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The differences between solution specialists and customer support specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a solution specialist and a customer support specialist. Additionally, a solution specialist has an average salary of $76,424, which is higher than the $39,470 average annual salary of a customer support specialist.
The top three skills for a solution specialist include product knowledge, sales process and SQL. The most important skills for a customer support specialist are customer support, phone calls, and compassion.
| Solution Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $76,424 | $39,470 |
| Hourly rate | $36.74 | $18.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 56,938 | 259,592 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 1 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A solution specialist is responsible for selling and promoting goods and services of an organization to existing and potential clients through product demonstrations and professional sales pitches, typically on phone calls and e-mail communication. Solutions specialists must possess strong product knowledge to respond to customers' inquiries and concerns about the products and successfully close sales deals that would increase the company's revenues and profitability. A solutions specialist must have excellent communication and customer service skills, maximizing strategic techniques to build customer satisfaction.
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.
Solution specialists and customer support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Solution Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $76,424 | $39,470 |
| Salary range | Between $46,000 And $125,000 | Between $28,000 And $55,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | PayPal | Micron Technology |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a solution specialist and a customer support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Solution Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between solution specialists' and customer support specialists' demographics:
| Solution Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 58.4% Female, 41.6% | Male, 37.4% Female, 62.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.3% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 6.7% White, 54.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.2% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |