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The differences between customer service representatives and customer service trainers 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 trainer. Additionally, a customer service trainer has an average salary of $32,452, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a customer service representative include cleanliness, POS and data entry. The most important skills for a customer service trainer are customer care, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Trainer | |
| Yearly salary | $32,260 | $32,452 |
| Hourly rate | $15.51 | $15.60 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 209,515 | 235,862 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| 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 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.
Customer service representatives and customer service trainers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Trainer | |
| Average salary | $32,260 | $32,452 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $41,000 | Between $25,000 And $40,000 |
| Highest paying City | Des Moines, WA | Tacoma, WA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Oracle | Salesforce |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a customer service representative and a customer service trainer in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Trainer | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer service representatives' and customer service trainers' demographics:
| Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Trainer | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% | Male, 32.8% Female, 67.2% |
| 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, 10.6% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 6.8% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |