Customer Service Manager UK & IE

Brooks Running; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the running gear industry is seeking a Customer Service Manager to lead their team in Birmingham. This role focuses on delivering exceptional B2B customer service while upholding the company's core values. The ideal candidate will have significant experience in customer service management and a passion for improving customer relationships across various departments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ B2B customer service experience required.
• 2+ years leading a team.
• Computer proficiency in Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the UK/IE Customer Service team.
• Drive departmental goals and team productivity based on metrics.
• Ensure quality and consistency in customer communications.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Attention to detail

Problem solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Salesforce

M3

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Outlook

Job description

Who We Are:

At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line. Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation.

Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success:

Runner First

We act in the best interest of the runner.

Word is Bond

We do what we say we’ll do.

Champion Heart

We give our all in everything we do.

There is no “I” in Run

We stay generous with our humanity.

Keep Moving

We find ways to move every day because joy is kinetic!

We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement — because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.

Your Job:

As the Customer Service Manager you lead, manage and inspire the Customer Service team which is the frontline contact for Brooks UK & Ireland retailers. . Your primary focus is leading the customer-obsessed B2B teams to deliver best-in-class customer experience in support of our business model, core values, and goals. You supervise and coach the Customer Service team and work with the Territory Director, North and B2B Customer Service Manager, EMEA to ensure best in line customer service for the retailers (B2B).

You are responsible for upholding the established standards of customer service excellence set by the Brooks Customer Service team whilst always looking for opportunities to improve. You will develop and drive a customer service mindset across your team and partner with managers across the organization to establish standards and ensure service level agreements (SLAs_ and productivity goals are met.

The role of Brooks Customer Service is to build relationships with retailers and support them through order processing, tracking and review performance against KPIs’ as well as product explanation. Customer Service also interacts daily with Sales, Marketing, Operations and Finance, and is an important line of communication for Sales and Marketing colleagues on the road.

Your Responsibilities:

• People Management:
• Maintain team focus on the department vision and mission statements.
• Lead, motivate, and manage the UK/IE Customer Service team Develop, delegate, and report on staff planning, hiring, onboarding, training, and supervision.
• Create a culture of front line obsession, driving a consistent environment of problem solving and continuous improvement to create a frictionless experience to do business with Brooks and communicates our commitment to retailers.
• Drive departmental goals, direction and work priorities in alignment with our culture: share vision of company goals with employees; set achievable but demanding objectives linked to key strategies in the region.

• Measure and improve team productivity, knowledge and service levels based on volume and performance metrics. Responsible for driving team accountability and delivering results.
• Manage existing, and train new, team members; provide coaching including goal development and setting objectives for the team.
• Conduct quarterly SPRINT conversations with team members.

• Customer Service Management:
• Be the line manager for the Customer Service team in UK.

• Actively monitor teams order book and bulk agreements for on-time delivery.
• Act as the first point of contact for escalated retailer issues.
• Monitor the CSR teams contacts with the customers to ensure quality and consistency.
• Ensure accurate entry and tracking of customer orders and resulting follow-up and communication with customers.
• Track orders to provide estimated delivery times, and work with Operations team or DC to re-arrange deliveries as needed.

• Oversee the Team, and support as necessary, with placing at-once orders and providing information on inventory availability to accounts and Sales Reps.
• Proactively communicate with Sales Reps or Sales Management regarding order amendments and cancellations.
• Drive systems and process implementation with other customer service groups to ensure the team is following best practices, as well as sharing best practices back into other groups
• Document and maintain SOP
• Customer transaction flow
• EDI / ISC interactions and strategy
• Onboarding of new customers
• Customer requirements
• Manage vendor relations and tools from both a sales and customer operations perspective
• ISC / SPS
• Label vendor
• Order entry
• M3 (ongoing, testing, upgrading)
• Oversee the team and support as necessary with maintaining customer database, answering inquiries/troubleshooting.
• Provide accounts with information on our apparel and footwear lines and be able to help a customer determine which product is best for them.

• Manage inquiries for B2B orders.
• Support the team inworking with credit to resolve invoicing issues. Fill out credit memos/debit as needed.
• Ensure returns and credits are processed and issues as necessary. Complete reports as provided by sales and management
• Maintain expert knowledge or our core customer service systems including M3, Salesforce, etc.
• Other projects and responsibilities as required

Your Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.
• 5+ years’ B2B customer service experience.
• 2+ year experience on leading a team.
• Computer proficiency: Word, Excel, Outlook.
• Native in English, demonstrating effective listening through concise, clear verbal and written communication.
• Keen attention to details in planning, organization and execution of tasks, while still seeing the big picture and understanding how all of the pieces fit together and affect one another.
• Ability to anticipate how a decision made can affect our customers, our partners, our products or other departments’ operations and/or morale; “connecting the dots.”
• Demonstration of innovation and initiative – always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help out wherever necessary.
• Proven ability to work effectively with retailers and consumers.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to deal with adverse situations positively.
• Ability to interact effectively and professionally with all levels of the organization.
• Excellent interpersonal skills that inspire and build trust resulting in effective working relationships across the company, and with retailers and consumers.

• Passionate participation in Brooks’ sports activities a plus, overridden by the ability to understand and empathize with the runner in order to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community.