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What does a customs consultant do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does a customs consultant do

A customs consultant specializes in devising strategies to handle and optimize customs procedures, ensuring efficiency in all transactions. As a consultant, it is their responsibility to prepare and process documents, submit customs declarations and other necessary documentation, conduct regular inspections, participate in managing invoices and programs, and track payment of clients. They may also perform clerical tasks such as updating databases, organizing schedules, and arranging appointments. Furthermore, a customs consultant must maintain an active communication line with customs staff, all while implementing the agency's policies and regulations.

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Customs consultant responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real customs consultant resumes:

  • Manage call center productivity levels by maintaining CSR schedule adherence.
  • Operate programs through the POS system; including money transactions.
  • Verify insurance eligibility and benefits of patients that are being provide oxygen home and travel units and durable medical equipment.
  • Design and troubleshoot technical data and processes.
  • Provide exceptional customer service to customers regarding MetLife products

Customs consultant skills and personality traits

We calculated that 29% of Customs Consultants are proficient in Digital Marketing, Client Facing, and Project Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.

We break down the percentage of Customs Consultants that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Digital Marketing, 29%

    Proposed recommendation in company's digital marketing strategies; the adopted strategies increase the monthly sale by 30%.

  • Client Facing, 8%

    Created high level client facing process documentation and detail level process documentation for global operational team.

  • Project Management, 7%

    Utilized project management and systems development methods which to streamline solution delivery and built trust with our business customers.

  • CRM, 7%

    Supported SAP CRM implementation for a medical equipment wholesaler.

  • PowerPoint, 5%

    Created PowerPoint presentations for forecasting of inventory requirements and overall changes in customer order volume.

  • HR, 5%

    Cultivated strategic partnership with Corporate Costco Wholesale HR personnel in order to assist wholesaler in recruitment efforts.

"digital marketing," "client facing," and "project management" are among the most common skills that customs consultants use at work. You can find even more customs consultant responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a customs consultant to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Customs consultants often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "received inbound calls from existing and potential customers, fielding inquiries regarding telecommunications services. "

Customer-service skills. This is an important skill for customs consultants to perform their duties. For an example of how customs consultant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a customs consultant: "related skills: processing, regulatory compliance, customer serviceprovide exceptional customer support, responding promptly and diplomatically to client issues. ".

Interpersonal skills. For certain customs consultant responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a customs consultant rely on this skill, as "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what customs consultants do: "demonstrate conflict resolution and interpersonal communication skills in order to deescalate customer issues while remaining empathetic in tone and demeanor. "

Listening skills. A commonly-found skill in customs consultant job descriptions, "listening skills" is essential to what customs consultants do. Customs consultant responsibilities rely on this skill because "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." You can also see how customs consultant duties rely on listening skills in this resume example: "call center - data entry computer navigation product knowledge listening skills"

Patience. While "patience" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to customs consultant responsibilities. Much of what a customs consultant does relies on this skill, seeing as "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of customs consultants: "demonstrated courtesy, patience, and troubleshooting skills in customer relations. "

See the full list of customs consultant skills

Compare different customs consultants

Customs consultant vs. Service representative

Service representatives handle customer inquiries, requests, complaints, and other general feedback. They are usually the first point of contact with the company's customers. Service representatives are expected to be familiar with all of the company's products so that they can answer all inquiries made by the customers. They should also be familiar with company policies and guidelines on sales and customer handling so that they can address concerns and feedback. They are usually the ones who try to resolve customer complaints by sending issues to applicable departments and ensuring that customers are satisfied with the company's products and services.

If we compare the average customs consultant annual salary with that of a service representative, we find that service representatives typically earn a $58,080 lower salary than customs consultants make annually.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both customs consultant and service representative positions are skilled in crm, powerpoint, and hr.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a customs consultant are more likely to require skills like "digital marketing," "client facing," "project management," and "customer retention." On the other hand, a job as a service representative requires skills like "client service," "patients," "pet," and "front desk." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

On average, service representatives reach similar levels of education than customs consultants. Service representatives are 2.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Customs consultant vs. Client representative

Client Representatives are professionals who work on behalf of their clients. They coordinate with external parties with which their clients are involved. They represent their clients during meetings and appointments when their clients are not available. Client Representatives should have a background related to the business that their clients are involved in. This would help them catch up with conversations. They are expected to act as if they are the client themselves. They must act within the client's best interest at all times. As such, they should be familiar with their clients' interests and needs.

A career as a client representative brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a customs consultant. In fact, client representatives salary is $49,987 lower than the salary of customs consultants per year.A few skills overlap for customs consultants and client representatives. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "client facing," "crm," and "powerpoint. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that customs consultant responsibilities requires skills like "digital marketing," "project management," "hr," and "customer retention." But a client representative might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "phone calls," "client accounts," "external clients," and "data entry."

Average education levels between the two professions vary. Client representatives tend to reach similar levels of education than customs consultants. In fact, they're 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Customs consultant vs. Customer service specialist

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.

An average customer service specialist eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of customs consultants. The difference in salaries amounts to customer service specialists earning a $58,534 lower average salary than customs consultants.customs consultants and customer service specialists both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "powerpoint," "customer support," and "customer retention," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a customs consultant is likely to be skilled in "digital marketing," "client facing," "project management," and "crm," while a typical customer service specialist is skilled in "strong customer service," "cleanliness," "front end," and "cash management."

Most customer service specialists achieve a similar degree level compared to customs consultants. For example, they're 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Customs consultant vs. Call center representative

Call center representatives are employees who take customer calls in the company's contact center. They answer incoming calls related to their account. Call center representatives are trained on the company's products, policies, and guidelines. They are expected to know the ins and outs of every company product under their account before they are assigned to the operations floor. Once they are deemed efficient enough to handle calls, they begin to take customer inquiries and try to resolve them during the call. Call center representatives are expected to follow company policies and procedures and to meet the goals set by the company.

Call center representatives typically earn lower pay than customs consultants. On average, call center representatives earn a $60,223 lower salary per year.While both customs consultants and call center representatives complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like customer support, customer inquiries, and customer satisfaction, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A customs consultant uses "digital marketing," "client facing," "project management," and "crm." Call center representatives are more likely to have duties that require skills in "strong customer service," "patients," "data entry," and "bartending. "call center representatives reach lower levels of education compared to customs consultants, in general. The difference is that they're 5.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of customs consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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