met.
Traits & Qualifications
- Possess good decision-making skills and be a problem solver.
- Must be able to thrive in a fast-paced start-up setting.
- Ability to multi-task and shift priorities to meet the needs of the sales department and our customers. To be able to multi task in case of shifting priorities.
- Working in a startup environment requires a self-motivated and energetic positive attitude
- Bilingual is a plus.
- Minimum of an Associates Degree, Bachelors preferred.
- Must have a minimum of five years prior experience in a customer service function in a sales department. Will also consider those with five years of Inside Sales experience.
- Demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills
- You must be able to provide excellent phone and email communications regarding order status and customer service issues.
- Working knowledge of CRM database tools (preferably Salesforce) and are experienced in the sales process.
- Must be proficient in the Microsoft Office Suite.
- Demonstrated excellent written and spoken communication skills.
- Experience with basic mathematical and problem solving skills, must obtain general knowledge of our products and industry.
About ALL Power Labs:
ALL Power Labs is a Berkeley, CA based start-up specializing in biomass gasification equipment for small-scale, distributed power generation. Our project started in 2008 with the open source Gasifier Experimenter’s Kit (GEK), supporting research, education and DIY hacking in biomass thermal conversion. Four years later it has evolved into the Power Pallet— a fully automated solution for personal scale biomass power generation. Today you can find over 300 of our systems in 40 countries, supporting research in over 50 universities.
Who we are looking for:
The Customer Relations and Sales Support Manager position will require deep skills in “people arts.” You are a person who is energized by making people happy, and generally enjoy being the host and curator of their enthusiasm (or problems, as the case may be).
Biomass thermal conversion attracts an unusually and diverse crowd. We get everyone from ranchers to eco-resort operators, academics to entrepreneurs, dev world power providers to urban architects, grumpy old guys to idealistic youth; and everything in between. You are a person who enjoys and looks forward to working with people of many flavors. If you have skills to do this in more languages than English that is even better, as more than 70% our customers are from outside the US.
While being “an air traffic controller” across phone, email, and in-person interactions, you also need to be able to tend the information systems, web environments, SOPs, and operational details. You need to have an admiration for, and understanding of the operational minutia of expert customer services regimes –from McMaster to Zappos– and the desire to create and operate one of your own.
The scale of the current challenge is around 50 customer interactions a day across both sales and support functions. Our growth rate is doubling every year. We currently have a full time sales team of three people, which this position will be collaborating with and supporting.
APL is funded entirely by sales and we are bootstrapping our way through each stage of growth. Every member of our dedicated team wears many hats and works long hours to see our goals realized. We seek team members who are flexible, creative and excited about this challenge.
The ideal candidate for this position will grow into a core member of our founding team (currently 25 people). Pay is negotiable, but will start at the lower end of the market, given current status as a bootstrapped startup. Equity will be offered after a trial period and a fit is proven.
To Apply:
Please send a letter describing your interest and qualifications, as well as your resume to jobs@allpowerlabs.org. Please do not just send a resume. We need to hear why you think you are the perfect fit for this adventure.