Customer Service Representative

Customer service representatives are individuals who interact and communicate with the customers of a particular company in order to handle their complaints and provide necessary information about the company’s products and services. It is their duty to help customers understand the company’s products and services by attending to questions or clarifications from inquirers.

They are the link-point between the organization and its customers and work to provide information aimed at resolving emerging challenges from company’s customers. Since customer feedback is vital to the progress of a company, the customer service representative occupy a very key position because their daily work is to create a positive impression of the company to customer.

What it takes to be a Customer Service Representative?

Educational Requirements

To become a customer service representative you require a bachelor’s degree, either in Business Management and Administration, Service Management or any other related field. In addition to a degree most customer service representatives get comprehensive on-the-job training which equips them with the necessary skills to succeed in their role.

Skills

The skills needed to succeed as a customer service representative include the ability to communicate effectively, persuasion skills and stress tolerance. You must also have excellent listening skills in order to be able communicate and self-control in order to manage difficult customers. Conflict resolution skills is also a necessity, must be able to express empathy and be able to pay attention to details. Other skills are negotiation skills, positive attitude, documentation skill, product knowledge and ability to work under pressure are all needed to function effectively as a customer service representative.

Job Responsibility

The job responsibility of a customer service representative includes, managing incoming calls, identifying and assessing customers’ needs and providing satisfactory solutions, working on external queries and inquiries, engage with customers, acknowledging and resolving customer complaints. It is also their duty to process customer order and request, knowing company products in order to answer customer questions, listening to customers carefully and providing accurate feedback that solves their problem, updating information in the customer service data base, affect company’s bottom line by converting difficult customers and turning them to loyal customers and must work to maintain a positive rapport with every client.

Employers

Customer service representatives can work in various industries but their services are primarily needed in financial institutions, telecommunication companies, insurance companies and oil and gas firms.