Inside Sales Specialist

VAHLE is a leading global manufacturer of electrification and automation products. We serve a diverse group of industries, including assembly automation, amusement, intralogistics, crane technology and port technology. Our headquarters are located in Kamen, Germany and our Katy, Texas location is the leading subsidiary for the North American market.

VAHLE, Inc. is currently seeking to hire a Technical Inside Sales Specialist for our Katy, Texas location. The Inside Sales Specialist owns the end-to-end responsibility for providing exceptional customer service for customers in a designated territory and, in collaboration with the territory’s Outside Sales Manager, processes all types of customer inquiries, requests, quotes and orders. This role is responsible for following up on open requests/quotes, tracking account history and customer POs as well as monitoring customer trends, and providing timely customer service to resolve issues.

The role also works with designated Outside Sales Manager on after‑sales initiatives. As a direct point‑of‑contact for customer interactions, the role actively builds relationships and professionally services customer accounts. The position seeks to anticipate customer needs, including critical thinking to troubleshoot and problem solve and continuously shares knowledge with related departments (e.g., Outside Sales, Technical Sales and Logistics). The specialist is responsible to contribute to the profitable growth of VAHLE Inc.

The position may also include handling assigned key accounts, framework contracts and acting as a project manager for commercial aspects of projects.

• Represent the entire range of VAHLE products and services and provide thorough product knowledge and recommendations regarding use
• Determine the most economic and efficient solutions for customers
• Efficiently manage time to prioritize and complete a variety of tasks throughout the day
• Establish and maintain professional relationships with new and existing customers providing comprehensive follow through for quotes and sales orders of parts, components, or complete systems until completed to customer satisfaction
• Prepare sales quotes within defined time frame, entering data correctly into the SAP software program and confirmation to customer
• Process customer orders accurately and within defined time frame according to the customer purchase orders
• Enter data correctly into the SAP software and confirm order with customer
• Follow up on quotes within given timeframe
• Answer customer calls and email requests in a timely manner, monitoring incoming calls and the sales inbox
• Make decisions by carefully weighing pros and cons and acting for the benefit of VAHLE in relation and support of customer needs
• Conduct follow-through on all orders to customer receipt of goods
• Own responsibility for accuracy of SAP Customer Master Data
• Effective, professional and timely, ongoing communication and intricate coordination with related departments managers and staff to accomplish goals
• Coordinate with the Operations Department to determine acceptable delivery deadlines based on inventory, customer needs, and shipping and receiving factors as required
• Coordinate with Technical Sales Department as required for completion of technical system orders, customer layout drawings, or engineered production items
• Keep consistent and clear communication with customers regarding changes in status of orders, deliveries and provide information to track customer communication
• Act as escalation level in case of customer complaints and disputes in accordance with VAHLE’s customer service philosophy
• Additional project management responsibilities, as needed

• High school diploma required; preferred bachelor’s degree in a Business, Technical, Engineering field preferred.
• 3+ years of proven related job experience in wholesale, distribution or manufacturing industries; international business relations or experience work with an international HQ preferred
• Must demonstrate ability to manage customer accounts, including needs assessment, meeting quality standards, and evaluation of customer technical requirements and specifications
• Pr…