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Opportunity Snapshot

In this newly created role you will have the opportunity to make a significant impact on our organization as you drive a highly visible initiative to take our customer service program to the next level. Your mission will be to assess our current customer service operations and recommend and implement processes and tools to improve staff performance, enhance efficiencies, and move us toward eCommerce. The successes you achieve here in our western regional customer support center may be utilized by our other call centers. You'll join a high profile brand whose commitment to quality and performance has earned us a strong reputation within the professional contractor community.

To be a good fit for this opportunity you will have experience managing a call center in a consumer goods environment, preferably related to manufacturing and/or distribution. The ideal candidate will have a track record of developing and managing improvement projects, including staff development and process/system implementation. Quick question for you - click here You'll need a general understanding of EDI, and a background in eCommerce would be a strong plus. We're looking for a professional with a firm but fair approach to leadership and maintaining strong morale, and the ability to influence and motivate others.

Makita is a worldwide leader in the professional power tool industry. Over the past 85 years we've built a reputation for using the finest raw materials, the most advanced manufacturing equipment, and the most rigorous quality testing in the industry. Headquartered in La Mirada, CA, Makita USA has been bringing Makita's best-in-class engineering advantage to professional power tool users in America since 1970.

What Else You'll Bring to the Table

In addition to the qualifications detailed above, you'll need:

• A college degree; however, we also will consider candidates with a comparable combination of education and relevant experience.
• Significant experience in customer service, ideally including supporting a variety of distribution channels (local dealers, end users, national and big box retailers, etc) as well as sales representatives.
• Experience developing and implementing policies and procedures as well as writing SOPs.
• Experience developing and delivering staff development programs. Quick question for you - click here
  
  

  Developing/delivering employee training

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• A demonstrated ability to manage, develop and motivate a dynamic staff.
• The ability to establish priorities for the department.
• Strong multi-tasking and problem-solving skills coupled with the ability to think on your feet.
• A keen eye for detail, a commitment to accuracy and solid organizational skills.
• A positive attitude, a friendly personality and a passion for working with people.
• Outstanding communication skills -- you must be diplomatic, patient, and a good listener.
• The ability to work in high-pressure situations in a deadline-driven environment.
• Strong computer skills, including the ability to master new systems and to enter data quickly and accurately.
• Experience with Microsoft Outlook, Excel and Word, as well as with product lifecycle management applications such as JDA.

What's in It for You

Strategic impact -- continuous improvement is at the heart of Makita's success, and we've been re-engineering our entire operations over the past three years. This initiative, part of that overall strategy, isn't a case of fixing something that's broken, but of making a good thing even better. Your actions here in La Mirada may become a best practices template for our other regional customer support centers.

High visibility -- La Mirada is not only home to the western regional customer support center, but also the Western Regional Distribution Center and corporate headquarters for Makita USA. This initiative has the support of our senior leadership and your successes will be noticed. You also will help lay the groundwork for our implementation of eCommerce, one of Makita USA's largest endeavors of the past ten years.

Career development -- in keeping with our re-engineering initiative, we're looking for impact players who can move up in our organization as we grow. While we have multiple customer service call centers, you will be the only Senior Manager in this function. Your success in this role could set you up to pursue a variety of career paths in operations.

Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive salary, we offer one of the most generous benefits packages in our industry, including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance; 401(k) and profit sharing plans; vacation time; tuition reimbursement, and more.

More About Your Role

If you're a good fit for this position, you already know most of what this job entails. However, to be sure we're providing a complete picture, here are some details.

Reporting to the Operations Manager at our La Mirada facility, you will assume leadership of a Receptionist, Office Clerk, and two Sales Administrators, as well as a 12-member team of Customer Service Representatives (CSRs). The CSRs take calls primarily from local dealers (individual branches of national chains such as Ace or OSH, or independent hardware stores) and from our own Sales Representatives. Dealers may have questions about pricing, inventory allocations or promotions, while the Sales Reps may be checking on order status or tracking down an issue; the Reps often call from the field and sometimes in the middle of a sale. The CSRs may also take calls from end users or representatives of national distribution channel accounts.

From the high level view, you will lead your staff in order to ensure that our products are delivered on time, to the proper destination, in the quantity ordered, and with the agreed upon quality standards consistent with the expectations of the company and our customers. Quick question for you - click here In the process, you'll ensure we meet customer expectations while managing costs.

In addition to overseeing the day-to-day activities of this staff, you will focus on three key objectives:

• Assessing the current team to identify strengths and weaknesses, and then building on the strengths and addressing the weaknesses. This may include training, performance management, and other tactics you recommend.
• Evaluating our current systems and processes to identify opportunities to improve efficiencies and minimize our exposure to loss due to errors in processing.
• Helping the CSRs develop competencies to facilitate our upcoming implementation of eCommerce.

Keys to Success

To excel in this role you will have to strike the right balance in your leadership style between projecting a positive, upbeat approach and standing your ground firmly when necessary. You will also need to be able to effect constructive change across functional lines by influence and motivation. In addition, you'll need to be sensitive to both the Japanese and American elements of our corporate culture. In our organization, the individuals who can build credibility are the ones who make the biggest impact.

If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the minimum qualifications, we want to hear from you!

Who We Are

Makita owes its reputation for manufacturing and distributing outstanding quality power tools to the drive and determination for excellence that began over 85 years ago as a manufacturer of electric motors. In 1958 we introduced our first electric tool, and today we are one of the world's largest power tool manufacturers, with seven manufacturing facilities globally and a selection of more than 350 superior and innovative tools.

Believing that the motor is the heart of any power tool, we take great pride in our motor expertise. We spare no expense in producing the most powerful, efficient and best performing motors available for each tool, carefully selecting only the best quality raw materials, employing the most advanced manufacturing equipment in the world, and using the most stringent manufacturing processes and quality control in the industry. To make certain that our quality standards are upheld, constant testing is performed during machining and assembly processes, including a final run-test under power before leaving the factory to ensure optimum performance.

Our success comes not only from producing top quality tools, but also from our unparalleled customer service. From our customer service representatives to our extensive sales team to our R&D group, we are dedicated to delivering complete customer satisfaction.

We are an equal opportunity employer. EOE M/F/D/V

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