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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Member Services and Sales Support Manager

💰 $ - $

Member ServicesSales SupportCustomer SuccessOperationsManagement

🎯 Role Definition

The Member Services and Sales Support Manager leads a multifunctional team that delivers outstanding member experiences while enabling sales teams to convert prospects and renewals. This role combines operational management of membership and contact center activities with sales support functions such as lead intake, quoting, renewals, and cross-sell enablement. The manager is accountable for SLA performance, team coaching, process optimization, CRM integrity, reporting and analytics, and close partnership with Marketing, Product, Finance, and Sales.

Core responsibilities include staffing, training and performance management of agents; designing and enforcing member service workflows; driving continuous improvement to reduce handle time and increase first-contact resolution; supporting revenue goals through sales enablement, order processing, and contract support; and producing executive-level reporting and forecasts.

Key SEO and LLM-friendly phrases: Member Services Manager, Sales Support Manager, membership operations, customer success, contact center operations, sales operations, CRM administration, SLA management, performance metrics, membership lifecycle.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Member Services Representative / Team Lead
  • Sales Support Specialist / Sales Operations Analyst
  • Customer Success Manager / Contact Center Supervisor

Advancement To:

  • Director of Member Services & Sales Support
  • Head of Customer Experience / VP of Customer Success
  • Director of Sales Operations

Lateral Moves:

  • Sales Operations Manager
  • Customer Experience Manager
  • Workforce Management / Contact Center Optimization Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead, coach and mentor a cross-functional team of member service representatives, sales support specialists, and quality assurance analysts to consistently meet KPIs (first-contact resolution, NPS, CSAT, SLA adherence, average handle time, conversion and renewal rates).
  • Own end-to-end membership lifecycle operations including onboarding, renewals, billing exceptions, account changes, upgrades/downgrades, cancellations, and reinstatements while minimizing churn and maximizing lifetime value.
  • Manage day-to-day contact center performance and scheduling, including workforce management activities (forecasting demand, staffing, shift planning, capacity management) to ensure service level objectives and cost efficiencies.
  • Serve as the primary escalation point for complex member issues, complaint resolution, and critical incidents; coordinate cross-functional escalation paths with Product, Legal, and Finance to deliver timely root-cause resolutions.
  • Design, document, and optimize member service and sales support workflows, call scripts, knowledge base content, and standard operating procedures to increase consistency and reduce mean time to resolution.
  • Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Product to deliver sales enablement services: process leads, qualify inbound prospects, manage quoting and order entry, support promotions and campaigns, and ensure timely fulfillment.
  • Oversee CRM administration and data integrity (Salesforce, Zendesk or equivalent): enforce data entry standards, manage custom objects/workflows, implement automations, and collaborate with IT for integrations.
  • Develop and deliver ongoing training curriculum for new hires and tenured staff on product knowledge, sales techniques, compliance, objection handling, and system usage to boost conversion and satisfaction metrics.
  • Implement quality assurance and monitoring programs including call scoring, QA feedback loops, coaching plans, and performance improvement plans to raise service quality and agent productivity.
  • Analyze operational and sales support metrics using Excel, SQL, Tableau, Power BI or similar BI tools to create actionable insights, forecast workload and revenue impact, and present findings to senior leadership.
  • Lead continuous improvement and process redesign initiatives (Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma principles) to reduce operational costs, eliminate friction in the member journey, and accelerate sales cycles.
  • Manage vendor relationships and third-party service providers (outsourced contact centers, payment processors, fulfillment vendors) ensuring SLA compliance, contract performance and cost control.
  • Create and maintain executive dashboards and weekly/monthly performance reports that track KPIs, trends, member feedback, and escalation outcomes to inform strategy and resourcing decisions.
  • Coordinate complex billing adjustments, refunds, chargebacks, and compliance-related processes with Finance to ensure accuracy and timely reconciliation.
  • Drive membership retention programs including win-back campaigns, retention offers, and loyalty initiatives in collaboration with Marketing to reduce churn and grow recurring revenue.
  • Lead cross-functional projects for product launches and promotions by acting as the primary operational point of contact: prepare service teams, update knowledge resources, pilot processes and manage post-launch incident flows.
  • Ensure compliance with data privacy, regulatory requirements and internal controls (PCI, GDPR, HIPAA where applicable) in all member interactions and data handling processes.
  • Establish and manage service level agreements (SLAs) and KPIs with internal stakeholders, and define success criteria for new programs or process changes tied to business outcomes.
  • Control operating expenses, prepare budget recommendations, and report on spend vs. plan related to staff, tools, training and outsourcing.
  • Conduct periodic voice-of-member research (surveys, focus groups, journey mapping) to identify pain points and feed insights into product and service improvements.
  • Facilitate cross-training across member service and sales support teams to ensure operational flexibility and maintain coverage during seasonal peaks or unplanned absences.
  • Implement and oversee automated workflows and bots (IVR, chatbots, automated email responses) to improve self-service adoption and reduce manual handling for repetitive requests.
  • Recruit, hire and onboard top talent, managing the full talent lifecycle to maintain a high-performing, engaged team aligned with company culture and growth objectives.
  • Manage quota-setting and incentive structures for sales support activities tied to conversion rates and revenue goals, ensuring alignment with overall sales compensation policies.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting requests and provide deep-dive analyses to identify trends and root causes impacting member retention and sales throughput.
  • Maintain and update a centralized knowledge base and FAQ repository to improve agent self-sufficiency and reduce training time for new membership products.
  • Participate in product roadmap discussions to represent member operational constraints and frontline feedback that inform product decisions.
  • Pilot new contact channels (SMS, in-app messaging, WhatsApp) and evaluate channel economics, member satisfaction and operational impacts prior to broad rollout.
  • Assist with occasional front-line coverage during peak periods to maintain service continuity and demonstrate hands-on leadership.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • CRM administration and configuration (Salesforce, Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics) — data model, workflows, automation, and reporting.
  • Contact center technologies (IVR design, ACD, CTI, omnichannel routing) and workforce management tools for forecasting and scheduling.
  • Advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, macros) and experience with BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker) for operational reporting and dashboards.
  • Familiarity with SQL for ad-hoc queries and data validation to support performance analysis and process improvements.
  • Sales enablement and order management systems experience — quoting, order entry, billing reconciliation, and subscription lifecycle tools.
  • Knowledge of quality assurance frameworks, call scoring methodologies and coaching tools to monitor and improve agent performance.
  • Process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) and experience leading cross-functional process redesigns.
  • Performance management and KPI design — setting targets, defining SLAs, and developing incentive schemes tied to business outcomes.
  • Compliance and data privacy knowledge (PCI, GDPR, HIPAA where applicable) with the ability to implement controls and training.
  • Experience with automation tools and RPA/AI chatbots to streamline routine tasks and improve self-service rates.
  • Project management fundamentals — capability to plan, execute and report on projects with multiple stakeholders (certification a plus).

