Customer Support Agent

EM; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 50 000 - 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading industrial solutions provider in Cape Town is seeking a customer service representative to develop relationships with customers. You will manage inquiries, provide exceptional service both pre- and post-sales, and effectively resolve issues. Ideal candidates should have a background in customer service within the electrical or industrial automation industries and possess strong communication skills.

Qualifications

• Previous experience in a comparable customer service role in the electrical or industrial automation industry.
• Basic technical knowledge in power distribution, motor control, and energy management.
• Understanding of other departments' responsibilities and competencies.

Responsibilities

• Understand customer needs from first contact to after-sales support.
• Manage first contact with prospective customers.
• Be an excellent brand ambassador.
• Process all customer orders accurately and timely.
• Handle customer complaints through to resolution.

Skills

Excellent communication

Active listening

Customer-driven approach

Empathy and patience

Time management

Job description

Develop relationships with customers by understanding their needs and providing excellent service by email, phone, videocon, and face-to-face from our branches. Investigating and solving customer problems: some easy and some complicated. Knowing when to elevate problems to other colleagues when necessary. Excellent communication with customers and colleagues.

Main responsibilities

• Understand customer needs through their journey, from first contact to pre‑sales to ongoing and after‑sales support
• Manage first contact with prospective customers by evaluating their potential ongoing needs and then either introducing them to EMs products and services or sharing qualified leads with the relevant colleagues
• Be an excellent brand ambassador as a potential first contact with a new customer
• Be aware of EMs target service levels specifically when it comes to service related matters such as first response time, first time resolution, webstore engagement, quote follow‑up, case resolutions, order/quote processing, managing backorders
• During customer engagements use positive language, greetings, use the customer’s first name, offer further assistance, aim to solve the problem with the highest level of professionalism and in an efficient manner
• During the pre‑sales engagements understand the customer application, reference and provide the necessary technical information from our website, and propose with confidence the correct product or service to resolve the customers problem. Know when to sacrifice first‑time resolution by escalating to a colleague when you are not sure of how to solve the problem.
• Continuously learn and develop through formal training (20%) and through on‑the‑job exposure to new problems and solutions (80%)
• Through building a deep understanding of EMs products and services, internal know‑how of EMs systems and processes you will be able to build customer confidence in your and EMs capability
• Gather information from customers by using active listening techniques to understand the reasons they are making an inquiry, raising general or specific questions relating to services and products. This is done to ensure that we understand not only how to resolve the direct problem/question but that we understand how to add more than transactional value add
• For queries of a post‑sales or technical nature gather the relevant technical information by evaluating and analysing the symptoms and then research the relevant technical resources to be able to fully understand the problems. Engage with colleagues as appropriate
• Process all customer orders accurately and timely to improved customer satisfaction, regular updates and feedback to customers regarding the status of their orders, promote our website as a tool to enhance the customer experience
• Manage your quote pipeline through regular follow‑ups with customers. Follow quotes through to resolution and close off quote on the system. Follow up on RMAs to ensure transactions are not delayed, basic product testing for incoming returns
• Professionally handle customer complaints through to resolution timeously.
• Record all relevant customer information on our ERP report log customer complaints, technical cases, quotes/sales orders, customer record, deep customer engagements etc
• Understanding of other departments responsibilities and competencies and excellent internal, proactive communication to ensure customer satisfaction
• Basic technical knowledge in the fields of power distribution, motor control and energy management
• Previous experience in a comparable customer service role in the electrical or industrial automation industry
• Empathy and patience
• Personal responsibility
• Confidence and tenacity
• Desire to learn
• A willingness to go the extra mile
• Time management, ability to respond quickly

Beneficial requirements

• Knowledge of industrial automation products
• Knowledge of application of products in the field
• Brand ambassador
• Ability to build deep relationships with customers
• Ability to upsell products and solutions