Every organization in this world irrespective of its commercial size thrive due to its customers. They spend loads of resources, time, and money in order to increase their customer base and gain a considerable market share. In order to give these customers, superior service and a pleasant experience, they hire a specialized person called a Customer Service Representative.
Job Profile of Customer Service Representative
The role of a customer service representative is challenging and requires a superior level of soft skills in order to satisfy the customers of the company. They are responsible to resolve the queries of the customers, through:
1) Chat process
With the advent of technology and digital independence, there is a sudden boom in businesses revolving around mobile applications. In order to move and align with the time, companies have developed mobile applications which are used to provide resolutions to the customers of the companies using a chatbox and text typing.
2) Telephonic conversation
This method is in presence since time immemorial and a customer service representative is required to resolve the customer complaints via a telephonic conversation.
3) Emails
Emails are also an effective way of resolving customer’s queries and issues. Usually, a customer files a complaint by sending an email on the official mail id of the company, and a customer service representative is required to resolve it in a time-bound manner using the same medium.
4) Social Media
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and Twitter, etc, are in vogue, and it has been observed that an unsatisfied customer, used to post their complaints on it. A customer service representative is required to keep a regular check on it and strive to provide a satisfactory response.
A customer service representative must have superior knowledge of all the products and services offered by a company in the market. While resolving a query, one making an excuse that ‘He or she is not aware of a particular thing’ is just not acceptable.
Skills Required
A skillful employee is always on the radar of a prospective employer and has a high chance of getting hired. In addition to higher salaries, the promotional chances of such an employee are always superior and better. One interested in the role of the customer service representative must have the following skills:
| Name of the skill | Reason |
| Communication skills | In order to effectively communicate the resolution |
| Active listening skills | In order to understand the query of a customer completely and thoroughly |
| Critical thinking abilities | In order to generate appropriate, satisfactory, and apt responses to the customer’s queries |
| Ethics | In order to provide resolution in an esteemed, polite, and respectful manner |
| Time management | In order to provide resolution in a time-bound manner |
| Ability to absorb | In order to provide a pleasant experience to an ill-mannered, boor, and utterly disappointed customer |
| Patience | In order to remain ethical and avoid becoming short-tempered |
| Calmness | In order to handle high volumes of customer’s complaints and queries |
Duties and Responsibilities
There are various duties that a customer service representative has to perform during his tenure, that are mentioned below:
- Attend the customer’s phone call/chat message in a polite and respectful manner
- Identify and understand the customer’s query completely
- Ask questions to clarify your doubts and gather relevant information from the customer
- Resolve the query by providing a speedy, accurate, and satisfactory resolution
- Give answers to all the questions asked by the customer
- Maintain a cordial relationship and ensure they are getting a memorable experience along with feeling gratified
- Advertise and make the customers aware of any new service started by the company or any new product launch
- Persuade the customer to give a feedback
- Feed the customer’s data into the database maintained by the company
Salary Prospects
Since the center point of attraction is the customers of the company, any role that deals with them becomes consequential and hence has the ability to fetch a high salary. The salary prospects of a customer service representative are bright and they are well compensated by their employer institution along with garnering good respect and recognition in the society.
The salary of a customer service representative depends upon the following factors:
| Name of the factor | Effect of the factor on salary |
| Work experience | Like every job, the salary of a customer service representative maintains a direct relationship with the work experience of an employee. HIgher the work experience, higher would be his or her salary and vice versa. |
| Location | Employees, working at places involving a higher cost of living are well compensated than the employees posted at rural or semi-urban areas. The hike offered in salary basically covers the inflation and high prices prevailing in that particular area. |
| Skills | I skillful and ambitious employee is always preferred by an employer, and they are willing to pay even an extra amount in order to receive his or her services. Thus, learning new skills is always beneficial in order to fetch a fat paycheck. |
Educational Qualifications
To become a customer service representative, one must have at least a bachelor’s degree, preferably in a sales profile. Coupling it up with a few certifications and internships is recommended to improve chances of selection as well as salary prospects.
Certifications
There are several courses and certifications available in the industry for a similar profile, some prominent ones are:
| Name of the course | Duration |
| Customer service: Soft skills development | 3 months |
| How to impress your customers? | 3 months |
| Impressive, effective, and fluent speech making | 3-4 months |
| Digital customer service | 3 months |
| Customer service software (for example, Microsoft dynamics 365, Hubsoft, Live agent, etc) | 5-6 months |
Conclusion
Managing customers by providing them quick and relevant resolutions, actively listening to all their queries, and providing them with a memorable experience while dealing with the company, not only increases the customer base of the company but also creates goodwill. Hence, the role of a customer service representative is pivotal and has bright salary prospects. If you like our articles then don’t forget to share them with your family and friends. Also, do let us know through the comments section below, how much you like our articles.
References
- https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09604529610109774/full/html
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2092521219300045
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
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