Customer Success Manager

No Recruiters Please Company Description Vanns Spices is a Baltimore-based manufacturer of spices, seasonings, custom blends, and private label products. We partner with customers across retail, foodservice, distribution, and specialty food channels to develop and manufacture high-quality seasoning solutions. We are seeking a Customer Success Manager to strengthen relationships with existing customers, improve customer communication, and identify opportunities for organic account growth. Position Summary The Customer Success Manager will serve as the primary point of contact for assigned existing customers and will be responsible for improving the customer experience, supporting customer retention, and identifying opportunities to grow current accounts. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building relationships, understanding customers’ businesses, solving communication challenges, and finding practical ways to help accounts grow over time. The Customer Success Manager will work closely with Business Development, Operations, Quality, Product Development, Procurement, Finance, Production Planning, and Business Analytics to ensure customers receive clear communication, service issues are handled professionally, and growth opportunities are identified and advanced. Account Ownership The Customer Success Manager will generally manage: Existing customers. Customers not in the initial three-year Business Development ownership period. Accounts formally handed off from Business Development to Customer Success & Account Growth. Other assigned accounts based on customer needs, account ranking, or strategic importance. Key Responsibilities Customer Relationship Management Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned existing customers. Build strong relationships with customer contacts and develop a clear understanding of their business, products, goals, challenges, and growth opportunities. Expand relationships with key stakeholders beyond the main point of contact. Help customers understand Vanns’ capabilities, service model, lead times, communication process, pricing structure, and account support resources. Maintain regular communication with customers to strengthen relationships and identify needs before they become issues. Act as the internal advocate for assigned customers while balancing Vanns’ operational, pricing, and service realities. Become an expert in the customer’s business, how they operate, and company strategy. Offer additional value and support, including R&D and market insights where needed. Customer Communication & Issue Coordination Own customer-facing communication for assigned accounts. Communicate clearly, professionally, and proactively regarding customer questions, service issues, order exceptions, pricing confirmations, delays, shortages, and customer decisions needed to move orders forward. Work with Operations, Quality, Product Development, Procurement, Finance, Sales, and Production Planning to gather accurate information before responding to customers. Translate internal operational details into clear, customer-friendly communication. Coordinate communication around customer complaints, ensuring that the appropriate internal teams investigate and resolve issues. Relay complaint findings, corrective actions, and resolutions back to customers in an empathetic and professional manner. Track communication in the CRM. Account Health & Retention Monitor customer account health in coordination with the Business Analytics team. Identify accounts showing signs of declining order activity, reduced engagement, service concerns, margin pressure, or other risk indicators. Conduct proactive outreach when account trends suggest risk or opportunity. Seek regular feedback on client satisfaction and communicate to Sales Leadership. Recommend actions to improve customer retention, satisfaction, and account performance. Share customer insights, concerns, and opportunities with Sales leadership and other internal stakeholders. Account Growth Identify opportunities to grow existing accounts through new products, additional SKUs, expanded product lines, packaging opportunities, seasonal items, improved ordering patterns, and price-tier opportunities. Create and maintain whitespace analyses for assigned customers to identify potential account expansion opportunities. Keep customers informed of relevant Vanns capabilities that may support their business needs. Initiate product development or commercialization opportunities with existing customers when appropriate. Coordinate with Sales and Product Development to ensure growth opportunities are properly communicated and advanced through the appropriate internal process. Identify opportunities where improved forecasting, larger order quantities, order consolidation, or volume commitments may benefit both the customer and Vanns. Track all qualified growth opportunities in CRM and execute Vanns Spices sales process. Meet or exceed sales KPIs including: sales quota, qualified opportunities, customer meetings. Business Reviews & Strategic Account Support Help establish and manage the cadence for quarterly, semiannual, or annual business reviews based on account ranking and strategic importance. Prepare account review materials in coordination with Business Analytics, Sales, Operations, Quality, Finance, and leadership. Present account risks, service trends, pricing considerations, open issues, and whitespace opportunities. Support leadership-led reviews for strategic accounts, including building strategic account plans. Track follow-up actions from business reviews and ensure appropriate next steps are completed. Forecasting, Customer Data & Internal Coordination Gather forecast information from customers to support Sales, Production Planning, Operations, Procurement, and Finance. Maintain accurate customer information, contacts, account notes, communication preferences, open issues, and growth opportunities in the appropriate systems. Support clean account handoffs from Business Development to long-term account management. Escalate unresolved customer issues, repeated service concerns, high-value account risks, pricing concerns, or stalled opportunities to the appropriate leader. Qualifications Required Experience in customer success, account management, inside sales, customer service leadership, commercial support, or account coordination. Ability to make data-driven decisions Strong written and verbal communication skills. Curious, with solid active listening skills. Consultative selling skills Ability to manage customer issues with professionalism, empathy, and composure. Strong relationship‑building skills. Commercial mindset with the ability to identify account growth opportunities. Growth orientation, with a drive to outperform goals and improve capabilities. Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple accounts, issues, follow‑ups, and opportunities simultaneously. Ability to work cross‑functionally with Sales, Operations, Quality, Product Development, Procurement, Finance, and other internal teams. Comfort discussing pricing, order issues, customer complaints, service expectations, product opportunities, and business reviews. Ability to translate internal information into clear leadership‑facing and customer‑facing communication. Proficiency with business systems such as ERP, CRM, Monday.com, HubSpot, Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, or similar tools. Preferred Experience in food manufacturing, private label, co‑manufacturing, co‑packing, ingredients, spices/seasonings, CPG, foodservice, or a related industry. Experience supporting strategic accounts or participating in customer business reviews. Experience with account health metrics, customer segmentation, customer success KPIs, or whitespace analysis. Familiarity with custom manufacturing, customer‑supplied components, lead times, minimum order quantities, pricing tiers, and commercialization processes. Ideal Candidate The ideal candidate is customer‑focused, commercially curious, organized, proactive, and calm under pressure. They enjoy building relationships, learning how customers’ businesses work, and finding ways to grow accounts over time. They are comfortable communicating difficult news to customers in an honest, empathetic, and solution‑oriented way. They can push for answers internally while maintaining strong working relationships with coworkers. They understand that their role is not to personally solve every operational issue, but to ensure customers receive clear communication and that the right internal owners are engaged. What Success Looks Like Success in this role will include: Customers know who their primary point of contact is. Customer communication becomes clearer, more proactive, and more consistent. Existing customer relationships become stronger and more strategic. Account health risks are identified earlier. Customer complaints and service issues are communicated professionally. Whitespace opportunities are identified and pursued. Customer business reviews become more structured and actionable. Existing accounts grow through new products, improved planning, and better understanding of Vanns’ capabilities. #J-18808-Ljbffr