What does a customer representative do?
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.
Customer representative responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real customer representative resumes:
- Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
- Present PowerPoint presentations to brokers regarding customer service issues.
- Demonstrate superb organizational and multitasking abilities
- Prepare quarterly reports on the business and present to fellow employees using PowerPoint.
- Develop and maintain relationships with company's advisory board, VIP customers, and associates.
- Generate sales opportunities with legacy customers by upselling new and establish service offerings.
- Generate additional sales with existing customers by upselling veterinarians on special promotions or additional vaccines or pharmaceuticals.
- Provide direct interface with Toyota owners regarding inquires and/or complaints.
- Combine active listening with proactive decision-making skills to benefit Toyota customers.
- Communicate with customers and FedEx to facilitate resolutions of any shipping or delivery issues.
Customer representative skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Customer Representatives are proficient in Phone Calls, Windows, and Technical Support. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Customer Representatives that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Phone Calls, 16%
Enhanced customer satisfaction and helped increased sales answering telephone calls and making the appropriate transfers to appropriate department.
- Windows, 11%
Collaborated on special projects with LAN department in testing of new LEC Interface and the Center's transition to Windows NT.
- Technical Support, 8%
Provided technical support for State Farm policy holders and business partners while working on a developmental opportunity for Internet Support.
- Product Knowledge, 4%
Resolved concerned customer issues, supported Customer Management Representatives with software and product knowledge, Monitored and coached to quality assurance
- Data Entry, 4%
E-mail and telephone communications, extensive data entry, emphasis on professionalism, neutrality, and accurately transcribing given information.
- Bank Secrecy Act, 4%
Ensured regulatory requirements, such as the Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act, were adhered to.
Common skills that a customer representative uses to do their job include "phone calls," "windows," and "technical support." You can find details on the most important customer representative responsibilities below.
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a customer representative to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what customer representatives do because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Additionally, a customer representative resume shows how customer representatives use communication skills: "provided records of service and communications between nuvision s customer care department and clients. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of customer representatives is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday customer representative duties, as "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "answered phones and performed customer service duties regarding medicare related issues"
Interpersonal skills. For certain customer representative responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a customer representative rely on this skill, as "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what customer representatives do: "demonstrated strong customer service and interpersonal skills. "
Listening skills. Another common skill required for customer representative responsibilities is "listening skills." This skill comes up in the duties of customer representatives 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 representative resume shows how this skill is central to what a customer representative does: "communicated with customers regarding issues with bill provided payment options including payment arrangements"
Patience. Another skill commonly found on customer representative job descriptions is "patience." It can come up quite often in customer representative duties, since "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day customer representative responsibilities: "provided technique support and guidance with patience and understanding ensuring optimal customer satisfaction at all times. "
The three companies that hire the most customer representatives are:
- BMO Capital Markets146 customer representatives jobs
- Uline144 customer representatives jobs
- Avis Budget Group139 customer representatives jobs
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Compare different customer representatives
Customer representative vs. Customer service trainer
A customer service trainer is responsible for training new and experienced customer service staff, providing them with the best strategies and techniques to handle customers' inquiries and concerns. They also resolve customer complaints and ensure customer satisfaction, building good customer relationships, maintaining the company's reputation, and increasing revenues. Customer service trainers schedule training classes, provide engaging activities, and monitor trainees' progress through call testing and role-playing activities. A customer service trainer must have excellent knowledge of the customer service industry, as well as exceptional communication skills to teach trainees' effectively and efficiently.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between customer representatives and customer service trainer. For instance, customer representative responsibilities require skills such as "windows," "bank secrecy act," "branch management," and "crm." Whereas a customer service trainer is skilled in "cleanliness," "gross margin," "hr," and "work ethic." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Customer service trainers earn the highest salaries when working in the telecommunication industry, with an average yearly salary of $32,603. On the other hand, customer representatives are paid more in the transportation industry with an average salary of $35,783.On average, customer service trainers reach similar levels of education than customer representatives. Customer service trainers are 0.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Customer representative vs. Customer service specialist
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.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real customer representative resumes. While customer representative responsibilities can utilize skills like "phone calls," "technical support," "patients," and "branch management," customer service specialists use skills like "cleanliness," "front end," "cash management," and "customer transactions."
On average, customer service specialists earn a lower salary than customer representatives. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, customer service specialists earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $34,860. Whereas customer representatives have higher pay in the transportation industry, with an average salary of $35,783.In general, customer service specialists achieve similar levels of education than customer representatives. They're 0.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Customer representative vs. Customer service expert
A customer service expert is responsible for providing excellent customer by responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services the company offers. Customer service experts also handle and escalate high-level complaints, processing order replacements, and issuing refunds as needed. They check customer accounts, resolve billing issues, and monitor product delivery details. A customer service expert must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially the knowledge of sales techniques, to sell services that would increase the company's revenues and profitability.
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 representative resumes include skills like "phone calls," "data entry," "bank secrecy act," and "branch management," whereas a customer service expert is more likely to list skills in "cleanliness," "reservations," "cash handling," and "store training. "
Customer service experts typically earn similar educational levels compared to customer representatives. Specifically, they're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Customer representative vs. Customer specialist
A customer specialist is responsible for assisting customers with their needs and concerns about the products and services offered by the company, addressing their inquiries timely and accurately. Customer specialists evaluate the customers' issues and provide immediate solutions through remote communication. In some cases, a customer specialist may send technical staff to the customer's location for problems that cannot be resolved over the phone or e-mail. They also take orders from the customers, process their payments, and explain the features and functions of the product.
Types of customer representative
Updated January 8, 2025
