Sales & Customer Service Associate

About Us

Metal Supermarkets South Bend | Elkhart is a locally owned small business specializing in metal sales, processing, and fabrication services. We started as a grassroots business on April 10, 2023, and have been continuously refining our methods, inventory, offerings, and capabilities ever since.

At the center of everything is serving our customers well, moving quickly, offering fair service-based pricing, and working together as a team.

We are looking for someone with sales or customer service experience, or someone with a background in a shop, warehouse, manufacturing, fabrication, construction, or another hands-on environment who is interested in transitioning into a customer-facing sales role.

Previous metal industry experience is not required. We will train the right candidate on our products, systems, equipment capabilities, and processes.

We Live and Die as a Team

Teamwork is a huge part of our culture. We are a small team, and every part of our operation depends on each person being trustworthy, reliable, and willing to help the rest of the team succeed. We win together, and when something doesn't go right, we deal with it together.

Did we let a customer down? We figure out why it happened, what we can learn from it, and what we can change to help prevent it from happening again.

We're not perfect. Everyone here makes human mistakes. What matters is what we do with the experience. We take responsibility, learn from it, improve the process, and move forward as a team.

Salespeople Get Dirty Too

This is not a traditional desk-only sales position.

Our salespeople aren't afraid to step outside, grab material, help load an order, or get their hands dirty. We like to keep our customers clean and get their material into their cars, trucks, or trailers as quickly, safely, and cleanly as possible.

Our sales team also regularly helps our warehouse team when a job requires additional manpower. In a small operation, some jobs simply require more than one set of hands. Whether it's handling material, helping with a large order, assisting with loading, or jumping in wherever extra help is needed, we work together to get the job done safely and efficiently.

If the shop is busy, the phones are ringing, customers are walking through the door, and someone needs help—we help each other. The same goes the other direction: when the sales counter needs help, we're a team.

There isn't much room here for "that's not my job." Your primary responsibilities may be in sales and customer service, but you're joining the entire team—not just the sales department.

Yes, You Need to Be Comfortable with Numbers

Previous metal industry experience is NOT required. We will teach you our products, terminology, systems, and processes.That said, you do need to come in with some basic hands-on math skills. You need to be able to read a tape measure and be comfortable working with fractions and decimals.

Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are used every day. Just as importantly, you need to be comfortable converting between fractions and decimals and working with measurements in both formats.

You'll regularly encounter dimensions such as 1-1/2", 0.125", 3/16", or 2.375" and need to understand how those measurements relate to each other.

You don't need advanced math skills, but numbers, measurements, fractions, and decimals can't intimidate you.

The Multitasking Can Be Intense

We want to be upfront about this: the level of multitasking can be intense.

You may be helping a customer at the counter while another customer is waiting on a quote, the phone is ringing, the shop needs clarification on an order, and another issue needs to be solved.

We're not looking for someone who never feels overwhelmed. We're looking for someone who can take that pressure and eventually turn it into creative problem-solving, better organization, and system improvement.

Instead of accepting that something is frustrating or inefficient, we want people who start asking:

"Why is this difficult, and how can we make it better?"

That's how we've built this business, and that's how we intend to keep improving it.

We're Building Something Together

We are competitive, we work hard, and we have fun.

Of course we'd all rather be on the beach some days, but we genuinely do not dread coming to work at Metal Supermarkets. We want this to be a place where people enjoy the team they work with and take pride in what we're building together.

We get excited about improving our inventory and expanding our offerings. We strategize together about new equipment, services, and capabilities that could help us better serve the demand in our area.

Good ideas don't have to come from the owner or a manager. We want team members who pay attention, ask questions, bring ideas to the table, and get some satisfaction from watching those ideas turn into real improvements.

Who We're Looking For

This position requires strong communication skills, attention to detail, the ability to learn technical products, and a willingness to help wherever needed.

Above all, we're looking for someone who is dependable, curious, competitive, humble enough to learn, willing to work, and committed to the team and our customers.

You don't need to walk through the door knowing everything about metal. You do need to be willing to learn, ask questions, take ownership of your work, and become someone your teammates and our customers can rely on.

Some overtime should be expected, particularly during busy periods. We work hard when the workload demands it, and we appreciate team members who are willing to put in extra time when needed.

Yes, You Do Need to Be Good on the Computer

While our salespeople aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, a large part of this job happens on a computer. We live in Outlook and in our proprietary Metal Supermarkets software system. That system touches nearly every part of our business, including quoting, sales orders, purchasing, inventory, invoicing, customer information, and order management.

You don't need experience with our specific software—we will train you on that. But you do need to be comfortable working on a computer, learning new software, navigating between multiple screens and programs, typing accurately, and keeping track of several things at once.

Computer efficiency matters here. When customers are waiting, phones are ringing, emails are coming in, and the shop needs information, being able to quickly find information and accurately enter or communicate it makes a big difference.

We're not looking for an IT expert. We are looking for someone who is comfortable on a computer and willing and able to learn our systems.

Please answer each application question thoughtfully and completely. Your responses will be an important part of our hiring decision.

We are a family-owned business looking for a long term employee.