What does a retention specialist do?
A retention specialist is responsible for devising strategies to maintain a healthy relationship with clients. They are primarily in charge of negotiating and securing contract renewals, handling issues and corrective measures for customer satisfaction, utilizing feedback to improve services, and maintaining a healthy rapport to strengthen the client base. Furthermore, as a retention specialist, it is essential to perform calls and correspondence, keep records of all transactions, and coordinate with work-staff.
Retention specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real retention specialist resumes:
- Save customer relationship by managing and exceeding TWC goals.
- Prepare proposals and analysis for county Medicaid facilitators to educate regarding available manage care programs.
- Increase revenue through up-selling and cross-selling video, HSI, wireless, and telephony services to existing customers.
- Provide advance troubleshooting of wireless broadband, IP services, PC's, wireless routers.
- Process payments via CSG and ICOMS.
- Provide rep support, assist with account flow, escalation, reschedule, expedites, construction/survey.
- Discuss cell phone services with customers over telephone to explain equipment usage and to troubleshoot equipment problems.
- Increase revenue through up-selling and cross-selling videos, supplements and online fitness streaming services to existing customers.
- Increase revenues through up-selling and cross-selling video, broadband Internet, wireless, and telephony services to existing customers.
- Create memos, flyers, marketing materials, special documents, PowerPoint presentations, signs for the organization and sub-programs.
- Conduct face to face meetings with recertifying members at company offices in order to execute the role of recertification rep.
- Assist Medicare beneficiaries with various appointments and scheduling.
- Utilize all one-line resources/tools to troubleshoot and diagnose customer issue for resolution.
- Develop presentations and conduct training on new billing procedures for associates utilizing PowerPoint.
- Facilitate member outreach meetings to educate and answer questions for Medicare recipients in large capacities.
Retention specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 26% of Retention Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Outbound Calls, and PowerPoint. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Retention Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 26%
Collected statistical data on call center related information - distributed information to team to enable employees to provide excellent customer service.
- Outbound Calls, 11%
Prevented cancellations of services by offering alternative solutions via inbound/outbound calls.
- PowerPoint, 5%
Provided professional training for Microsoft Office; Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
- Customer Satisfaction, 5%
Assist customers effectively by solving customer's disputes, complete data entry, tactfully provide additional information and ensure customer satisfaction.
- Customer Accounts, 4%
Opened new customer accounts by recording account information; maintained customer records by updating account information.
- Billing Issues, 3%
Assisted customer's cancellation requests and billing issues using company software and Microsoft applications.
"customer service," "outbound calls," and "powerpoint" are among the most common skills that retention specialists use at work. You can find even more retention specialist responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a retention specialist to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Additionally, a retention specialist resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "provide exceptional customer support and customer retention service in the rapidly changing and competitive telecommunications industry. "
Customer-service skills. retention specialists are also known for customer-service skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to retention specialist responsibilities, because "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." A retention specialist resume example shows how customer-service skills is used in the workplace: "identified customer service needs leveraging technical expertise to resolve client concerns using proactive sales techniques. "
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what retention specialists do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to retention specialist responsibilities because "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical retention specialist tasks: "utilized effective problem solving and interpersonal skills to retain customer accounts. "
Listening skills. Another crucial skill for a retention specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "listening skills." A big part of what retention specialists relies on this skill, since "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." How this skill relates to retention specialist duties can be seen in an example from a retention specialist resume snippet: "retain customer relationships through actively listening to the customers needs/wants. "
Patience. While "patience" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to retention specialist responsibilities. Much of what a retention specialist 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 retention specialists: "demonstrate courtesy and patience when dealing with customer interactions. "
The three companies that hire the most retention specialists are:
- Rent Sons46 retention specialists jobs
- Gannett16 retention specialists jobs
- Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa13 retention specialists jobs
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Compare different retention specialists
Retention specialist vs. Customer support specialist
A customer support specialist is responsible for assisting a customer's inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services the organization offers. Customer support specialists handle customer issues and resolve them promptly, escalating high-level complaints to the immediate supervisors. A support specialist will also replace products or process payment refunds as needed. Their goal is to maintain the highest customer satisfaction and keep a good reputation for the company while driving revenues and increasing profitability. A customer support specialist must have outstanding communication skills, as well as the ability to multi-task to record customer complaint cases while providing resolution.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, retention specialist responsibilities require skills like "credit card," "customer relationships," "retention efforts," and "product line." Meanwhile a typical customer support specialist has skills in areas such as "phone calls," "compassion," "digital marketing," and "data entry." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Customer support specialists tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $38,961. In contrast, retention specialists make the biggest average salary, $42,523, in the finance industry.On average, customer support specialists reach similar levels of education than retention specialists. Customer support specialists are 0.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Retention specialist vs. Customer care specialist
A customer care specialist is responsible for assisting the customers with their inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services offered by the organization. A customer care specialist must be detail-oriented, as well as have excellent communication and time-management skills in responding to the customers' needs while documenting the processes on a specific computer program. Customer care specialists are responsible for processing payments, replacing defective items, and initiating refunds as needed. They must resolve complaints accurately and efficiently to ensure customer satisfaction to keep a good reputation for the organization.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, retention specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer relationships," "retention efforts," "product line," and "sales techniques." Meanwhile, a customer care specialist has duties that require skills in areas such as "data entry," "inbound phone calls," "quality customer service," and "health insurance." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Customer care specialists earn a lower average salary than retention specialists. But customer care specialists earn the highest pay in the insurance industry, with an average salary of $34,400. Additionally, retention specialists earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $42,523 annually.In general, customer care specialists achieve similar levels of education than retention specialists. They're 2.3% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Retention specialist vs. Retention representative
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.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a retention specialist is likely to be skilled in "powerpoint," "troubleshoot," "customer care," and "quality standards," while a typical retention representative is skilled in "english language," "persuasion," "csg," and "ip."
Retention representatives make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $47,247. On the other hand, retention specialists are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $42,523.Most retention representatives achieve a similar degree level compared to retention specialists. For example, they're 3.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Retention specialist vs. Customer service specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
