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The differences between lead customer service representatives 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 lead customer service representative and a customer service representative. Additionally, a lead customer service representative has an average salary of $36,097, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a lead customer service representative include cleanliness, cash handling and inventory control. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Lead Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $36,097 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $17.35 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 192,052 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 33% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A lead customer service representative is responsible for managing a group of customer service staff to assist in daily operations and help with customer issues. Lead customer service representatives manage high-level customer complaints and provide immediate resolution and disputes. They implement strategies to ensure customer satisfaction, increase productivity, and achieve profitability goals. A lead customer service representative handles escalation and evaluates team member's performance. A lead customer service representative must have excellent communication and leadership skills to supervise the team and support the business' improvement plans.
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.
Lead customer service representatives and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $36,097 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $58,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | Goldsboro, NC | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Washington |
| Best paying company | IBM | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a lead customer service representative and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Lead Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 33% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between lead customer service representatives' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Lead Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 32.1% Female, 67.9% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 54.6% 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% |