Soft Skills

  • Strategic and operational leadership: ability to translate strategic goals into operational plans and measurable results.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication for coaching agents, aligning cross-functional teams and presenting to senior leadership.
  • Strong analytical mindset and problem-solving skills to turn data into actionable improvements.
  • Customer-centric orientation and empathy to represent the member voice in decision-making.
  • Conflict resolution and escalation management with calmness under pressure.
  • Coaching and people development skills to build capability and high-performance teams.
  • Time management and prioritization in a fast-paced environment with competing deadlines.
  • Influencing and stakeholder management across Sales, Product, Marketing and Finance.
  • Change management aptitude to lead teams through process and systems transformations.
  • Attention to detail, organization and accountability for follow-through on critical operational commitments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Communications, Management, or related field — OR equivalent professional experience in contact center, membership operations, or sales support.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree with concentration in Operations Management, Marketing, or Finance.
  • Advanced certification (Lean/Six Sigma, PMP, Salesforce Administrator) is advantageous.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Management, Marketing or Communications
  • Information Systems, Operations Management
  • Data Analytics or Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 5–10+ years of progressive experience in member/customer service, contact center operations, or sales support roles; with at least 2–4 years in a people leadership capacity.

Preferred:

  • Experience managing 15–50+ frontline employees and ownership of P&L or operating budget.
  • Demonstrated success driving retention and revenue improvements, running CRM and contact center platforms, and leading cross-functional initiatives that improved operational efficiency and member satisfaction.
  • Background in subscription, membership, nonprofit, financial services, or regulated industries where billing, renewals and compliance are core responsibilities.
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