Customer Service & Retention Specialist

About Us

At NutriCanine, we believe in making it easy and convenient for pet owners to feed their dogs freshly prepared, real-food meals so that they can live longer, healthier, happier lives. We offer a personalized meal plan subscription service, where we learn all about your pup, create a customized meal plan to meet their unique dietary needs, and then deliver real-food meals to your door in pre-portioned, ready-to-serve packages on a recurring basis. 

We are a fast-growing start-up based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and we're looking for a team member who has a positive and friendly attitude, strong sales instincts, and excellent communication skills to join our small but mighty pack!

Job Summary

The Customer Service & Retention Specialist will work in-house as a key member of our customer experience team, focusing on converting potential customers, retaining existing clients, and winning back those who have cancelled. This dynamic role combines customer service excellence with sales expertise, requiring someone who is confident in making outbound calls, comfortable handling walk-in customers, and skilled at finding solutions that meet both customer needs and business objectives.

Reporting to the Customer Service and Experience Lead and Chief of Staff, this position will work closely with the entire team to drive customer acquisition and retention while maintaining NutriCanine's high standards of customer service. The ideal candidate will be positive, outgoing, persuasive, and genuinely passionate about helping dog parents provide the best nutrition for their pets.

You should be confident and personable on the phone, quick and professional over email, and able to adapt your tone and approach depending on the customer and channel.

Key Responsibilities

SALES & RETENTION

• Conduct proactive outreach to potential customers who have shown interest but haven't placed an order
• Make outbound calls to cancelled customers to understand their concerns and present solutions to win them back
• Handle walk-in customers professionally, educating them about our products and completing in-store sales
• Identify opportunities to upgrade existing customer meal plans and suggest improvements
• Track and report on conversion and retention metrics
• Develop and maintain relationships with customers to ensure long-term retention

CUSTOMER SERVICE

• Provide responsive, solution-focused customer support via phone, email, chat and in person
• Handle customer inquiries and concerns professionally, according to SOPs, while identifying sales opportunities
• Document all customer interactions thoroughly in our CRM system
• Process walk-in sales and manage inventory of retail meal packs
• Escalate complex issues to the Customer Service and Experience Lead when necessary
  
• Follow established SOPs accurately and efficiently while identifying opportunities to enhance them for clarity or efficiency
• Work collaboratively with the operations team to resolve customer concerns

TECH & SYSTEMS PROFICIENCY

• Accurately and efficiently use internal systems for order management, subscription management, chat, CRM/customer support, and project/task management
• Resolve tickets quickly and accurately, balancing speed with a high degree of attention to detail
• Navigate the nuances of our systems to ensure smooth and effective resolution of customer issues
• Be both tech-savvy and process-aware, demonstrating precision in a fast-paced, high-volume environment

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

• Gather and analyze customer feedback to identify trends and improvement opportunities
• Contribute to the development of sales scripts and retention strategies
• Help maintain and update internal knowledge base and FAQs
• Suggest and implement process improvements to increase conversion and retention rates
  
• Proactively recommend updates and improvements to SOPs based on day-to-day insights and customer interactions

Qualifications & Skills You Offer

• 1-2 years of experience in inside sales, business development, or customer service with a proven track record of meeting targets
• Excellent phone presence and comfortable making outbound calls
• Strong closing skills and ability to overcome objections
• Experience with or willingness to learn Gorgias, Shopify, Asana, and other platforms
• Superior verbal and written communication skills in English
• Proven ability to build rapport quickly and maintain strong customer relationships
• Sales-oriented mindset balanced with genuine customer care
• Experience handling in-person customers and processing retail transactions
• Ability to work independently while maintaining strong team collaboration
• Knowledge of French is considered an asset
• Knowledge of or willingness to learn about fresh dog food and pet nutrition
• Must love dogs and be passionate about pet health and wellness!

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work in-person at our Richmond Hill location
• All NutriCanine employees must abide by and have the responsibility to follow the company's Food Safety / H&S policies and procedures to produce safe, legal, and quality products

This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing company and make a real difference in the lives of dogs and their owners. The ideal candidate will combine sales expertise with genuine care for customers and their pets, helping to drive business growth while maintaining our commitment to exceptional service.