Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Sales and Service Representative
💰 $ - $
SalesCustomer ServiceRetailField Sales
🎯 Role Definition
A Sales and Service Representative is a customer-facing professional responsible for driving revenue and delivering exceptional service across phone, in-person, and digital channels. This role combines consultative selling, order management, and proactive problem resolution to increase conversion, average order value, and long-term customer loyalty. The ideal candidate is CRM-savvy, target-driven, and skilled at balancing sales objectives with a high-touch service experience.
📈 Career Progression
Typical Career Path
Entry Point From:
- Customer Service Representative
- Retail Sales Associate
- Call Center Agent
Advancement To:
- Senior Sales Representative
- Account Manager / Client Success Manager
- Field Sales / Territory Manager
Lateral Moves:
- Inside Sales Specialist
- Technical Sales Support
- Retail Store Supervisor
Core Responsibilities
Primary Functions
- Prospect, qualify, and convert inbound and outbound leads through phone, email, chat, and face-to-face interactions, consistently meeting or exceeding monthly sales quotas and pipeline KPIs.
- Deliver consultative sales conversations that identify customer needs, recommend tailored product or service solutions, and articulate clear value propositions to increase conversion rates and average order value.
- Manage the full sales cycle from inquiry to close: create quotes, process orders, manage approvals, and follow up until delivery and payment are complete.
- Use CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics) to log activity, update opportunity stages, create follow-up tasks, and maintain a clean, actionable pipeline for accurate forecasting.
- Perform proactive account outreach and renewal conversations to reduce churn and grow recurring revenue for assigned accounts and territories.
- Upsell and cross-sell complementary products and service packages based on customer profile and behavioral cues, tracking success via attach-rate metrics.
- Handle high-volume customer inquiries across channels with a focus on first-contact resolution and measurable improvements to Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores.
- Resolve billing, returns, and service issues by coordinating with billing, logistics, and technical teams to ensure timely, customer-centric resolutions and minimize operational escalations.
- Educate customers on product features, warranties, installation, and service-level options to reduce post-sale issues and increase adoption.
- Prepare and present customized proposals and product demonstrations tailored to client requirements, using sales enablement tools and presentation software.
- Maintain knowledge of competitive offerings, market trends, and product updates to position our solutions effectively and counter objections with factual differentiation.
- Achieve daily/weekly activity targets (calls, emails, demos, quotes) and contribute to team-level objectives such as conversion rate improvement and pipeline growth.
- Coordinate order fulfillment and track shipments, ensuring on-time delivery and accurate order status updates to customers and internal stakeholders.
- Investigate and document recurring service issues, providing feedback to product, operations, and quality teams for continuous improvement initiatives.
- Participate in targeted lead-generation campaigns and community or in-store events to drive brand awareness and capture new customer leads.
- Conduct account reviews and performance check-ins to identify expansion opportunities, prepare case studies, and secure testimonials or references.
- Maintain required compliance and record-keeping for regulated products/services, following company policies and legal standards for disclosures and documentation.
- Collaborate with marketing to test messaging, promotions, and offers; provide field intelligence on campaign performance and customer response.
- Track and report on KPIs including revenue attainment, average order value, conversion rate, ticket resolution time, and customer retention metrics.
- Support onboarding for new customers by coordinating training sessions, product setup, and service activation to ensure successful time-to-value.
- Manage escalations from dissatisfied customers, working closely with supervisors and cross-functional teams to de-escalate issues and retain business.
- Mentor junior sales or service staff by sharing best practices, providing call coaching, and contributing to internal knowledge bases and playbooks.
- Maintain professional and polished communications, ensuring brand consistency and a customer-first tone across all written and verbal interactions.
- Participate in regular product and sales training to keep certifications current and deepen domain expertise where required.
Secondary Functions
- Prepare weekly and monthly performance reports for managers, highlighting trends, risks, and opportunities within assigned accounts or segments.
