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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Sales & Customer Service Associate

💰 $30,000 - $55,000

SalesCustomer ServiceRetailInside SalesB2B

🎯 Role Definition

The Sales & Customer Service Associate is a customer-facing professional responsible for driving revenue through proactive selling while delivering exceptional end-to-end customer service. This role blends sales activities (lead follow-up, upsell/cross-sell, order conversion) with traditional customer service responsibilities (inbound support, order management, returns, escalation). The ideal candidate is CRM-savvy, KPI-driven, empathetic, and experienced in handling high-volume interactions across phone, email, and chat channels.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Customer Service Representative
  • Retail Sales Associate
  • Inside Sales Representative

Advancement To:

  • Senior Sales Associate / Senior Customer Service Representative
  • Account Manager / Client Success Manager
  • Sales Supervisor / Team Lead

Lateral Moves:

  • Marketing Coordinator (campaigns & promotions)
  • Operations Coordinator (order fulfillment & logistics)
  • CRM / Sales Operations Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Answer high-volume inbound customer inquiries via phone, email, and live chat, providing accurate, courteous, and timely responses while maintaining KPIs for response time and first-contact resolution.
  • Engage in outbound prospecting and follow-up on marketing-generated leads, qualifying prospects, and converting them into sales opportunities using targeted sales scripts and consultative questioning.
  • Process customer orders from initiation to completion, including order entry, payment processing, invoicing, shipment coordination, and post-sale follow-up to ensure on-time delivery and customer satisfaction.
  • Actively identify and execute upsell and cross-sell opportunities during customer interactions, presenting relevant product or service add-ons to increase average order value and meet monthly sales targets.
  • Maintain accurate and complete customer records and activity logs in CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, or similar), ensuring data integrity and a clean sales pipeline.
  • Resolve customer complaints and complex service issues by diagnosing root causes, proposing solutions, and escalating to technical or management teams when necessary, following company escalation protocols.
  • Meet or exceed individual and team sales metrics and service-level agreements (SLAs), including quota attainment, conversion rates, CSAT, NPS, and average handle time.
  • Prepare and present professional quotes, proposals, and basic contracts; obtain approvals, follow credit and billing guidelines, and close transactions while adhering to pricing policies.
  • Coordinate with fulfillment, logistics, and warehouse teams to track orders, manage backorders, and provide accurate delivery timelines and status updates to customers.
  • Perform renewals and subscription management for recurring customers, proactively contacting accounts before renewal dates to prevent churn and negotiate contract terms.
  • Educate customers on product features, benefits, and usage through demos, guided walkthroughs, or knowledge base article references to reduce product confusion and returns.
  • Execute promotional campaigns and seasonal initiatives by applying discounts, coupon codes, and special pricing while ensuring proper documentation and reporting of promotional results.
  • Conduct follow-up calls and post-sale outreach to confirm satisfaction, solicit referrals, and identify expansion opportunities within existing accounts.
  • Manage returns, exchanges, refunds, and warranty claims in accordance with company policy, documenting reasons for return and providing corrective feedback to product and operations teams.
  • Track, analyze, and report weekly/monthly sales and service metrics, identifying trends, opportunities for improvement, and items to raise with management in regular team meetings.
  • Collaborate with marketing to provide on-the-ground insights into customer objections, competitor activity, and messaging effectiveness to refine lead generation and nurture strategies.
  • Maintain and update FAQs, help center content, and internal knowledge base articles to reflect current product information, policy changes, and common troubleshooting steps.
  • Handle escalated customer issues, acting as the point of contact for premium accounts or complex disputes, negotiating satisfactory resolutions while protecting company margins.
  • Enforce company policies related to returns, refunds, and data privacy (GDPR/CCPA compliance where applicable) and ensure secure handling of customer payment information.
  • Conduct needs assessments for business customers (B2B) and prepare tailored proposals, liaising with internal stakeholders (pricing, legal, product) to finalize terms and onboard new accounts.
  • Participate in ongoing product and sales training sessions, role-plays, and certifications to maintain up-to-date product knowledge and selling techniques.
  • Proactively gather and document customer feedback, feature requests, and competitive intelligence; escalate insights to product management and leadership for roadmap consideration.
  • Assist with merchandising, storefront support, or pop-up events when required, representing the brand with professionalism and delivering consistent customer experiences across channels.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting requests and provide operational insights to Sales Operations and Management teams to improve workflow efficiency.
  • Assist with onboarding of new hires by documenting process notes, shadowing, and providing frontline training in customer interaction best practices.
  • Collaborate with technical support teams to triage product defects, prioritize customer-impacting issues, and follow up until resolution.
  • Help maintain SLA compliance by monitoring queue volumes, redistributing workload, and recommending staffing adjustments when necessary.
  • Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives by recommending process changes to reduce handle times, returns, and escalations.
  • Support cross-department projects such as CRM migrations, knowledge base reorganization, or implementation of new chat/phone tools by participating in user acceptance testing and providing feedback.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • CRM proficiency: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics, or equivalents — accurate data entry and pipeline management.
  • Ticketing & support tools: Zendesk Support, Freshdesk, Intercom, or similar live chat and ticketing platforms.
  • Order management & POS systems: Shopify, NetSuite, Magento, Oracle, or retail POS systems for order processing and returns.
  • SaaS subscription platforms & billing tools: Stripe, Recurly, Chargebee, Zuora (for recurring billing and renewals).
  • Microsoft Office & Google Workspace: Advanced Excel (VLOOKUP, pivot tables), Sheets, Docs, and Slides for reporting and presentations.
  • Communication tools: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom — comfortable with virtual customer meetings and screen-sharing demos.
  • KPI tracking & reporting: experience creating and delivering weekly/monthly sales and service performance reports.
  • Payment processing and PCI-compliant handling of credit card information.
  • Familiarity with knowledge base tools (Confluence, Helpjuice) and basic content editing for FAQs and help center articles.
  • Basic troubleshooting and technical literacy to guide customers through common product setup and usage issues.

Soft Skills

  • Outstanding verbal and written communication; professional phone etiquette and empathetic tone.
  • Active listening and problem-solving mindset; able to de-escalate upset customers and find win-win resolutions.
  • Sales acumen and consultative selling: ability to uncover needs and present value-based recommendations.
  • Time management and prioritization: handle multi-channel queues and balance reactive support with proactive outreach.
  • Resilience and adaptability in fast-paced environments with frequent product or policy changes.
  • Conflict resolution and negotiation skills to preserve customer relationships while protecting company interests.
  • Team collaboration and cross-functional communication: work effectively with marketing, ops, and product teams.
  • Attention to detail and high level of accuracy in data entry and order processing.
  • Customer empathy and service orientation with a drive for continuous improvement.
  • Growth mindset: receptive to coaching, metrics-driven feedback, and ongoing skill development.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High School Diploma or equivalent.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Hospitality Management
  • Retail Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–3 years in sales, retail, or customer service roles; or equivalent experience in a high-volume contact center.

Preferred:

  • 2–5 years of combined sales and customer support experience, preferably with CRM and e-commerce/order management exposure.
  • Experience in B2B or B2C sales environments, subscription renewals, and working toward quotas.
  • Demonstrated track record of meeting sales targets and maintaining high CSAT/NPS scores.
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