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The differences between customer service representatives and customer service advisors 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 service representative and a customer service advisor. Additionally, a customer service representative has an average salary of $32,260, which is higher than the $32,029 average annual salary of a customer service advisor.
The top three skills for a customer service representative include cleanliness, POS and data entry. The most important skills for a customer service advisor are taking care, strong customer service, and standard operating procedure.
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Advisor | |
| Yearly salary | $32,260 | $32,029 |
| Hourly rate | $15.51 | $15.40 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 209,515 | 235,256 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.
A customer service advisor is responsible for providing the best customer service by responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services offered by the organization. Customer service advisors assist customers with their needs by recommending product selection, offering new products and services, and informing the customers of promotional offers to generate revenues and increase profitability. They also resolve customers' issues, escalating high-level complaints to a customer service lead or supervisor for immediate resolution.
Customer service representatives and customer service advisors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Advisor | |
| Average salary | $32,260 | $32,029 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $41,000 | Between $26,000 And $39,000 |
| Highest paying City | Des Moines, WA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Oracle | Teledyne Technologies Incorporated |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a customer service representative and a customer service advisor in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Advisor | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer service representatives' and customer service advisors' demographics:
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Advisor | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% | Male, 51.5% Female, 48.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.1% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 20.6% Asian, 6.7% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |