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What is a customer account representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA,
Ashley Strausser
introduction image

A customer account representative's role is to serve as the primary contact between a company and its clients. You will need to meet the needs of the customers and provide a quick solution to customers' inquiries. Your job duties include processing all direct orders for business and ensuring that delivery is on time and invoicing is accurate. You will also need to maintain records of all transactions while obeying the company's policies and regulations, assist customers with equipment sales and services, troubleshoot issues and concerns, and work with corporate accounts in managing customer-specific price changes. Plus, you will provide effective and efficient customer service regarding order fulfillment, invoicing, shipments, and communication.

You need a bachelor's degree and 3-5 years of experience in customer service performance for this role. Apart from this, you should have basic math skills, computer skills, and listening skills that help communicate efficiently and effectively. You must also be able to pay rapt attention to detail. As a customer account representative, you will earn an average annual salary of $35,488.

What general advice would you give to a customer account representative?

Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Charleston Southern University

Show employers how you would not only fill an open position regarding the work at hand, but show them how you would be an asset to their team. We are in very team driven work environments currently, and hiring managers want to know what you can bring to the table. Filling a void is great for the workload, but enhancing a team culture makes them not want to work without you!
ScoreCustomer Account RepresentativeUS Average
Salary
2.8

Avg. Salary $36,138

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
5.9

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
9.5
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 6.50%

Black or African American 12.13%

Hispanic or Latino 19.90%

Unknown 5.17%

White 55.62%

Gender

female 53.80%

male 46.20%

Age - 39
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39
Stress level
5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level
6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance
6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Customer account representative career paths

Key steps to become a customer account representative

  1. Explore customer account representative education requirements

    Most common customer account representative degrees

    Bachelor's

    45.5 %

    High School Diploma

    22.6 %

    Associate

    19.7 %
  2. Start to develop specific customer account representative skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Work Ethic8.64%
    Inbound Calls6.17%
    Customer Orders5.90%
    Account Management5.77%
    Outbound Calls4.90%
  3. Complete relevant customer account representative training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer account representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a customer account representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer account representative resumes.
  4. Research customer account representative duties and responsibilities

    • Manage call center productivity levels by maintaining CSR schedule adherence.
    • Negotiate rates and pricing with customers, vendors, and logistics partners.
    • Prepare invoices for all customers in the logistics department at the end of every shipment.
    • Assist customers with equipment sales and services, troubleshoot issues and concerns, provide support for billing and accounts.
  5. Prepare your customer account representative resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer account representative resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a customer account representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable customer account representative resume templates

    Build a professional customer account representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your customer account representative resume.
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    Customer Account Representative Resume
    Customer Account Representative Resume
    Customer Account Representative Resume
    Customer Account Representative Resume
    Customer Account Representative Resume
    Customer Account Representative Resume
  6. Apply for customer account representative jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a customer account representative job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first customer account representative job

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Average customer account representative salary

The average customer account representative salary in the United States is $36,138 per year or $17 per hour. Customer account representative salaries range between $27,000 and $46,000 per year.

Average customer account representative salary
$36,138 Yearly
$17.37 hourly

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How do customer account representatives rate their job?

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Customer account representative reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2022
Cons

Sometimes I had to finish up job tasks that were assigned to others that were not completed.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2022
Pros

Getting to know the people and the you work.with

Cons

Being required to answer a minimum number of calls a day. This pushes the idea that the caller is a number and as such, it is more difficult to personalize the call the the person calling in


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A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2022
Pros

I resolved consumer and retailer questions. That is gratifying.

Cons

I don't like when a rep or a consumer are not interested in a solution, but are only interested in venting. Although, venting maybe just what the consumer needed.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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