Inside Sales Representative

Inside Sales Representative

Gold Star Foods is the leading food distributor to K-12 schools in the United States. We are a company devoted to providing our customers with incredible customer service. We know that it is our employees who make the difference! Join our team and find out what it is like to work somewhere where you enjoy getting up for work every day!

The Inside Sales Representative (ISR) plays a critical role in expanding Gold Star Foods' presence in the K12 nutrition marketplace by providing proactive commercial support to our smaller and mid-size district partners and generating new growth opportunities. This role reports to the Vice President of Sales and serves as a central point of contact for B and C customers, ensuring they receive consistent communication, high-quality service coordination, and access to our full portfolio of services and programs. The ISR is responsible for driving customer engagement, executing targeted promotional campaigns, identifying opportunities for category expansion, and developing qualified leads for the School Nutrition Manager (SNM) team. In partnership with Customer Experience (CX) and Customer Satisfaction, the ISR helps strengthen account retention, streamline communication, and contribute directly to the growth goals of the Sales organization.

The ISR is a commercially focused, customer-facing role responsible for supporting the revenue growth, retention, and communication needs of assigned markets. This role is ideal for a detail-oriented, relationship-driven individual who thrives in a structured, process-based environment and can balance both proactive outreach and responsive customer support coordination. The ISR collaborates closely with field Account Managers to ensure A accounts receive focused attention while simultaneously ensuring B/C accounts receive appropriate commercial coverage.

Key objectives for this role include:

• Increase commercial coverage and structured communication for small and mid-size districts
• Generate qualified sales leads and strengthen the new-business pipeline
• Improve category penetration and share-of-wallet within ISR-owned accounts
• Enhance retention through proactive outreach and relationship management
• Reduce operational noise by coordinating clear, timely communication in partnership with CX
• Support Customer Satisfaction with onboarding, pricing, and transition insights
• Enable Account Managers to reallocate time toward strategic A relationships
• Collaborate with the Customer Satisfaction team to analyze retention metrics, manage renewal contract processes, and support customer account management within the CRM.

• Cross-Departmental Partnership: Maintaining professional relationships with all departments to foster future growth and development for the Sales Team, Customer Support Team, the company, and its customers.
• Team Collaboration: Participating as an active member in Core Team Meetings and other departmental routines.
• Represent GSF in a professional and positive fashion at various customer conferences, seminars, and meetings.
• Plan weekly/monthly calendar utilizing Microsoft Outlook and execute market strategies based on effective planning efforts. Attending meetings as required and providing timely report feedback.
• Plan and execute goals and objectives to promote profitably, while strengthening relationships throughout the distribution channel
• Participate in the value-selling process while utilizing GSF's policies and procedures established by the EVP of Sales.
• Daily, weekly, and monthly activities may also include bid management activities in collaboration with the GSF bid and sales team.

Account Management & Retention

• Serve as the primary commercial contact for B and C customers, building strong, consistent relationships
• Conduct scheduled touchpoints ahead of seasonal school cycles (Back-to-School, Winter Break, Spring Break)
• Review ordering patterns and proactively reach out to customers with gaps, declines, or dormant activity
• Support renewal preparation for ISR-owned accounts and escalate complex opportunities to the SNM team
• Identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities across Gold Star's core product categories and value-add programs

Lead Generation & Pipeline Development

• Execute structured outbound cadences to non-buying districts, prospect lists, and underpenetrated sites
• Qualify inbound leads to understand customer needs, purchasing patterns, bid timelines, and current distributor relationships
• Convert qualified opportunities into scheduled meetings for Account Managers
• Maintain CRM documentation including activities, notes, next steps, and opportunity details

Promotional Marketing & Communication

• Manage all promotional and seasonal email campaigns for assigned markets
• Create targeted outreach for new product introductions, category highlights, menu planning reminders, and cost-savings opportunities
• Maintain and continuously update customer contact lists in CRM
• Track and report campaign performance including open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to orders

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Customer Experience (CX) to communicate proactive service updates (delivery changes, holiday schedules, shortages)
• Coordinate with Customer Satisfaction on pricing requests, onboarding needs, and account transitions
• Work closely with Account Managers to handoff qualified leads, surface account risks, and support renewal strategy

Operational Excellence & Data Management

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date customer records, tier assignments, contact roles, and opportunity notes in CRM
• Use dashboards and reporting tools to monitor account activity, pipeline metrics, and promotion performance
• Document customer insights related to product needs, service patterns, and competitive positioning

Required Skills

• Strong written and verbal communication with the ability to tailor messaging to diverse stakeholders
• High attention to detail and strong organizational skills
• Comfortable leading outbound call/email cadences and managing multiple customer conversations simultaneously
• Ability to work cross-functionally with Sales, CX, Customer Satisfaction, and Operations teams
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data trends and identify opportunities
• Customer-first mindset with a proactive, problem-solving approach
• Ability to manage deadlines and maintain consistent follow-through
• CRM Management: Strong understanding of CRM architecture, data hygiene, workflow automation, and reporting.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite: Advanced skills in Excel (for data manipulation and analysis), PowerPoint (for presentation creation), and Word.
• Organizational and Time Management Skills: Ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously, prioritize effectively, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Problem-Solving Abilities: Proactive approach to identifying potential issues and developing solutions to improve customer satisfaction, foster retention, and optimize operational efficiency.
• Customer-Centric Mindset: A genuine desire to understand and meet customer needs, with a focus on delivering excellent service and building long-term relationships.
• Team Player: Ability to work collaboratively within a team environment and across departments.
• Adaptability: Comfortable adapting to changing priorities and new challenges.

Education

• Preferred: A Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Supply Chain, or related field
• Minimum: An Associate's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Supply Chain, or related field
• Consideration: A High School Diploma/GED combined with significant and directly relevant professional experience (e.g., 3+ years in a similar sales administration or customer service role with demonstrated data analysis responsibilities and a strong track record) may be considered in exceptional cases.

Experience

• 24 years of inside sales, account management, customer success, or commercial support experience
• Experience working in K12 foodservice, distribution, or a B2B service environment strongly preferred
• Proven experience managing a customer portfolio or lead pipeline
• Experience working with CRM platforms and sales enablement tools
• Track record of meeting activity goals and contributing to revenue growth
• Familiarity with school nutrition programs (NSLP, CEP, commodity entitlement) is a plus, but not required

Salary Range- $ 70,000 - $75,000

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.