Customer advisor vs customer service representative

The differences between customer advisors and customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a customer advisor and a customer service representative. Additionally, a customer advisor has an average salary of $32,515, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.

The top three skills for a customer advisor include excellent interpersonal, persuasion and multitasking. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.

Customer advisor vs customer service representative overview

	Customer Advisor	Customer Service Representative
Yearly salary	$32,515	$32,260
Hourly rate	$15.63	$15.51
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	217,369	209,515
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	High School Diploma, 33%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	12	12

What does a customer advisor do?

A customer advisor is responsible for assisting customers with their inquiries and concerns regarding the company's goods and services. Customer advisors also coordinate with the sales and marketing team to sell services by reaching out to potential and existing clients to increase revenue resources and profits. Customer advisors document reports, resolve complaints, and process orders and payments. A customer advisor must have excellent organizational and communication skills to ensure the highest customer satisfaction and achieve the business' long-term goals and objectives.

What does a customer service representative do?

Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.

Customer advisor vs customer service representative salary

Customer advisors and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Customer Advisor	Customer Service Representative
Average salary	$32,515	$32,260
Salary range	Between $20,000 And $50,000	Between $25,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	Los Angeles, CA	Des Moines, WA
Highest paying state	California	Washington
Best paying company	Dell	Oracle
Best paying industry	Media	Insurance

Differences between customer advisor and customer service representative education

There are a few differences between a customer advisor and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:

	Customer Advisor	Customer Service Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	High School Diploma, 33%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Customer advisor vs customer service representative demographics

Here are the differences between customer advisors' and customer service representatives' demographics:

	Customer Advisor	Customer Service Representative
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 45.6% Female, 54.4%	Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.3% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 21.4% Asian, 7.0% White, 53.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between customer advisor and customer service representative duties and responsibilities

Customer advisor example responsibilities.

Collaborate with management to train new employees on company policies and procedures and manage customer concerns via LiveChat.
Work at the POS completing transactions.
Clean windows and vacuum store and work area.
Use the POS of sale system including inputting transactions.
Register new patients into the specialty pharmacy database by gathering patient/physician demographics, insurance, medication, and ICD-9 diagnosis information.
Make sure identify and communicate gaps/concerns in the RMA process and suggest solutions.

Customer service representative example responsibilities.

Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
Maintain cleanliness and safety and assist patients as necessary.
Operate POS system and maintain exceptional and consistent customer service.
Exercise proofreading and basic math skills to maintain quality control over documents process
Work in customer service department entering information into customer relationship management (CRM).
Develop highly empathetic client relationships and earn reputation for exceeding good customer service rep goals.

Customer advisor vs customer service representative skills

Common customer advisor skills

Excellent Interpersonal, 57%
Persuasion, 17%
Multitasking, 14%
Customer Satisfaction, 2%
Customer Service, 1%
Work Ethic, 1%

Common customer service representative skills

Cleanliness, 10%
POS, 7%
Data Entry, 6%
Sales Floor, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
Home Health, 5%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Customer Advisor
Customer Advisor vs Customer Service Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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