What does a customer service specialist do?
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 specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real customer service specialist resumes:
- Work with customers/companies over the phone and helps troubleshoot technology/service issues while maintaining customer satisfaction in a large call-center capacity.
- Mentore the team members and QA team for timely releases.
- Monitor reports, compile reviews, and participate in QA calibrations.
- Oversee management of social networking presence on Facebook, various travel relate blogs and utilizing various social listening tools.
- Provide exceptional customer service to customers regarding MetLife products
- Create PowerPoint presentations for forecasting of inventory requirements and overall changes in customer order volume.
- Review the existing PowerPoint presentation and redesign the presentation to be more informative and engaging.
- Analyze on-site/actual conditions in comparison to written plan, identify necessary corrections and recommend alterations as necessary and troubleshoot resolution.
- Receive insurance information from patients and providers, check patient eligibility and key information into billing system to be file.
- Assist patients by responding to billing questions and concerns, and solicit necessary demographic insurance/coding information to insure correct claim submission.
- Maintain and upload information into patient files always ensuring all patient privacy and HIPPA guidelines are follow.
- Handle changes to reservations, upselling, searching and assisting guests with their needs.
- Maintain all compliance and HIPAA regulations at all times with the ability to work in a fast-pace environment.
- Coordinate, research, and prepare correspondence in response to FDA and global regulatory agencies requests for additional information.
- Resolve disputes and delays, and answer questions regarding BMW products, sales incentives, interactive media, policies and services.
Customer service specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Customer Service Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Strong Customer Service, and Cleanliness. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Customer Service Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 19%
Maintained high standard in customer service and complied with regulatory guidelines Directed cross-functional teams with focus on customer interaction improvement.
- Strong Customer Service, 9%
Applied strong customer service skills in order to process returns, credits and bill backs in a timely and efficient manner.
- Cleanliness, 7%
Recognized organization skills from management, recommended to back room claims associate to maintain cleanliness.
- Front End, 7%
Processed customer requests through a client centered, front end computer system/policy administration system.
- Cash Management, 7%
Delivered excellent customer satisfaction -Cash management-Mentored on proper job etiquette, responsibilities, store policies and procedures- 8+ years of customer service
- Customer Transactions, 4%
Handle customer transactions accurately and efficiently by delivering precise information to customer with regard to law and policies.
"customer service," "strong customer service," and "cleanliness" are among the most common skills that customer service specialists use at work. You can find even more customer service specialist responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a customer service specialist to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Additionally, a customer service specialist resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "managed communication between fiscal intermediaries and medicare providers. "
Customer-service skills. customer service specialists are also known for customer-service skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to customer service specialist responsibilities, because "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." A customer service specialist resume example shows how customer-service skills is used in the workplace: "provided compassionate customer service to the medicare population by explaining the structure and functionality of insurance benefits. "
Interpersonal skills. customer service specialist responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." This resume example shows what customer service specialists do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "employed strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills to achieve high standards of customer care. "
Listening skills. Another crucial skill for a customer service specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "listening skills." A big part of what customer service specialists relies on this skill, since "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." How this skill relates to customer service specialist duties can be seen in an example from a customer service specialist resume snippet: "communicated effectively with medicare providers, pharmacies and hospitals regarding customers medicare health plans. "
Patience. Another skill commonly found on customer service specialist job descriptions is "patience." It can come up quite often in customer service specialist 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 service specialist responsibilities: "demonstrated excellent interpersonal/customer relations skills, patience and efficiency. "
The three companies that hire the most customer service specialists are:
- Sherwin-Williams1,141 customer service specialists jobs
- DICK'S Sporting Goods342 customer service specialists jobs
- Apria Healthcare233 customer service specialists jobs
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Compare different customer service specialists
Customer service specialist vs. Customer representative
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.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a customer service specialist are more likely to require skills like "cleanliness," "front end," "cash management," and "customer transactions." On the other hand, a job as a customer representative requires skills like "phone calls," "technical support," "patients," and "branch management." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Customer representatives tend to make the most money working in the transportation industry, where they earn an average salary of $35,783. In contrast, customer service specialists make the biggest average salary, $34,860, in the finance industry.The education levels that customer representatives earn slightly differ from customer service specialists. In particular, customer representatives are 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a customer service specialist. Additionally, they're 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Customer service specialist vs. Customer agent
A customer agent provides friendly service to external and internal customers. Customer agents talk to customers on behalf of businesses and companies. They help customers with their queries and complaints. It is their job to give customers a better understanding of the products. They answer questions with regards to their reservations. Sometimes, they also have sales roles. Oftentimes, they answer questions, process sales, provide information, and resolve problems.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, customer service specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "strong customer service," "cleanliness," "front end," and "cash management." Meanwhile, a customer agent has duties that require skills in areas such as "inbound phone calls," "us customs," "golf courses," and "credit card." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Customer agents may earn a lower salary than customer service specialists, but customer agents earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $32,547. On the other hand, customer service specialists receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $34,860.customer agents earn similar levels of education than customer service specialists in general. They're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Customer service specialist vs. Customer associate
A customer associate is responsible for providing the best customer service by assisting the customers with their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving their complaints, processing replacements, and issuing refunds as needed. Customer associates also sell products and services to the customers, demonstrating product features, and identifying business opportunities to drive more revenues and profits for the business. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills to process orders and payments timely and accurately.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, customer service specialists are more likely to have skills like "strong customer service," "cleanliness," "front end," and "cash management." But a customer associate is more likely to have skills like "phone calls," "stock merchandise," "food preparation," and "stock shelves."
Customer associates earn the highest salary when working in the telecommunication industry, where they receive an average salary of $33,698. Comparatively, customer service specialists have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $34,860.customer associates typically earn similar educational levels compared to customer service specialists. Specifically, they're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Customer service specialist vs. Associate customer service representative
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.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between customer service specialists and associate customer service representatives, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a customer service specialist might have more use for skills like "strong customer service," "cleanliness," "cash management," and "data entry." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of associate customer service representatives require skills like "patients," "customer relationships," "front desk," and "sales transactions. "
The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for associate customer service representatives, with average annual pay of $37,473. Comparatively, the highest customer service specialist annual salary comes from the finance industry.The average resume of associate customer service representatives showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to customer service specialists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.Types of customer service specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
