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The differences between sales associate and customer services 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 sales associate and customer service and a customer service representative. Additionally, a customer service representative has an average salary of $32,260, which is higher than the $28,654 average annual salary of a sales associate and customer service.
The top three skills for a sales associate and customer service include customer service, plumbing and sales associates. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Sales Associate And Customer Service | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $28,654 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $13.78 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 298,588 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 34% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Sales and customer service associates are employees who are responsible for closing out sales deals and attending to customer needs. They are in charge of selling company goods and services to potential clients, often citing the common needs of prospective clients to ensure sales. They also handle customer inquiries and complaints and try their best to mitigate any problems that would arise. They are expected to be experts on company products to ensure that they can provide the best service to customers. Sales and customer service associates should have strong interpersonal skills, customer service skills, and communication skills.
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.
Sales associate and customer services and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Associate And Customer Service | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $28,654 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $38,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | Bellevue, WA | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Washington |
| Best paying company | GEICO | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a sales associate and customer service and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Sales Associate And Customer Service | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 34% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between sales associate and customer services' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Sales Associate And Customer Service | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 22.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.5% 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% |