Head of Inside Sales & Customer Experience

Head of Inside Sales & Customer Experience - Thrive Brands

Reports To: VP, Inside Sales & Customer Experience
Position Type: Full-Time / Permanent / Exempt
Location: Remote (candidates in CST or EST time zones preferred)
Travel: Up to 10%
Salary: $180,000-$200,000 Per Year ($234,000-$260,000 OTE including target annual bonus)
Additional Compensation: Equity Participation

Purpose of the Role:

Thrive has historically operated in a highly distributed model where branch locations function independently. The Head of Inside Sales & Customer Experience will design, stand up, and lead centralized customer-facing functions that enable greater consistency, faster responsiveness, and a best-in-industry customer experience across all Thrive brands and markets—while preserving strong partnership with field leadership.

This role owns the strategy, operating model, and performance of Thrive’s centralized Inbound Lead Response and Inside Sales teams. This leader will build scalable teams, define best practices & KPIs to drive organic growth and retention while ensuring every customer interaction reflects Thrive’s commitment to the customer experience and each local brand’s commitment to service.

We expect to have all sales-related calls route to this team and all customer service issues to route to the local branch.

Essential Functions of the Role:

Centralized Inbound Lead Response

• Build and scale a centralized inbound organization responsible for responding to phone calls, web inquiries, SMS/text messages, and other inbound demand from prospective customers.
• Design a future-state lead intake model that eliminates branch-level variability and ensures consistent speed to contact across markets.
• Own inbound coverage strategy, including hours of operation, weekend coverage, staffing models, seasonal workforce planning to flex for peak spring demand, and service-level expectations.
• Define and train teams on the “Thrive way” of engaging customers—balancing speed, quality, and consultative service. Codify this into formal playbooks and training assets that are repeatable and auditable.
• Establish consistent processes that convert inbound demand into sold programs on first contact wherever possible, and into qualified appointments or next steps for field sales and branch teams when a site visit is needed.
• Ensure centralized teams engage customers in the name of each local brand, preserving local brand identity and relationships.

Centralized Outbound Sales Support

• Establish inside sales for outbound efforts:
  • Following up on outstanding proposals and estimates to convert pitched work into sold work
  • Re-engaging the customer base to schedule high-quality appointments for field sales teams
  • Identifying opportunities to pitch additional services to clients that can be sold over the phone
• Build repeatable outbound playbooks, scripts, coaching programs, and performance standards that improve conversion and field productivity.
• Partner with branches to ensure outbound activity supports local priorities and revenue goals.

Customer Retention

• Own retention outcomes for the centralized model, including cancellation-save workflows, renewal and prepay campaigns, and win-back outreach to lapsed customers.
• Partner with branches and Marketing to identify at-risk customers early and address the root causes of churn.

Customer Experience & Quality Leadership

• Own quality standards across all centralized customer interactions, ensuring consistent, high-quality experiences.
• Implement QA programs, call monitoring, coaching, and feedback loops to drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure centralized teams operate as an extension of branch teams—enhancing the local experience rather than replacing it.

Contact Strategy, Phone System & Technology Ownership

• This role is the business owner of contact center technology and experience outcomes. Owns the strategy, design, and requirements definition for Thrive’s customer contact ecosystem, including:
  • Phone system architecture and call routing logic
  • Queue structures, IVR strategy, and escalation paths
  • Integration with CRM, scheduling, and customer data platforms
• Partner with IT and functional teams for implementation and ongoing support, while retaining accountability for performance, scalability, and experience outcomes.
• Evaluate and recommend new tools and technologies, particularly AI solutions, to support growth and operational excellence.
• Ensure all customer contact practices comply with applicable regulations, including TCPA (outbound calling and SMS) and PCI standards for payments taken by phone.

Branch Partnership & Change Leadership

• Build trusted relationships with branch, district, and field leadership to ensure centralization is experienced as a value-added partnership.
• Establish strong communication and feedback loops so branches have visibility into centralized performance and outcomes.
• Develop and lead a repeatable playbook for transitioning newly acquired brands’ customer contact into shared services, minimizing disruption to customers and local teams.

Performance Management & Analytics

• Define and own KPIs across inbound, outbound, and customer experience, including:
  • Call handle rate (% of inbound calls answered)
  • Speed-to-lead and contact rates
  • First-contact close rate and revenue per inbound lead
  • Appointment set, show, and quality metrics
  • Proposal follow-up conversion and close rate
  • Customer retention, save rate, and renewal metrics
• Build executive level dashboards that clearly connect centralized activity to revenue, cash flow, and customer retention.
• Regularly present insights, trends, and improvement plans to President, District Leaders, and executive leadership.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Build, hire, and lead a high-performing organization
• Develop managers and frontline leaders through structured coaching, performance management, and succession planning.
• Design incentive and compensation plans for centralized teams that reward conversion, quality, and retention.
• Foster a culture that values accountability, collaboration with the field, and customer-first decision-making.

Qualifications for this Role:

Required

• Proven experience leading inside sales and/or customer experience organizations of at least 30 employees
• 10+ years of phone-based inside sales experience, with at least 5 years spent leading a team, with a proven track record of individual and team goal attainment.
• Strong B2C background with high-volume customer interactions across phone and digital channels.
• Demonstrated success building and scaling centralized, customer-facing functions.
• Data-driven operator with strong judgment around balancing growth, cash performance, and customer experience.

Preferred

• Experience building inside sales, CX, or contact center organizations from the ground up.
• Home services experience, particularly recurring-service businesses (e.g., lawn care, pest control, HVAC maintenance).
• Experience partnering effectively with field leadership in a distributed, multi-location environment.
• Experience integrating acquired businesses into a shared services model.