Phone representative vs associate customer service representative

The differences between phone representatives and associate 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 phone representative and an associate customer service representative. Additionally, a phone representative has an average salary of $42,827, which is higher than the $35,215 average annual salary of an associate customer service representative.

The top three skills for a phone representative include customer service, outbound calls and telephone calls. The most important skills for an associate customer service representative are patients, outbound calls, and customer inquiries.

Phone representative vs associate customer service representative overview

	Phone Representative	Associate Customer Service Representative
Yearly salary	$42,827	$35,215
Hourly rate	$20.59	$16.93
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	222,650	199,751
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 35%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	12	12

What does a phone representative do?

A Phone Representative answers customer calls, complaints, and inquiries professionally. They handle and resolve customer complaints related to its services/products and product/service sales. Besides processing applications, orders, and forms requested by customers, Phone Representatives also update customers about the products/services information. These professionals record customer complaints, inquiries, feedback, and actions taken. They develop and maintain mutually beneficial and professional relationships with each customer. Moreover, they create and maintain cordial relationships with all new customers.

What does an associate customer service representative do?

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.

Phone representative vs associate customer service representative salary

Phone representatives and associate customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Phone Representative	Associate Customer Service Representative
Average salary	$42,827	$35,215
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $68,000	Between $26,000 And $46,000
Highest paying City	Norco, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	California	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Press Ganey	Deutsche Bank
Best paying industry	Health Care	Finance

Differences between phone representative and associate customer service representative education

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

	Phone Representative	Associate Customer Service Representative
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 35%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Phone representative vs associate customer service representative demographics

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

	Phone Representative	Associate Customer Service Representative
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 34.6% Female, 65.4%	Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 5.5% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between phone representative and associate customer service representative duties and responsibilities

Phone representative example responsibilities.

Conduct telephone sales and interviews, compile and enter information into database, manage documents and insure customer satisfaction.
Provide status of medical claims and explain EOB's.
Research and resolve incorrect payments, EOB rejections and other issues with accounts.
Answer inbound provider calls to help with billing Medicaid claims and benefits and eligibility issues.
Update alumni on current happenings in university life and act as a liaison between past and current students.
Contact hundreds of alumni and their families by telephone and raise thousands of dollars to improve school facilities and maintain school grounds

Associate customer service representative example responsibilities.

Lead and train a group of 3+ CSRs at a time, are responsible for making change and maintaining the till.
Assist as a cashier handling money, checks, and credit card transactions on company's POS system.
Operate POS cash register, maintain thorough knowledge of store merchandise and responsible for cross selling JC Penney credit card.
Audit CSRs final work for errors in the data entry portion so that billing information to providers & veterans are accurate.
Mail updated information to patients and providers regarding benefit changes.
Perform computer record searches; verify merchandise warranty and relay information to internal leadership.

Phone representative vs associate customer service representative skills

Common phone representative skills

Customer Service, 27%
Outbound Calls, 13%
Telephone Calls, 7%
Inbound Phone Calls, 7%
Troubleshoot, 6%
Computer System, 3%

Common associate customer service representative skills

Patients, 16%
Outbound Calls, 14%
Customer Inquiries, 7%
Customer Complaints, 7%
Inbound Calls, 6%
Customer Service, 5%

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Phone Representative
Phone Representative vs Associate Customer Service Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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