Customer Support & Services Director

Home — Customer Support & Services Director

Deadline
12/03/2021
Company
Benchmark Advanced Nutrition/ INVE Aquaculture
Business Area
Advanced Nutrition
Location
Flexible

Job Purpose

This role reports directly to the Commercial Director for Benchmark Advanced Nutrition (BAN). The Customer Support and Services Director will;

  • Transition the current Technical Services organization to a Customer Support and Services function, structuring it around 3 core areas; support desk, projects and professional services
  • Ensure specialist competencies are leveraged commercially to support the growth of BAN
  • Provide support globally based on prioritisation and ROI
  • Provide focus, guidance and coaching to the team
  • Bring a commercial mindset to the function, ensuring all activity has a perceived commercial value which is recognised by customers and monetized either directly through paid services or indirectly through product sales
  • Provide support to other functions including, but not limited to, channel and customer education (external), sales training (internal), apps and data
  • Introduce and manage an effective resource management solution to understand clearly what resource is being used in which areas and how to maximize our ROI
  • Work collaboratively across the larger Benchmark group of companies to develop and promote best practice and knowledge sharing

Key Responsibilities

Support desk

  • Set up, resource and develop a support desk capability which will be seen as the main entry point for distributor and end user contact. The use of a ticketing system will enable measurement of performance and identify areas for improvement, not only within this function but across BAN generally
  • Manage and communicate KPI performance by geography, customer type, enquiry type and support improvement plans in relevant areas
  • Provide support to functions including market/competitive intelligence and product management to provide insights and improve decision-making

Projects

  • Ensure resource is allocated to work on a) strategic projects which are identified as key to BAN’s 5-year plan and b) key accounts to support sales short- and long-term. The cost and ROI of these activities will be clearly understood and communicated by customer and project to ensure our resource is being used in the most effective way
  • Gather data and insights from activity to train the BAN organisation, also to generate content for use in external training and certification. Act as a data gatherer for BAN’s apps and big data initiatives

Professional Services

  • Introduce services to existing and potential customers to drive sales in parallel to traditional product sales. Each new service will be based upon a strong business case which shows a clear ROI. There will be an annual sales target against this activity
  • Working closely with the marketing team, create strong messaging to strengthen BAN’s brand and build a presence in the market to leverage its skills and experience and create a competitive advantage

Qualifications and experience

  • Master’s degree
  • Minimum 10 years of experience in a growth-oriented, B2B organisation
  • Minimum 5 years people management
  • Demonstrable project/time management skills
  • Experience of working to KPIs and implementing/measuring goals to drive continuous improvement
  • Experience in the aquaculture industry would be an advantage but more important is evidence of experience in a structured approach to creating a collaborative organisation that truly drives growth
  • Experience in an international commercial environment, working in a matrixed organisation

Personal attributes/characteristics

  • Fluent in verbal and written English. Additional languages are a benefit
  • Structured and able to make tough decisions based on service level and available resource
  • Target-focused and results driven
  • Strong decision-making skills based on both data and experience
  • Dynamic and assertive personality. Willing to challenge status quo
  • Social and communicative, able to connect and work collaboratively across different cultures
  • Strong organizational skills
  • Strong team coaching and motivating skills
  • Can-do, will-do attitude
  • Strong drive to continuously improve
  • Ability to see situations from market/customer perspective
  • Great listener
  • Good knowledge of platforms, tools and systems including MS Office, Power BI, CRM
  • Willing to travel extensively

Reports to: Commercial Director
Direct reports: TBD. Current team size: c.15
Location: Flexible

To apply please send a CV and cover letter to Marc De Feyter, HR Director, by 12th March 2021.