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The differences between customer advisors and customer service specialists 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 specialist. Additionally, a customer service specialist has an average salary of $33,238, which is higher than the $32,515 average annual salary of a customer advisor.
The top three skills for a customer advisor include excellent interpersonal, persuasion and multitasking. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Advisor | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $32,515 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $15.63 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 217,369 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
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.
Customer service specialists are employees who are responsible for providing the best customer experience to customers, usually for after-sales transactions. They attend to customers' inquiries and provide answers to their questions on products or services that the company offers. They also address customer complaints and help mitigate the concerns by offering solutions such as instructions on how to fix defects, or processing replacements or refunds. Customer service specialists also listen to customer feedback and ensure that these are logged properly so that proper departments will be able to receive them.
Customer advisors and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Advisor | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $32,515 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $20,000 And $50,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Dell | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Media | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer advisor and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Advisor | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer advisors' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Advisor | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 45.6% Female, 54.4% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| 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, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |