Jackson Kayak is known for its world class customer service at the dealer and paddler level. You can contact the president of the company at any time by email or phone and get a response (90% of the time unless you get lost in my spam filter). You can contact Marty Cronin, Dave Blanding, Don Otey, and most importantly, you can contact Carman Ratliff. Carman is the turnstile where all flow of requests come through and become action on our part. Carman is also in a unique position, one that we feel makes Jackson Kayak so special. She is the manager of the scheduling department, shipping, accounting, and customer service. Our sales department falls under customer service as well. This allows her to respond to your needs for a new boat, for example, and then make sure that the production department actually makes it that day. That is a powerful position, and one that makes all of the difference for us to succeed in customer service for you.

With the call, email, and task volume that we have at Jackson Kayak, we need more horsepower in customer service, a full time person, who works at the factory, in Sparta, TN. This is a call to those of you out there who have asked me about jobs at the factory before, and those of you who have just thought about it.

Some details:

1. We work hard at Jackson Kayak. Looking for a quality of life improvement? We think working at JK is rewarding, and you can believe in what we do as a company, for our customers, our dealers, our staff. However, we achieve our goals at JK by outworking the competition, in part. I believe you can beat 90% of everyone you compete against, simply by outworking them. Anyone looking for an “easy job” should apply at a different kayak company. J

2. You must LOVE being on a computer, and on a phone. That is where 90% of your time will be spent.

a. Checking and responding to emails in real time, skype, twitter, even facebook…

b. Answering every phone call that comes your way, and being happy that person called, no matter who it is and what they are calling about.

c. Entering orders, creating invoices, checking on payment status of the dealers during phone conversations, and making sure the dealers have everything they need for accessories, boats, etc., without trying to “sell” them anything.

d. Quickbooks, Fishbowl- know those programs? If not- be prepared to learn them FAST and on your own time- We all have to start somewhere.

3. It is critical that your outlook on life match the Jackson Kayak way- that is that we are lucky to have this job, to do something that is so meaningful for so many people, and that we should be grateful every day for what we do. Our customers make it all possible, period.

4. We expect you to learn about Jackson Kayak before you start. Carman did it right when she started. She printed every page of the JK website out and memorized them. I could ask her the specs on every boat, and accessory, who our dealers, were, etc. and she knew the answers within one week of starting. This is the kind of attention to detail we are looking for.

General qualities we are looking for:

detail oriented, persistent, patient, good with people, ability to multi-task.

Hours? 8-5 is when the dealers/customers know we are open and we must be present. Beyond that, it is about getting the job done. Spring/Summer is hardest- long hours sometimes. Fall/winter are the easiest, more prep work and less handling a large volume of communication.

Pay/insurance, etc. we’ll discuss by phone with Carman.

Resume- please send an electronic version of your resume to myself, Carman, and Dave Olson (Dave is my right hand man, CFO, and co-president type of thing).

I am at eric @ jacksonkayak dot com , carman @ same as EJ’s , and daveolson at triad . rr . com

Thanks!

J