Customer Service Team Lead

About Learning Resources:

We are on a mission to bring learning to life! We are Learning Resources, and learning is where we play. Voted one of the Chicago Tribune's Top Workplaces every year for the last four years, we're a 150-person strong, family-owned company who make award-winning educational toys, including top sellers Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register, Farmer's Market Color Sorting Set and Toy of the Year winners Botley the Coding Robot and Coding Critters.

We share that dedication to learning across our family of companies. Learning Resources team members work closely with the curriculum experts at hand2mind, as well as Educational Insights, makers of hit viral products including Kanoodle, GeoSafari Jr., and Playfoam. We even help pets learn and grow through our pet brands Brightkins and Hunger for Words.

We pride ourselves on being committed to our employee's personal and professional development, a thriving culture and a diverse, creative atmosphere. Along with our competitive benefits package, we offer opportunities for training and development by top university professors as well as in-demand, motivating external speakers. We are looking for professionals who are truly just kids at heart! Come join our award-winning team today!

Position Description:

The Customer Service Team Lead is responsible for supervising and supporting members within the Sales department, understanding, responding to, and resolving customer needs, and is responsible for training new Customer Service personnel in their respective roles and responsibilities. Additionally, this position is responsible for all aspects of the order fulfillment process for our products through answering calls, product reviews, order processing and managing EDI. This position works cross-functionally with a various of departments including quality control, marketing, IT and operations. This position works closely with Customer Service and Sales Support colleagues, the Sales Operations Manager and sales representatives. The role requires a highly organized, detail-oriented team leader who works well across a variety of teams, exudes a passion for Customer Service and delivers high quality and timely results.

Scope of Responsibilities:

• Process orders in a fast-paced environment for both Dealer and Direct Customers.

• Train, coach and develop members of the Customer Service team in all areas of performance.

• Monitors customer orders, initiates tracers with carriers, and authorizes returns and/or credits including necessary transportation.

• Ensure customer phone calls and emails are answered in a timely manner.

• Audit phone, email and other customer interactions, observing performance, techniques and application of guidelines and procedures.

• Provide feedback to management and challenge processes to increase process efficiency.

• Lead performance reviews and assist with interviewing process for new Customer Service hires.

• Train new and current Customer Service personnel in departmental requirements, systems usage, processes and best practices to Customer Service team members.

• Handle escalated customer issues and provide support for customer interactions.

• Resolve problems by investigating root cause issues, understanding customer needs and working cross functionally.

• Provide knowledgeable answers to questions regarding product, pricing, and availability, returns etc.

• Participate in and lead departmental team meetings

• Leads cross functional projects

• Customer order process via EDI & Commerce Hub- ability to manage high volume of requests with ease and the ability to address customers questions efficiently and accurately

• Work with internal customers (i.e., Accounting, Warehouse, Purchasing, etc.) to ensure appropriate order fulfillment.

• Continuously identify opportunities to drive process improvements that positively impact the customer experience.

• Performs a variety of other tasks and duties as needed.

Requirements/Preferences:

• 1-3 years of supervisory or team leadership experience

• 5+ years Customer Service experience

• Strong computer skills including experience using Microsoft Office, including the ability to create basic reports, documents, presentations, and spreadsheets using MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint and ability to learn internal systems

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Experience working with large retailers, both brick and mortar and ecommerce

• Experience using retail vendor portal experience a plus

• Excellent organization/prioritization skills, ability to multi-task, work well under pressure, adapt to change and meet required deadlines in a fast-paced environment while focused on details and accuracy

• Must be self-directed with the ability and desire to work in/with cross functional teams and be willing to "go the extra mile"

• Analytical problem solver

• Ability to utilize business sense and creativity to develop new ideas and solutions

• Ability to identify issues, compare data, investigate and resolve discrepancies

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 experience a plus

We are a drug-free workplace and an EEO employer.

Please note: This role will be filled by our internal recruitment team, so no assistance is needed from any outside staffing agency at this time.

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