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What does a Customer Relations Specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted Expert
Ng'ang'a Muchiri
What does a Customer Relations Specialist do

A customer relations specialist is responsible for providing high-quality services for customers by responding to their inquiries and concerns and resolving complaints about the company's goods and services. Customer relations specialists update customer accounts on the database, recording their transactions accurately, and posting their payments timely. They may also sell new products and services to the clients, demonstrating features and usability, processing orders, and confirming delivery details. A customer relations specialist must have excellent communication and organizational skills to ensure customer satisfaction and maintain healthy business relationships with the customers.

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Customer relations specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real customer relations specialist resumes:

  • Manage software maintenance renewal partner and assist with upselling additional and higher functionality licenses to increase revenue.
  • Verify insurance eligibility and benefits of patients that are being provide oxygen home and travel units and durable medical equipment.
  • Create Powerpoint company informational videos.
  • Communicate with customers and FedEx to facilitate resolutions of any shipping or delivery issues.

Customer relations specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 37% of Customer Relations Specialists are proficient in Customer Relations, Data Entry, and Work Ethic. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.

We break down the percentage of Customer Relations Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Customer Relations, 37%

    Assisted in the development of recommendations for actions and coordinated with Customer Relations Director to resolve operational and procedural problems.

  • Data Entry, 10%

    Distribute new patient referrals upon completion of data entry to appropriate staff/departments for continued processing.

  • Work Ethic, 9%

    Exemplify a strong work ethic.

  • Customer Retention, 5%

    Directed exceptional customer retention and conflict resolution efforts to ensure loyalty and customer satisfaction with company products.

  • Outbound Calls, 5%

    Make outbound calls to participants for updates on research case created and monitored by myself - relaying resolutions and/or requesting information.

  • Schedule Appointments, 4%

    Schedule appointments for appropriate salesmen.

"customer relations," "data entry," and "work ethic" are among the most common skills that customer relations specialists use at work. You can find even more customer relations specialist responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a customer relations specialist to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Customer relations specialists often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provided on-site customer support installed and maintained residential and commercial directv satellite systems satellite broadcasting and communications association (sbca) certified"

Customer-service skills. This is an important skill for customer relations specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how customer relations specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a customer relations specialist: "provided customer support to customers mainly through written correspondence and phone, if necessary resulting in customer resolution and satisfaction. ".

Interpersonal skills. customer relations specialist responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." This resume example shows what customer relations specialists do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "used interpersonal skills to provide exceptional customer service. "

Listening skills. Another common skill required for customer relations specialist responsibilities is "listening skills." This skill comes up in the duties of customer relations specialists all the time, as "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." An excerpt from a real customer relations specialist resume shows how this skill is central to what a customer relations specialist does: "oversee management of social networking presence on facebook, various travel related blogs and utilizing various social listening tools. "

Patience. Lastly, "patience" is an important element of what a customer relations specialist does. Customer relations specialist responsibilities require this skill because "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." This resume example highlights how customer relations specialist duties rely on this skill: "managed several high priority customer issues simultaneously with patience and professionalism. "

Most common customer relations specialist skills

Choose from 10+ customizable customer relations specialist resume templates

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Customer Relations Specialist Resume
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Customer Relations Specialist Resume
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Customer Relations Specialist Resume
Customer Relations Specialist Resume
Customer Relations Specialist Resume
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Compare different customer relations specialists

Customer relations specialist vs. Customer agent

A customer agent provides friendly service to external and internal customers. Customer agents talk to customers on behalf of businesses and companies. They help customers with their queries and complaints. It is their job to give customers a better understanding of the products. They answer questions with regards to their reservations. Sometimes, they also have sales roles. Oftentimes, they answer questions, process sales, provide information, and resolve problems.

