Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between customer service leaders and customer service specialists 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 a customer service specialist takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a customer service leader has an average salary of $33,791, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a customer service leader include POS, sales floor and store management. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Service Leader | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $33,791 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $16.25 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 301,338 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| 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.
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 service leaders and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Leader | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $33,791 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $41,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Tacoma, WA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | University of California, Berkeley | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer service leader and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Leader | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | California State University - Bakersfield | - |
Here are the differences between customer service leaders' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Service Leader | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 32.9% Female, 67.1% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| 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, 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 | 8% | 7% |