Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between customer relationship specialists 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 relationship specialist and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer relationship specialist has an average salary of $65,947, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a customer relationship specialist include CRM, salesforce and digital marketing. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
A customer relationship specialist is responsible for providing the highest quality services for the customers by responding to their inquiries and concerns and resolving their complaints. Customer relationship specialists document calls, update the account information of the customers on the database, and coordinate with the sales team in developing promotional techniques to sell goods and services for the customers. These specialists process orders, post payments, and confirm details with the customers. A customer relationship specialist must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in achieving customer satisfaction for business 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 relationship specialists and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Relationship Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $65,947 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $108,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | North Carolina | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Pace University | Dell |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer relationship specialist and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Relationship Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer relationship specialists' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Relationship Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 37.7% Female, 62.3% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.4% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 20.6% Asian, 6.8% White, 54.1% 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% |