If we compare the average customer relations specialist annual salary with that of a customer agent, we find that customer agents typically earn a $5,993 lower salary than customer relations specialists make annually.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between customer relations specialists and customer agents are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like customer relations, data entry, and customer retention.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, customer relations specialist responsibilities require skills like "work ethic," "strong work ethic," "schedule appointments," and "background checks." Meanwhile a typical customer agent has skills in areas such as "troubleshoot," "inbound phone calls," "telephone calls," and "us customs." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Customer agents tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $32,547. In contrast, customer relations specialists make the biggest average salary, $41,252, in the automotive industry.On average, customer agents reach similar levels of education than customer relations specialists. Customer agents are 1.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Customer relations specialist vs. Customer service professional

A customer service professional is responsible for providing the highest customer service by responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns, resolving complaints, and updating the customers of goods and services for generating revenues and profitability to the company. Customer service professionals process order transactions, administering payment plans and adjusting service features in meeting customers' needs. A customer service professional should be highly communicative, as well as have excellent time-management skills in documenting customers' information on various software tools to maximize productivity and efficiency.

On average, customer service professionals earn a $8,793 higher salary than customer relations specialists a year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both customer relations specialists and customer service professionals have skills such as "outbound calls," "schedule appointments," and "strong customer service. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real customer relations specialist resumes. While customer relations specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer relations," "data entry," "work ethic," and "strong work ethic," customer service professionals use skills like "strong computer," "inbound calls," "annuities," and "troubleshoot."

Customer service professionals earn similar levels of education than customer relations specialists in general. They're 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Customer Relations Specialists in the next 3-5 years?

Ng'ang'a MuchiriNg'ang'a Muchiri LinkedIn Profile

Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

I think the synergy between AI, machine learning, and the humanities, in general, will be exciting. There are whole product lines and industries currently just beyond our reach.

Customer relations specialist vs. Customer sales representative

The primary role of customer service representatives is to help customers with questions and complaints. It is also their duties and responsibilities to provide customers with information about services and products, take and process orders, and process returns and modifications. They also store records of customer transactions and interactions and provide feedback on customer service efficacy. Customer service representatives must also ensure that they can give customer satisfaction and offer the best professional support.

On average scale, customer sales representatives bring in higher salaries than customer relations specialists. In fact, they earn a $917 higher salary per year.customer relations specialists and customer sales representatives both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "customer relations," "customer retention," and "outbound calls," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from customer relations specialist resumes include skills like "data entry," "work ethic," "strong work ethic," and "schedule appointments," whereas a customer sales representative is more likely to list skills in "customer sales," "cleanliness," "excellent interpersonal," and "golf courses. "

Customer sales representatives make a very good living in the finance industry with an average annual salary of $38,373. On the other hand, customer relations specialists are paid the highest salary in the automotive industry, with average annual pay of $41,252.When it comes to education, customer sales representatives tend to earn similar degree levels compared to customer relations specialists. In fact, they're 2.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Customer relations specialist vs. Customer service liaison

Customer service liaisons are professionals who facilitate a working relationship between clients and an organization by providing excellent customer service. These liaisons must coordinate with the proper personnel to provide accurate answers for customers with concerns or questions. They must handle outgoing and incoming calls to provide positive client relations and ensure satisfaction. Customer service liaisons must also implement internal procedures and supervise technology updates to ensure all information records are organized for proper networking among employees and customers.

Customer service liaisons typically earn lower pay than customer relations specialists. On average, customer service liaisons earn a $1,684 lower salary per year.While both customer relations specialists and customer service liaisons complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like customer relations, data entry, and outbound calls, the two careers vary in some skills.While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "work ethic," "strong work ethic," "customer retention," and "schedule appointments" are skills that commonly show up on customer relations specialist resumes. On the other hand, customer service liaisons use skills like patients, phone calls, excellent interpersonal, and telephone calls on their resumes.In general, customer service liaisons earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $40,134. The highest-paying industry for a customer relations specialist is the automotive industry.The average resume of customer service liaisons showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to customer relations specialists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.9%.

Types of customer relations specialist

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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