Inside Sales Manager
hace 4 días
Carpentersville
Job Description:\n\nPERFORMANCE STAMPING LLC Commercial leadership | Customer growth | Demand visibility Location Carpentersville, Illinois Reports to General Manager Work type On site Direct reports Customer Service Representative and future team members Employment Full time, exempt Compensation: $65K to $108,000 plus company benefits plus quarterly bonus program Position Overview Performance Stamping manufactures precision metal stampings for automotive, appliance, power-generation and other industrial customers. Our customers depend on accurate parts, reliable delivery, responsive communication and a manufacturing partner that understands their business. The Inside Sales Manager leads Performance Stamping’s inside-sales and customer-service function. This person serves as the commercial quarterback between customers and the company’s Production, Engineering, Quality, Purchasing, Accounting and Shipping teams. This is not solely an order-entry or customer-service management position. The Inside Sales Manager is expected to develop a deep understanding of Performance Stamping’s customers, markets, demand patterns, capabilities and commercial opportunities. As a member of the company’s leadership group, this person will provide significant input to the executive staff regarding business direction, customer strategy, target markets, commercial priorities and business-process improvements. The Inside Sales Manager will work closely with outside sales professionals who operate primarily as new-business “hunters.” In parallel, the Inside Sales Manager will operate primarily as a “farmer,” protecting and growing relationships with existing customers, identifying additional opportunities and converting customer knowledge into profitable growth. Responsibility Mix 1. Customer and Demand Management | Approximately 50% Own Key Customer Relationships · Serve as a primary commercial contact for assigned customers. · Develop strong working relationships with customer purchasing, planning, operations, engineering and quality contacts. · Understand each customer’s business, purchasing practices, demand drivers, products, applications and decision-making process. · Conduct regular customer check-ins to understand current performance, future demand, business risks and potential opportunities. · Ensure customers receive clear, timely and professional communication. Manage Demand Visibility · Monitor customer orders, releases, forecasts, bookings, backlog, shipment history and past-due orders. · Maintain a rolling view of customer demand, including a 13-week forecast and order-coverage perspective where customer information supports it. · Identify meaningful increases, decreases, gaps or irregularities in customer demand. · Contact customers to determine whether changes are caused by normal seasonality, inventory adjustments, missing releases or purchase orders, engineering changes, part-number transitions, program changes, competitive sourcing, customer dissatisfaction, or end-of-life requirements. · Communicate material demand changes to Production, Purchasing, Engineering, Finance and executive leadership. · Help distinguish confirmed orders from forecasts, anticipated demand and less-certain customer projections. Coordinate Customer Commitments · Work with Production, Purchasing and Shipping to establish realistic customer promise dates. · Ensure commitments are supported by material availability, tool readiness, production capacity and quality requirements. · Coordinate responses to expedites, shortages, schedule changes and urgent customer requests. · Balance responsiveness with sound commercial and operational judgment so repeated expedites do not become an unmanaged normal process. · Escalate significant delivery, quality, pricing or relationship risks before they affect the customer. · Participate in appropriate production, scheduling, launch and customer-risk meetings. Maintain Commercial Accuracy · Oversee the accuracy of customer orders, pricing, quotes, purchase orders and commercial records. · Review minimum-order quantities, pricing requirements, special packaging, freight responsibility and other customer-specific conditions. · Ensure customer pricing and relevant commercial information are current in the ERP system. · Coordinate commercial questions involving Accounting, Engineering, Quality and Operations. · Support the transition from Global Shop to Plex and help establish reliable customer, order and sales processes in Plex. 2. Sales Growth and Account Development | Approximately 25% Grow Existing Customers as a “Farmer” · Develop account-growth plans for Performance Stamping’s most important existing customers. · Identify opportunities for additional part numbers, new programs, transferred or replacement tooling, increased share of customer spend, reshoring, secondary-source work, engineering support and capacity that fits Performance Stamping’s capabilities. · Use regular customer conversations to uncover needs that may not appear in formal requests for quotation. · Ask informed questions regarding new programs, supplier performance, capacity constraints, tooling needs and future sourcing plans. · Coordinate plant visits, customer reviews and technical discussions when they can strengthen relationships or uncover business. Partner with Outside Sales “Hunters” · Work collaboratively with outside sales representatives focused on finding new customers and opening new markets. · Provide outside sales with customer, market, pricing, capability and operational information needed to pursue opportunities effectively. · Support the handoff of newly developed accounts from outside sales into the normal inside-sales and customer-service process. · Participate in joint customer meetings when technical coordination, plant knowledge or account continuity would add value. · Avoid gaps or conflicts by clearly defining account ownership, actions and communication responsibilities. Manage the Opportunity Pipeline · Maintain visibility to active opportunities, quotations and customer follow-up. · Document the customer, opportunity, estimated annual and tooling revenue, probability, stage, decision-maker, risks, next action, owner and expected decision date. · Coordinate quote follow-up with Engineering, Estimating, the General Manager and outside sales. · Confirm why opportunities were won, lost, delayed or placed on hold. · Focus on profitable growth, not revenue that creates unreasonable quality, capacity, tooling, payment or margin risk. 3. Team Leadership | Approximately 15% · Lead, coach and develop the Customer Service Representative and future department employees. · Establish clear responsibilities for order management, customer communication, account development and escalation. · Conduct regular one-on-one meetings, workload reviews and development discussions. · Provide daily direction while encouraging appropriate employee judgment and ownership. · Establish cross-training so essential responsibilities have reliable backup coverage. · Develop employees who can progress from transactional customer service into account management or inside sales. · Review order accuracy, customer responsiveness, open issues and process adherence. · Provide constructive feedback and recognize customer service, teamwork and commercial initiative. · Coordinate staffing and succession plans with the General Manager. · Build a proactive, commercially aware and accountable department culture. 