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The differences between customer representatives and associate 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 representative and an associate customer service representative. Additionally, a customer representative has an average salary of $37,351, which is higher than the $35,215 average annual salary of an associate customer service representative.
The top three skills for a customer representative include phone calls, windows and technical support. The most important skills for an associate customer service representative are patients, outbound calls, and customer inquiries.
| Customer Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $37,351 | $35,215 |
| Hourly rate | $17.96 | $16.93 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 220,778 | 199,751 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer service representative is an individual person who establishes communication between customers and the organization by answering questions, resolve complaints, and address emergency issues about the products and services he/she sells. He/She must possess an approachable personality, a passion for customer service, and work with his/her fellow workmates. The minimum educational requirement for a customer service representative is a high school diploma; however, a candidate must complete on-the-job training. A Customer Service Representative should also possess excellent communication and problem-solving skills.
An associate customer service representative is responsible for providing high customer service by assisting customers on their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor or tenured customer service representative. Associate customer service representatives also process orders and payments from the customers, replacing defective items, and issuing refunds as needed. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on handling data processing procedures to the database for reference to customer concerns.
Customer representatives and associate customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $37,351 | $35,215 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $55,000 | Between $26,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Urban Honolulu, HI | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | IBM | Deutsche Bank |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer representative and an associate customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer representatives' and associate customer service representatives' demographics:
| Customer Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.7% Female, 63.3% | Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 22.8% Asian, 7.4% White, 52.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |