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The differences between customer service leaders and associate customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a customer service leader, becoming an associate customer service representative takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an associate customer service representative has an average salary of $35,215, which is higher than the $33,791 average annual salary of a customer service leader.
The top three skills for a customer service leader include POS, sales floor and store management. The most important skills for an associate customer service representative are patients, outbound calls, and customer inquiries.
| Customer Service Leader | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly Salary | $33,791 | $35,215 |
| Hourly rate | $16.25 | $16.93 |
| Growth Rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number Of Jobs | 301,338 | 199,751 |
| Job Satisfaction | - | - |
| Most Common Degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average Age | 47 | 40 |
| Years Of Experience | 6 | 12 |
A customer service leader is responsible for managing a group of customer service staff to provide the best customer service for the company's clients, ensuring immediate action and resolution for all their inquiries and concerns. Customer service leaders regularly offer coaching opportunities for the team, identify their challenges, and provide strategic procedures to improve their interaction with the customers. They also help senior management search for business opportunities that would drive more revenue for the company and achieve profitability goals.
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 service leaders and associate customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Leader | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average Salary | $33,791 | $35,215 |
| Salary Range | Between $27,000 And $41,000 | Between $26,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest Paying City | Tacoma, WA | Washington, DC |
| Highest Paying State | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best Paying Company | University of California, Berkeley | Deutsche Bank |
| Best Paying Industry | Transportation | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer service leader and an associate customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Leader | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Most Common Degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Most Common Major | Business | Business |
| Most Common College | California State University - Bakersfield | - |
Here are the differences between customer service leaders' and associate customer service representatives' demographics:
| Customer Service Leader | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average Age | 47 | 40 |
| Gender Ratio | Male, 32.9% Female, 67.1% | Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9% |
| Race Ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.9% Asian, 5.3% White, 59.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | 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 | 8% | 7% |