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What does a service representative do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does a service representative do

Service representatives handle customer inquiries, requests, complaints, and other general feedback. They are usually the first point of contact with the company's customers. Service representatives are expected to be familiar with all of the company's products so that they can answer all inquiries made by the customers. They should also be familiar with company policies and guidelines on sales and customer handling so that they can address concerns and feedback. They are usually the ones who try to resolve customer complaints by sending issues to applicable departments and ensuring that customers are satisfied with the company's products and services.

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Service representative responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real service representative resumes:

  • Utilize QuickBooks to manage patient's payment for hearing aids and various equipment.
  • Join online marketplace specializing in local deals to manage customer engagements while providing industry-best service.
  • Manage customer relations with internal personnel, group administrators, brokers and members as related to Medicare insurance.
  • Involve great interpersonal skills and upselling.
  • Provide excellent customer service via ZenDesk e-mail platform.
  • Counsele individuals who are applying for or receiving TANF.
  • Book journal and transfer securities from outside firms to house account.
  • Work on PSM printer upgrade, setup, install and configure TCP/IP static IP.
  • Review daily bank reconciliations and ensure that check receive matches using cactus and oracle financials.
  • Develop several excel spreadsheets currently in use for monthly reconciliations, and ease in cross referencing.
  • Perform as the main point of internal communication to facility personnel for customers regarding the ASR function.
  • Train all new hires on account details and nuances to help them master functions of ASR position.
  • Enter securities transactions to include stocks, mutual funds, options, and other types of investments.
  • Frequent questions from higher staff on tactics to resolve IP relate issues both for regional issues and software/hardware specific issues.
  • Perform general office duties including filing and faxing documents, chart preparation, and using a POS system to process payments.

Service representative skills and personality traits

We calculated that 9% of Service Representatives are proficient in Customer Service, Client Service, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.

We break down the percentage of Service Representatives that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Customer Service, 9%

    Performed new employee orientation and provided instruction on company processes and procedures as well as effective customer service and support initiatives.

  • Client Service, 8%

    Provided exceptional client service across Institutional Participant Services by responding to phone inquires and providing account information from various information systems.

  • Patients, 7%

    Completed all necessary paperwork for billing/insurance purposes and met patients prior to surgery regarding post operative procedures ordered by the physician.

  • PET, 5%

    Ensured customers were satisfied with every part of the pet care experience, from initial greeting through order completion.

  • Front Desk, 5%

    Organized and coordinated the dermatology front desk responsibilities creating a positive and welcoming environment for patients and employees.

  • Veterans, 5%

    Evaluate medical evidence along with service personnel and medical records in order to make determinations on Veterans claims for compensation benefits.

Most service representatives use their skills in "customer service," "client service," and "patients" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential service representative responsibilities here:

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a service representative to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Service representatives often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "completed and coordinated the independent medical exam process of data entry, scheduling appointments while coordinating communications via attorneys and claimants. "

Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of service representatives is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday service representative duties, as "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "liaised with other departments to ensure a high quality guest experience. "

Interpersonal skills. A big part of what service representatives do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to service representative 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 service representative tasks: "leverage strong interpersonal skills and product knowledge to ensure exemplary service. "

Listening skills. Another crucial skill for a service representative to carry out their responsibilities is "listening skills." A big part of what service representatives 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 service representative duties can be seen in an example from a service representative resume snippet: "assist customers questions & concerns data entry place customer orders greet customer listen to customer needs & wants"

Patience. Lastly, "patience" is an important element of what a service representative does. Service representative responsibilities require this skill because "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." This resume example highlights how service representative duties rely on this skill: "established long term client relationships by demonstrating great patience and empathy to people on every contact. "

Most common service representative skills

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Compare different service representatives

Service representative vs. Service agent

A service agent is an individual whose primary function is to provide a friendly service to internal and external customers about the organization's products and services. An agent should be people-oriented, highly motivated with a positive and friendly attitude. Although an agent usually works in a call center, an agent can communicate in various ways, such as the telephone or often face to face. The minimum educational requirement of being a service agent is a high school diploma; however, the customer service experience is a plus.

If we compare the average service representative annual salary with that of a service agent, we find that service agents typically earn a $3,923 lower salary than service representatives make annually.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both service representative and service agent positions are skilled in customer service, pet, and front desk.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, service representative responsibilities require skills like "client service," "patients," "veterans," and "cash handling." Meanwhile a typical service agent has skills in areas such as "regular maintenance," "quality standards," "car washes," and "life insurance." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Service agents tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $30,711. In contrast, service representatives make the biggest average salary, $38,566, in the government industry.service agents tend to reach similar levels of education than service representatives. In fact, service agents are 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Service representative vs. Customer support representative

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.

Customer support representative positions earn higher pay than service representative roles. They earn a $3,712 higher salary than service representatives per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Service representatives and customer support representatives both require similar skills like "outbound calls," "work ethic," and "strong customer service" to carry out their responsibilities.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, service representative responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "client service," "patients," and "pet." Meanwhile, a customer support representative has duties that require skills in areas such as "technical support," "windows," "inbound phone calls," and "strong problem-solving." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Customer support representatives earn a higher average salary than service representatives. But customer support representatives earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $38,928. Additionally, service representatives earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $38,566 annually.customer support representatives earn similar levels of education than service representatives in general. They're 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Service representative vs. Customer relations representative

A customer relations representative is responsible for providing the highest customer service by interacting with customers to respond to their inquiries and concerns, process their requests, and resolve their complaints. Customer relations representatives assist the customers with their needs by offering products and services according to their requirements and budget limitations. They may also sell newly launched products to the customers, discuss features and usability, and generate payments and delivery details. A customer relations representative must have excellent communication and organizational skills to maintain healthy business relationships with the customers to achieve the company's long-term goals and objectives.

An average customer relations representative eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of service representatives. The difference in salaries amounts to customer relations representatives earning a $4,940 higher average salary than service representatives.service representatives and customer relations representatives both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "customer service," "outbound calls," and "work ethic," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, service representatives are more likely to have skills like "client service," "patients," "pet," and "front desk." But a customer relations representative is more likely to have skills like "customer relations," "team-oriented environment," "propane," and "customer retention."

Customer relations representatives earn the best pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $42,057. Service representatives earn the highest pay from the government industry, with an average salary of $38,566.customer relations representatives typically earn similar educational levels compared to service representatives. Specifically, they're 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Service representative vs. International customer service representative

An international customer service representative usually communicates with an international client. Their work is to take calls and answer queries about a particular product or service. They promote keep track of shipments to ensure that they will be delivered on time. They act as a liaison between a particular company and its client. This position requires someone who is customer-oriented and has organizational and management skills.

International customer service representatives tend to earn a lower pay than service representatives by an average of $1,940 per year.While both service representatives and international customer service representatives complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like customer service, outbound calls, and problem resolution, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A service representative uses "client service," "patients," "pet," and "front desk." International customer service representatives are more likely to have duties that require skills in "logistics," "order entry," "international customer service," and "forwarders. "In general, international customer service representatives earn the most working in the health care industry, with an average salary of $35,055. The highest-paying industry for a service representative is the government industry.international customer service representatives reach similar levels of education compared to service representatives, in general. The difference is that they're 1.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of service representative

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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