What does a support associate do?
The primary role of sales support associates is to help sales staff and customers during the sales process. A sales support associate also performs other tasks that include maintaining positive customer relations, responding to customers' requests for quotes, information, and specifications, and, initiating contact with prospective customers. They are also responsible for coordinating proposals, sales literature production, and presentations. Requirements for this position include a high school diploma or general education development, administrative and communication skills, and organizational skills.
Support associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real support associate resumes:
- Work involve managing departmental computer support for approximately 400 PC/MAC workstations and 8 servers, and to 80 faculty/staff.
- Manage department flow by facilitating transportation of all patients to ancillary departments for testing.
- Answer eligibility and coverage questions from insurance agents pertaining to Medicare advantage plans and prescription drug plans.
- Provide personal care, treatment, and rehabilitation to individuals diagnose with mental retardation and/or developmental disabilities.
- Provide tech support for apple phones.
- Light Unix systems support and monthly data organization.
- Daisy-chain PCs to VoIP phones to reduce network cabling costs.
- Prepare and process discovery requests and responses, and subpoenas.
- Assist LAN administrators on level3 support in a large scale migration.
- Verify data in GCP SQL database and GCP Unix log files.
- Establish and maintain relationships with adults with autism spectrum disorder and family.
- Perform routing tasks (copying, collating, assembling data, etc . )
- Clean windows, glass partitions, and mirrors, using cleaners, sponges, and squeegees.
- Support management with displays, windows, store presentations, signage and other projects and events.
- Enter notes into the patients charts via CPRS as it relates to their progress and compliance.
Support associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Support Associates are proficient in Sales Floor, Computer System, and POS. They’re also known for soft skills such as Speaking skills, Writing skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Support Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Sales Floor, 18%
Accelerate productivity by processing product shipment and replenishing product on the sales floor efficiently and effectively.
- Computer System, 13%
Input advertising orders utilizing corporate computer systems, ensuring accuracy, completeness and adherence to corporate guidelines.
- POS, 10%
Conducted cold-call selling introducing Natural American Spirit; planned routes, ordered product, provided POS and distributor information.
- Cleanliness, 8%
Participated in inventory taking process and maintain stockroom organization and cleanliness.
- Stockroom Organization, 5%
Expedite the receiving and processing of all merchandise Replenish merchandise on selling floor Maintain stockroom organization and assist with merchandise floor moves
- Customer Inquiries, 4%
Maintained spreadsheet reports regarding customer inquiries and reported issues ensuring information is documented and updated when needed.
"sales floor," "computer system," and "pos" are among the most common skills that support associates use at work. You can find even more support associate responsibilities below, including:
Speaking skills. One of the key soft skills for a support associate to have is speaking skills. You can see how this relates to what support associates do because "support workers must describe the solutions to computer problems in a way that a nontechnical person can understand." Additionally, a support associate resume shows how support associates use speaking skills: "handled patient appointment scheduling and registration, addressed patient inquires, and assisted in customer support between providers and patients. "
Writing skills. Many support associate duties rely on writing skills. "strong writing skills are useful for preparing instructions and email responses for employees and customers, as well as for real-time web chat interactions.," so a support associate will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways support associate responsibilities rely on writing skills: "mail open customer service data entry filing letter writing answering and returning customer phone calls trouble shooting and problem solving"
Listening skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of support associates is listening skills. This skill is critical to many everyday support associate duties, as "support workers must be able to understand the problems that their customers are describing and know when to ask questions to clarify the situation." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "assisted and communicated customer issues with their respective agent; following up when necessary. "
Problem-solving skills. A big part of what support associates do relies on "problem-solving skills." You can see how essential it is to support associate responsibilities because "support workers must identify both simple and complex computer problems, analyze them, and solve them." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical support associate tasks: "resolved customer support calls involving software, hardware, operating system issues and/or general inquiries. "
Customer-service skills. A commonly-found skill in support associate job descriptions, "customer-service skills" is essential to what support associates do. Support associate responsibilities rely on this skill because "computer support specialists must be patient and sympathetic." You can also see how support associate duties rely on customer-service skills in this resume example: "installed database software, performed data entry and maintenance on customer information. "
