Customer specialist vs customer service representative

The differences between customer specialists and customer service representatives 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 specialist and a customer service representative. Additionally, a customer specialist has an average salary of $38,371, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.

The top three skills for a customer specialist include customer transactions, client facing and phone calls. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.

Customer specialist vs customer service representative overview

	Customer Specialist	Customer Service Representative
Yearly salary	$38,371	$32,260
Hourly rate	$18.45	$15.51
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	202,965	209,515
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	High School Diploma, 33%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	12	12

What does a customer specialist do?

A customer specialist is responsible for assisting customers with their needs and concerns about the products and services offered by the company, addressing their inquiries timely and accurately. Customer specialists evaluate the customers' issues and provide immediate solutions through remote communication. In some cases, a customer specialist may send technical staff to the customer's location for problems that cannot be resolved over the phone or e-mail. They also take orders from the customers, process their payments, and explain the features and functions of the product.

What does a customer service representative do?

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.

Customer specialist vs customer service representative salary

Customer specialists and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Customer Specialist	Customer Service Representative
Average salary	$38,371	$32,260
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $66,000	Between $25,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	Des Moines, WA
Highest paying state	New York	Washington
Best paying company	AbbVie	Oracle
Best paying industry	-	Insurance

Differences between customer specialist and customer service representative education

There are a few differences between a customer specialist and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:

	Customer Specialist	Customer Service Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	High School Diploma, 33%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Customer specialist vs customer service representative demographics

Here are the differences between customer specialists' and customer service representatives' demographics:

	Customer Specialist	Customer Service Representative
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 42.5% Female, 57.5%	Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.5% White, 55.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	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%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between customer specialist and customer service representative duties and responsibilities

Customer specialist example responsibilities.

Create powerpoint presentations as well as presented.
Used a CRM tool effectively to track all customer interactions and setup follow up.
Identify or create customer wants and needs and offer solutions/benefits to upsell new or additional services.
Install, remove, rearrange, program, test, troubleshoot and maintain fiber and copper network services.
Process all new patient referrals as assigned and verifying that all the necessary requirements are meet according to Medicare s guidelines.
Prepare and process documents and correspondence for Medicare audit.

Customer service representative example responsibilities.

Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
Maintain cleanliness and safety and assist patients as necessary.
Operate POS system and maintain exceptional and consistent customer service.
Exercise proofreading and basic math skills to maintain quality control over documents process
Work in customer service department entering information into customer relationship management (CRM).
Develop highly empathetic client relationships and earn reputation for exceeding good customer service rep goals.

Customer specialist vs customer service representative skills

Common customer specialist skills

Customer Transactions, 11%
Client Facing, 8%
Phone Calls, 7%
Customer Loyalty, 6%
Related Training, 6%
Customer Service, 5%

Common customer service representative skills

Cleanliness, 10%
POS, 7%
Data Entry, 6%
Sales Floor, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
Home Health, 5%

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Customer Specialist
Customer Specialist vs Customer Service Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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