Customer Service Representative in North Hollywood, California at Groundwork Coffee Roasters LLC

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Customer Service Representative is the primary point of contact for all customers, whether they walk in, call, or reach out through digital channels including Shopify and other communication platforms. This role delivers warm, professional, proactive service by resolving issues quickly, communicating order updates promptly, and ensuring every customer interaction reflects Groundwork Coffee Roasters' high standards. This role includes data entry and sales order processing, but the defining priority is customer success and proactive solutions.

ROLE PRIORITIES

1) Customer Relations & Customer Success: Promote a warm, energetic, and welcoming demeanor in every interaction across all channels, with the goal of measurable customer success.

2) Proactive Communication & Issue Prevention: Reach out to customers immediately when any delay, backorder, or fulfillment issue arises, before the customer has to ask.

3) Problem Resolution: Handle complaints, disputes, and service failures efficiently and with composure.

4) Multi-Platform Communication Management: Manage customer communications across phone, email, Shopify, and any additional platforms to ensure consistent, redundant follow-through.

5) Time Management: Prioritize urgency, balance walk-in and digital customer needs simultaneously, and meet all response and follow-up timelines.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Walk-In Customer Reception

• Serve as the first point of contact for all walk-in customers, greeting them with a warm and professional demeanor.
• Make walk-in visitors comfortable, understand their needs, offer solutions, fill orders, and process payments.
• Address questions about products, services, promotions, and order status clearly and knowledgeably.
• Prepare the reception area for scheduled customer visits and ensure a welcoming environment at all times.
• Ensure fresh coffee is brewed and available for customers and office guests throughout the day, maintaining a hospitable and on-brand experience in a coffee roasting environment.
• Clean all coffee pots and brewing equipment at the end of each business day, leaving the area tidy and ready for the following morning.

Inbound & Outbound Communication

• Answer all incoming calls to the company main line in a timely, professional, and helpful manner.
• Perform outbound calls to customers to share product knowledge, inform of promotions, and verify their ongoing success with our products and services.
• Manage and respond to customer messages and order inquiries through Shopify, ensuring all correspondence and order updates are handled and documented directly within the Shopify platform.
• Monitor and respond across all active communication platforms, maintaining redundancy so no customer message is missed regardless of the channel used.
• Circle back with customers after every encounter to confirm their needs were fully met, commitments were fulfilled, and that they are set up for continued success.

Shopify Reporting & Customer Success Metrics

• Track order completion, shipping times, and any open or delayed fulfillments and report exceptions.
• Generate Shopify delivery reports to monitor on-time delivery performance, identify patterns in late or failed shipments, and proactively escalate issues.
• Extract customer success data from Shopify, including repeat purchase rates, order frequency, and customer retention indicators, to identify high-performing accounts and areas of opportunity.
• Compile and present Shopify performance reports to the supervisor highlighting key success metrics such as fulfillment rate, delivery accuracy, average order processing time, and customer reorder activity.
• Use Shopify reporting data to support proactive outreach, identifying customers whose orders may be at risk or who have not reordered within their typical buying window.
• Maintain awareness of Shopify reporting tools and dashboards, ensuring data is current and actionable for both the customer service team and leadership.

Proactive Order Communication & Issue Prevention

• Monitor open orders daily and contact customers immediately when any delay, backorder, or fulfillment issue is identified, rather than waiting for the customer to inquire.
• Review customer accounts prior to any outbound contact to identify open issues, backordered items, or pending concerns so they are addressed proactively.
• Provide clear, honest, and timely updates on order status, shipping timelines, and product availability.
• Flag recurring fulfillment patterns or service failures to the supervisor with recommendations for correction.

Sales Order Data Entry & Processing

• Accurately enter and process customer sales orders, changes, credits, and returns in accordance with established policies and procedures.
• Ensure all sales orders for Shopify customers are entered and tracked within the Shopify platform.
• Maintain precise data entry with minimal errors across all order management and communication systems.
• Partner with Sales Representatives to support smooth order fulfillment and exceed customer service expectations.

Customer Relationship Building

• Build genuine, professional relationships with customers that foster loyalty to Groundwork Coffee Roasters as their preferred vendor.
• Learn and understand customer buying patterns and business needs in order to make informed, helpful product suggestions.
• Inform and educate customers about new products, services, promotions, and ways to maximize their experience with the company.
• Handle billing disputes and collection matters collaboratively with the customer and supervisor, working toward fair and timely resolution.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Provide timely feedback to the company regarding service failures, customer concerns, and recurring issues.
• Generate and review department performance reports and contribute ideas for correcting deficiencies and improving customer success outcomes.
• Continually grow product knowledge through self-directed research, resourcefulness, and company-provided training.

ROLE QUALIFICATIONS, REQUIRED EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

• High School diploma with a minimum of 6 months to 1 year of receptionist or customer-facing service experience.
• Experience in retail or B2B customer service, product sales, and/or working alongside a sales representative team.
• Demonstrated ability to manage customer communications across multiple platforms simultaneously, including Shopify.
• Proficiency in Shopify for order management, customer correspondence, and fulfillment tracking.
• Computer proficiency: NetSuite, Microsoft Word, Excel, and Google Suite.
• Comfortable working with multi-channel communication tools and maintaining consistent follow-through across platforms.
• Commitment to company values and ability to maintain confidentiality when required.

COMPETENCY: KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Team Work: Team Work: Strong, positive, and constructive team player. Reliable, respectful, and detail-oriented.
• Pressure: Pressure: Able to maintain focus when operating in a busy, distracting environment. Takes initiative.
• Flexible/Adaptable: Flexible/Adaptable: Able to deal skillfully and promptly with new situations. Energized by challenges.
• Receptive to Feedback: Gains insights from mistakes and actively seeks constructive input.
• Time Management: Time Management: Makes decisions in a timely manner and manages multiple priorities and platforms effectively.
• Communication: Communication: Ability to communicate clearly across verbal, written, and digital channels. Relates well to all kinds of people.
• Multi-Platform Fluency: Multi-Platform Fluency: Comfortable navigating and maintaining customer records and correspondence in Shopify and other tools concurrently.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Dealing with Ambiguity: Open to change and learns quickly when facing new or unfamiliar tasks.
• Planning: Planning: Can break down work into process steps and anticipates problems before they reach the customer.
• Problem Solving: Problem Solving: Observant, resourceful, and a creative thinker under pressure.
• Conflict Management: Conflict Management: Effectively handles issues and complaints without escalating the situation.
• Approachability: Approachability: Puts others at ease and builds constructive, trust-based relationships.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Predominantly a seated role using a telephone, computer, and standard office equipment such as scanner, copier, printer, stapler, and hole punch.
• Occasional walking (on even and uneven surfaces), stooping, bending, twisting, leaning, grasping, and lifting of 45lbs. or less.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Warehouse-type, small office environment: busy, conversationally noisy, tight quarters, sometimes stuffy, dusty, with the ever-present aroma of coffee roasting.ted research, resourcefulness, and company-provided training.