Customer Sales & Service Representative

About the Role

A Customer Sales & Service Representative (CSSR) establishes and maintains profitable customer relationships by taking personal responsibility for each customer contact. The CSSR ensures customer requirements are met while pursuing the company's interests and is an integral part of the Applied sales team. This role interacts with customers to provide information and address inquiries about products and services.

Responsibilities

• Professionally handle customer requests via phone, email, fax, EDI, walk-ins, and communication from Applied sales associates to resolve issues promptly and thoroughly.
• Recommend and source the most profitable products, prioritizing internal inventory and using supplier inventory as an alternative to meet or improve customer required dates.
• Proactively review open customer orders and pending quotes to ensure on-time responses, shipments, and conversion of quotes to orders.
• Communicate disruptions in service levels, approval requests, corrective actions, customer feedback, and preventive actions to Service Center management.
• Maintain a balance between company policy and customer benefit in decision-making, handling issues in the best interest of both Applied and customers.
• Maximize profit by working with suppliers to gain additional chargebacks, recommending the most profitable product offerings.
• Support pricing and margin improvement efforts by communicating opportunities with management, reducing overrides, promoting profitable options, and recovering freight expenses.
• Gain and utilize product knowledge to assist customers with product selections and coordinate supplier engineering support to drive the sales process.
• Invest personally in gaining proficiency in systems, product training, adopting company initiatives and tools, and pursuing continuous career development.
• Identify and evaluate process improvements that enhance the customer experience using feedback, supplier nonconformance, and performance metrics.
• Perform warehouse functions, including pulling and packing product, receiving, cycle counting, stock put-away, and product delivery.
• Provide emergency and after-hours services as scheduled.
• Provide backup support to other associates within the Service Center and perform additional duties as assigned by management.