We are sure that's what you asked yourself and why you clicked on this job posting; that was kind of our goal. It's really our new way of saying our Director of Customer Service, but we felt that title was too narrow for who we are looking for. We are looking for someone special.
Look, we are sure you have a great experience, and your resume is beautifully written by you (and reviewed by some friends, too). We could go on and give you an equally beautifully written job description written by us (full of really lovely bullet points), but we aren't going to do that here. We've made that choice for two reasons:
Most people don't actually read them and just apply blindly to dozens of job postings because they are frustrated by their current job/company/boss
We have found that the most valuable team members and leaders are those who have backgrounds, experiences, and personalities that apply to what we are looking for.
In the absence of a bulleted description, what we can offer you about the role is that this is a leadership role of a Customer Service Department. And that last word is critical- this leads the whole department from top to bottom, the entire thing, from soup to nuts. In that department are about 15 people (in three teams) who are talented, passionate, experts at our products, and specializing in Phone, Technical, or Digital interactions. These team members need an equally passionate and talented leader to support them and guide them to complete success. That support and guidance are sometimes as small as giving positive feedback on a great sales call, and sometimes as large as implementing an entirely new order management software complete with formulating the process, creating the training, and rolling it out with minimal resistance for the entire organization (as we said, it's the whole department). We've spent time building an excellent foundation for whoever fills this important seat, but there are many areas to improve- and we must continue to improve. We aren't a large corporate environment, and this leader is one of just six decision-makers in the organization; with that comes a lot of responsibility. This leader is the singular point person tasked with maintaining the department's current standards, identifying where those standards can improve further, and finally actually achieving those new standards consistently.
"Wow, this sounds like a great opportunity!"
Well, we agree! This is a special company with a special team- but before you go off and apply blindly, we want to get back to those backgrounds, experiences, and personalities that we referenced before.
Let's start with your backgrounds and experiences. Our team members come from diverse backgrounds, and we enjoy that. We always want new eyes on our processes and problems to learn and grow. When we are thinking of people successful at our company, we do find some common traits; if you have them too, that would be great:
-You've spent time buried in spreadsheets analyzing data (and on YouTube learning how to use spreadsheets better). And after the spreadsheet fog has lifted, you arrive at real, meaningful, and actionable information.
-You're working on mastering AI. More than just to help write an email or make an interesting picture, but to think outside the box, tackle complex information, and find improvements you can implement
-You are continually curious about how things can be different and whether that difference is better. You are excited by the new opportunity this difference brings.
-You've driven a tractor more than once. It doesn't need to be a massive John Deere with a PTO. It can be a speedy Husqvarna ZTR or a Snapper with a bagging system and mulching blades. Whatever floats your boat, we don't judge here (bonus points if you knew those brands and terms).
Just like different backgrounds, we have a lot of personalities. Like, a whole lot of personalities. Our President has too many Hot Wheels cars in his office (Edit: The President disagrees it's "too many"), and some manufacturing team members will only drink Pepsi. But with that uniqueness that we celebrate, we often are very similar, and we hope you are too:
-You are a hard worker. But more important than how hard you work is that you make sure that work is focused on the right priorities. And if you aren't sure if it's the proper priority, you ask those around you.
-You are a critical thinker. You take in your surroundings and analyze the information available to you to understand how things work. You constantly ask yourself how things work and how two independent things interact.
- You take action. So you found out how those things work, and now you decide you can make it work even better, and you start actually making that happen!
-You communicate and delegate. Now that it is working better, you start showing other people how to make it work better. And you help them to take over so that you can free yourself up for the next priority.
And this last one is kind of a big one: You're a good person. We are honest when we say this is a special company. The product we make is essential to our customers, they talk about us and show us to their friends and family. Our reputation has taken years of hard work by many people to grow and maintain. The person responsible for maintaining that must enter every situation with the care required.
"Alright. I think I'm up to the task. What now?"
Well, first- congrats on getting this far. You must be really interested and we love that! Second, go ahead and apply but be sure to attach a cover letter. Seriously, make sure you attach a cover letter. We will read each and every cover letter and interview people who show us how their backgrounds and personalities work with ours. Tell us about yourself, about things you've learned, about experiences that have shaped you, and how all of that can work to our advantage if you join our team. Who shaped the person you are today? What tough lessons did you learn? What positive experiences do you think about often?