The three companies that hire the most support associates are:
- Chico's FAS879 support associates jobs
- Chico Hot Springs840 support associates jobs
- Macy's129 support associates jobs
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Compare different support associates
Support associate vs. Administrative support
Administrative support specialists provide different types of governmental assistance. They carry out varied clerical duties in almost all industries. Most of these duties revolve around supervising and distributing information within an organization. This typically includes taking memos, answering phone calls, and managing, storing, and organizing files. They are also responsible for receiving and sending correspondence and greeting customers and clients. Some administrative support may be required to have vast professional knowledge as their duties are more specialized than the others.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between support associates and administrative support. For instance, support associate responsibilities require skills such as "sales floor," "pos," "cleanliness," and "stockroom organization." Whereas a administrative support is skilled in "payroll," "human resources," "administrative functions," and "database management." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Administrative supports tend to reach similar levels of education than support associates. In fact, administrative supports are 1.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Support associate vs. Systems support
A systems support agent is responsible for resolving system applications and network issues, performing technical configuration, and upgrading systems infrastructure. A systems support representative conducts regular maintenance and diagnostic tests on the computer applications to ensure its optimal performance and efficiency to support business operations and avoid delays in deliverables. They also assist the technology team in designing backup systems and improve existing networks according to business requirements and specifications. They write resolution reports for reference to prevent the reoccurrence of system malfunction and inconsistencies.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that support associate responsibilities requires skills like "sales floor," "cleanliness," "stockroom organization," and "customer inquiries." But a systems support might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "pc," "provides technical support," "desktop support," and "end user support."
Systems supports earn similar levels of education than support associates in general. They're 2.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for support associates in the next 3-5 years?
Babak Beheshti Ph.D.
Dean, Professor, New York Institute of Technology
-We will be witnessing a more widespread commercial deployment of 5G in 2020. With the implementation of the Standalone 5G devices based on the 3gpp release 16, we should be seeing the more robust mobile broadband deployment of 5G, wider availability of 5G smartphones, and a push towards an all 5G Network in select urban areas around the world.
-Significant growth in AI-based technologies, from face recognition and voice recognition to business intelligence and market predictions. As machines and deep learning algorithms get integrated into many applications, many industries will undergo substantial changes. AI systems will continue to interact with our phones; cars will interpret and analyze their surroundings and intelligently drive themselves. Online vendors will monitor our browsing habits, and Google decides what kind of search results to give us, based on who it thinks we are.
Support associate vs. Operations support specialist
The duties of an operations support specialist depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, and conducting corrective measures, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations. They may also evaluate the processes in a company, identifying vulnerabilities, and recommending improvements. Furthermore, an operations support specialist must also perform clerical tasks such as producing progress reports and presentations, arranging schedules, assessing workforce performance, and maintaining accurate records.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a support associate is likely to be skilled in "sales floor," "cleanliness," "stockroom organization," and "ladders," while a typical operations support specialist is skilled in "operations support," "dod," "operational procedures," and "salesforce."
When it comes to education, operations support specialists tend to earn similar degree levels compared to support associates. In fact, they're 0.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Support associate vs. Technical support advisor
A technical support advisor specializes in assisting customers, mainly through diagnosing and solving issues using their product and service expertise. In most companies, they communicate with clients through calls or correspondence. Through this, they get to identify their needs, answer inquiries, give technical advice, troubleshoot problems, and solve issues and concerns, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. Moreover, a technical support advisor works together with the company's internal departments to optimize customer support operations and resolve any issues or vulnerabilities in the current procedures.
Types of support associate
Updated January 8, 2025
