Customer Service & Inside Sales Manager (Knoxville)

Company Overview:

Our client is the oldest manufacturer of precision seamless metallic bellows. Today they provide hydro-formed bellows for various industries including Critical Service Valves, Oil & Gas, Automotive, Electrical Production, Gas Turbines, Fuel Cells, Medical & Measurement & Control.

Position Summary:

The Customer Service & Sales Manager is responsible for leading the customer service and inside sales functions to ensure an exceptional customer experience, effective account support, and achievement of business objectives. This position provides leadership to the customer-facing team responsible for order management, customer communication, account support, quoting coordination, and sales execution.

The role serves as a key link between customers and internal functions, including Sales, Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance. The Customer Service & Sales Manager ensures customer needs are communicated effectively throughout the organization while maintaining appropriate expectations related to pricing, lead times, delivery, capacity, and other business requirements.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Provides direct leadership and supervision to assigned Customer Service, Inside Sales, and/or other customer-facing commercial support employees

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Customer Service Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop the Customer Service and Inside Sales team.
• Establish expectations for professional, timely, and accurate customer communication.
• Ensure customer inquiries, concerns, order changes, delivery questions, and escalations are handled effectively.
• Serve as an escalation point for complex or sensitive customer issues.
• Promote a customer-focused culture while balancing customer expectations with operational capabilities and business objectives.
• Monitor customer service performance and identify opportunities to improve responsiveness, communication, and overall customer experience.
• Ensure customers are treated professionally, courteously, and consistently .

Sales & Account Support

• Support achievement of revenue, growth, and profitability objectives for the business.
• Partner with Outside Sales and business leadership to support existing customer relationships and account growth.
• Lead the Inside Sales function and ensure appropriate follow-up on customer opportunities, inquiries, and requests.
• Identify opportunities for organic growth within existing accounts and coordinate with the appropriate sales resources.
• Support customer retention efforts and proactively address risks to key customer relationships.
• Participate in customer meetings, business reviews, and account planning as appropriate.
• Assist with implementation and execution of commercial strategies established by business and sales leadership.

Quoting & Pricing Coordination

• Oversee or coordinate the customer quotation process to ensure quotes are timely, accurate, and aligned with established pricing and margin expectations.
• Work with Engineering, Operations, Finance, and Sales to obtain the information necessary to prepare customer quotations.
• Ensure pricing requests and changes follow appropriate approval processes.
• Monitor open quotes and ensure appropriate customer follow-up.
• Support periodic pricing reviews and implementation of approved price adjustments.

Order Management & Customer Execution

• Ensure customer orders and changes are entered, reviewed, acknowledged, and communicated accurately.
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to address delivery concerns, capacity constraints, past-due orders, expedites, and other customer requirements.
• Ensure customer commitments are based on accurate information and aligned with operational capabilities.
• Facilitate communication between customers and internal teams when priorities or delivery requirements change.
• Help identify recurring order, delivery, or communication issues and drive corrective actions with the appropriate functional teams.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as a primary liaison between Customer Service, Sales, Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance.
• Participate in production, backlog, revenue, past-due, and customer review meetings as appropriate.
• Communicate customer priorities and risks to business leadership.
• Partner with Finance on customer payment, credit, pricing, and account-related matters as necessary.
• Support new product launches and customer onboarding to ensure effective transition from opportunity to production.
• Escalate significant customer, commercial, delivery, or relationship risks to leadership.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor key performance indicators such as revenue, backlog, on-time delivery, past-due orders, quote activity, customer responsiveness, and other applicable commercial metrics.
• Analyze customer and sales trends and communicate significant risks or opportunities to leadership.
• Drive continuous improvement within Customer Service and Inside Sales processes.
• Support effective utilization of ERP, CRM, business intelligence, and other applicable systems.
• Maintain accurate customer, pricing, quotation, and order information within company systems .

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities :

• Strong customer and commercial orientation.
• Ability to balance customer expectations with operational and financial considerations.
• Strong leadership and employee-development skills.
• Professional written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to navigate difficult customer conversations and resolve conflict.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Understanding of manufacturing operations, lead times, capacity, and order fulfillment.
• Ability to interpret sales, revenue, margin, backlog, and operational data.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across functions and influence without direct authority.
• High level of accountability, judgment, professionalism, and attention to detail.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 5+ years of progressive experience in customer service, inside sales, account management, or a related commercial function.
• Prior supervisory or management experience is strongly preferred.
• Manufacturing experience is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to manage customer relationships and resolve complex customer issues.
• Strong understanding of order management, pricing, quoting, revenue, margins, and customer service processes.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and experience working with ERP, CRM, and/or business intelligence systems.