Phone representative vs customer support representative

The differences between phone representatives and customer support 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 a customer support representative. Additionally, a phone representative has an average salary of $42,827, which is higher than the $37,404 average annual salary of a customer support representative.

The top three skills for a phone representative include customer service, outbound calls and telephone calls. The most important skills for a customer support representative are technical support, windows, and customer inquiries.

Phone representative vs customer support representative overview

	Phone Representative	Customer Support Representative
Yearly salary	$42,827	$37,404
Hourly rate	$20.59	$17.98
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	222,650	243,140
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
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 a customer support representative do?

A customer support representative is responsible for answering calls and correspondence, providing customer assistance in various technical issues, concerns, or difficulties. There are also instances when they must make calls to follow-up on the issues, or even sell products and services. Most of the time, a customer support representative has a certain quota to reach and works under a manager's supervision. Furthermore, it is essential to keep accurate records and report to managers or supervisors should there be any problems.

Phone representative vs customer support representative salary

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

	Phone Representative	Customer Support Representative
Average salary	$42,827	$37,404
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $68,000	Between $29,000 And $47,000
Highest paying City	Norco, CA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	California	Alaska
Best paying company	Press Ganey	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	Health Care	Finance

Differences between phone representative and customer support representative education

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

	Phone Representative	Customer Support Representative
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Phone representative vs customer support representative demographics

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

	Phone Representative	Customer Support Representative
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 34.6% Female, 65.4%	Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0%
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, 10.9% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 7.3% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between phone representative and customer support 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

Customer support representative example responsibilities.

Manage customer relationships using company CRM system, deliver post sales training on system, and offer additional assistance as needed.
Manage software maintenance renewal partner and assist with upselling additional and higher functionality licenses to increase revenue.
Coordinate and escalate efforts with adjacent operations and engineering groups to offer end-to-end solutions for customers with complex technical issues.
Track and measure all activity demonstrating the impact of CRR involvement.
Act as technical liaison and sell product into Telco and LAN markets.
Support internal users regarding installation of hardware, software and other windows application issues.

Phone representative vs customer support 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 customer support representative skills

Technical Support, 10%
Windows, 8%
Customer Inquiries, 6%
Data Entry, 6%
Customer Support, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Phone Representative
Phone Representative vs Customer Support Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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