- Help refine standard operating procedures for returns, exchanges, and repairs to shorten resolution times and reduce operational costs.
- Act as a liaison between customers and technical teams during product trials, pilots, or escalation incidents to ensure transparency and timely fixes.
- Support inventory checks and point-of-sale reconciliation when required, ensuring accuracy in stock levels and order fulfillment.
- Contribute qualitative customer feedback and quantitative data to product teams to influence roadmap prioritization and feature enhancements.
- Assist in the development and delivery of customer-facing training materials, FAQs, and self-service resources to reduce repetitive inquiries.
- Participate in cross-functional project workstreams (e.g., CRM migrations, pricing changes, channel promotions) as a subject-matter contributor for frontline impact.
- Take part in regular role-based calibration sessions to ensure consistent scoring and quality of service across the team.
- Support ad-hoc executive or sales leadership requests such as competitive analyses, account research, or pilot program reporting.
- Represent the brand at trade shows, community events, or pop-up retail activations to generate leads and gather market intelligence.
Required Skills & Competencies
Hard Skills (Technical)
- Proficient with CRM platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics) for pipeline management, activity logging, and forecasting.
- Strong knowledge of sales tools and outreach platforms (Outreach.io, SalesLoft, Gong) and experience using cadence automation responsibly.
- Experience with point-of-sale (POS) systems and order-entry tools; familiarity with retail transaction workflows and reconciliations.
- Comfortable using helpdesk and ticketing systems (Zendesk, Freshdesk, ServiceNow) to manage customer service workflows and SLAs.
- Demonstrated ability to create professional proposals and presentations using Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) and Google Workspace.
- Ability to read and interpret sales contracts, warranties, and terms of service; basic contract administration for order approvals.
- Data-driven: able to analyze sales metrics, generate reports, and use insights to prioritize accounts and outreach.
- Familiarity with inventory management fundamentals and order fulfillment processes across retail, e-commerce, or distribution channels.
- Knowledge of basic upselling and cross-selling techniques, pricing structures, promotions, and margin considerations.
- Experience handling payments, returns, refunds, and chargeback processes with attention to compliance and fraud prevention.
- Bilingual or multilingual capabilities (where applicable) to support diverse customer bases and increase market reach.
- Comfortable with remote collaboration tools (Slack, Teams, Zoom) and digital scheduling platforms (Calendly, Google Calendar).
Soft Skills
- Exceptional verbal and written communication with strong active listening and the ability to simplify complex information for customers.
- Customer-centric mindset with empathy, patience, and a bias toward ownership to drive excellent outcomes.
- Strong negotiation and objection-handling skills; ability to close deals while protecting company margins.
- Time management and prioritization skills to balance high-volume outreach with deep account work.
- Problem-solving orientation with the ability to de-escalate conflict and find pragmatic resolutions under pressure.
- Resilience and persistence in pursuing leads, handling rejection, and maintaining motivation to meet targets.
- Adaptability to changing priorities, new products, and evolving sales strategies.
- Collaboration and teamwork, working effectively with operations, product, and marketing to deliver on customer promises.
- Attention to detail for accurate order entry, documentation, and compliance with policies.
- Analytical mindset to interpret KPIs and convert data into actionable sales activities.
Education & Experience
Educational Background
Minimum Education:
- High school diploma or equivalent (required).
Preferred Education:
- Associate degree or Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field (preferred).
Relevant Fields of Study:
- Business Administration
- Marketing or Sales
- Communications or Public Relations
- Retail Management
- Hospitality or Customer Experience Management
Experience Requirements
Typical Experience Range:
- 1–5 years in sales, retail, customer service, or account management roles featuring direct customer interaction.
Preferred:
- 2+ years of quota-carrying sales experience or demonstrated success in high-volume customer service environments.
- Experience with CRM-driven workflows, upselling, and cross-functional coordination (operations/fulfillment/legal).
- Prior exposure to B2B account management or B2C high-ticket sales is a plus.