4. Reporting and Process Improvement | Approximately 10% Provide Leadership-Level Commercial Insight · Provide meaningful input to executive staff regarding customer health and concentration, revenue and booking trends, market and competitive activity, sales opportunities, at-risk business, capacity implications, pricing considerations and process weaknesses. · Translate customer information into recommendations that influence company direction and priorities. · Raise concerns early when customer behavior or market information indicates potential loss of business. · Help leadership decide where Performance Stamping should focus commercial, engineering and operational resources. · Participate in appropriate leadership, planning and quarterly-priority meetings. Improve Business Processes · Document and improve customer-service and inside-sales procedures. · Establish clear workflows for order entry, pricing changes, quote follow-up, expedites, customer complaints and demand changes. · Reduce manual work, duplicate entry, missed follow-ups and dependence on individual memory. · Use Global Shop, Plex, Excel, Outlook and customer portals to improve visibility and accountability. · Recommend changes that improve customer experience, operating efficiency, sales effectiveness and data accuracy. Commercial Scorecard Develop and regularly report measures such as the following. These are recommended starting measures and should be finalized after evaluating current systems, data availability and customer requirements. Measure Initial direction Order-entry accuracy 99.5% or better Customer inquiries acknowledged Same business day Significant booking or forecast changes investigated Within two business days Key-account demand visibility Rolling 13-week view Existing-product quote follow-up Within five business days Qualified opportunities recorded 100% Opportunities with a documented next action 100% Past-due commitments with recovery plans 100% Backup coverage for essential functions Within 90 days Leadership Expectations The Inside Sales Manager is expected to be more than a department supervisor. This person should become a trusted commercial resource to the General Manager and executive staff. · Understand how customer activity affects revenue, capacity, purchasing, inventory, cash flow and profitability. · Bring well-supported recommendations rather than only reporting problems. · Balance customer advocacy with Performance Stamping’s operational and financial interests. · Challenge inefficient or outdated processes constructively. · Communicate market and customer intelligence leadership can use to make decisions. · Think across departments instead of optimizing only Inside Sales or Customer Service. · Help shape future commercial priorities, target markets and account-development strategies. Required Qualifications · Five or more years of progressive experience in inside sales, account management, customer service or sales operations. · Experience in a manufacturing, metalworking, automotive, industrial or business-to-business environment. · Demonstrated ability to manage customer relationships and coordinate across internal departments. · Experience interpreting customer orders, purchase orders, forecasts, releases, pricing and delivery requirements. · Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Outlook and ERP systems. · Ability to analyze customer demand, revenue, bookings and order patterns. · Strong written, verbal and presentation skills. · Demonstrated leadership, coaching and problem-solving ability. · Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. Preferred Qualifications · Experience in metal stamping, fabricated metal products, tooling or a related manufacturing environment. · Experience supporting automotive or other demanding industrial customers. · Previous responsibility for leading Customer Service or Inside Sales employees. · Experience with customer portals, EDI, Global Shop, Plex or comparable manufacturing ERP systems. · Experience preparing account plans, sales forecasts, opportunity pipelines and management reports. · Ability to read basic engineering drawings, part specifications and tooling information. · Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, operations, engineering or a related field. · Equivalent combinations of education and relevant experience may be considered. Personal Characteristics · Customer-focused: Builds strong relationships while protecting the company’s interests. · Commercially curious: Asks questions and looks for opportunities beyond the immediate order. · Analytical: Uses facts, trends and data rather than relying solely on intuition. · Proactive: Identifies problems and opportunities before they become urgent. · Collaborative: Works effectively with customers, employees, outside sales and plant leadership. · Accountable: Owns commitments and follows through. · Decisive: Makes sound decisions with incomplete but sufficient information. · Organized: Maintains reliable records, priorities and follow-up systems. · Leadership-minded: Contributes to broader business direction, not merely departmental activity. · Continuous-improvement oriented: Looks for better ways to serve customers and operate the business. What Success Looks Like After approximately 12 months, the successful Inside Sales Manager will have: · Developed strong working relationships with key customers. · Created better visibility into bookings, forecasts, backlog, demand changes and customer risks. · Established a dependable commercial scorecard and opportunity pipeline. · Improved coordination among Customer Service, Production, Engineering, Quality, Purchasing and Shipping. · Created distinct but coordinated roles for customer service, inside sales and outside sales. · Identified and advanced measurable growth opportunities with existing customers. · Improved quote follow-up and documentation of wins, losses and delayed decisions. · Developed the Customer Service Representative through coaching, cross-training and clear expectations. · Given executive staff useful customer and market intelligence that influenced priorities and decisions. · Made Performance Stamping easier to work with while supporting profitable, sustainable growth. How We Work Performance Stamping hires, recognizes and promotes employees based on five Core Values: · Do the Right Thing: Be honest, humble and transparent. · Win as One: Grow together through teamwork, reliability and opportunity. · Make It Happen: Act urgently, take ownership and drive results. · Continuously Improve: Create new opportunities by being better than yesterday. · Delight Our Customer: Deliver the experience you would want and build lasting relationships.