Job Description for Customer Service Representative

The primary job for customer service representative is to support customers with their needs. The job description of a customer service representative focuses on helping the customer and ensuring they have been assisted to their satisfaction.

Customer Service representatives often interact with the clients in person or electronically. Regardless of such individuals' communication mode, the focus is to ensure they enhance the customer experience as the customer interacts with the company's products and services.

People who do well in the customer service representative role have a natural personality to serve others. Service to others comes naturally to them.

Job Description for Customer Service Representative: Overall Purpose of the Job

Resolves product and service problems for customers and serves customers by availing product and service information. They provide customer service support in person or online. They are responsible for responding to customer queries. They offer frontline support to customers interacting with the company's products and services. The overall responsibility is to ensure that the customers are happy with the company's products or services.

Job Description for Customer Service Representative: Primary Duties

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When developing a job description for customer service representative, remember that the duties primarily focus on making the customer happy by assisting them.

Below I share with you the common duties found in a job description for a customer service representative.

Helps customers by responding to their queries which may come online, telephonically or in person.
Assists customers by referring them to individuals within the organization who are best suited to help them.
Helps clients by responding to their queries within the shortest possible time.
Enhances client customer experience by giving them the correct solutions to their queries.
Retains customers by providing solutions to their problems.
Attracts new customers by answering product and service questions that potential customers may have.
Opens new customer accounts by recording their information in the company customer register.
Maintains customer records by ensuring that the records are up to date at all times.
Resolves services or product problems by understanding customer complaints through identifying the causes and choosing the best solution to solve customer problems.
Expedite the correction of any recorded customer queries or complaints.
Recommends new products or services to management based on customer product usage and preferences analysis.
Prepares customer services reports by analyzing recorded customer inquiries and queries.
Communicates query feedback to customers after identifying the problem source and the correct solution for the customer.
Acknowledges receipt of all received customer queries and puts a mechanism to ensure these are resolved within the shortest time.
Pays attention to all customer complaints and puts a mechanism to understand the cause and find solutions for the customer.
Promotes the company's products to prospective and old customers to enable the company to sell more products and services.
Cross-sells company products and services to current clients to increase the share of wallet per customer.

Job Description for Customer Service Representative: Educational Requirements

When deciding on educational qualifications for the job description for customer service representative, remember their focus is serving customers. In that case, what kind of educational background will help them deliver on that? Depending on the job's demands and the product knowledge required, this job may require someone with a degree or diploma. The degree or diploma is often in marketing, sales, or any business-related field. This may not apply to customer service representatives looking after highly technical products like those found in engineering or chemistry. In such a case, you would require someone with a background in the related technical field. Below are the common academic qualifications found in many job descriptions for customer service representatives.

Diploma in marketing and sales or
Degree in marketing & sales.
On-the-job training in customer service.

Job Description for Customer Service Representative: Experience Level required

To function effectively in this role, candidates need a certain level of experience in a similar or related environment.

Similar experience solving customer problems is required.
Experience working in a pressurized environment is required.
Experience dealing with demanding clients is required.
Experience preparing reports is required.

Job Description for Customer Service Representative: Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other Characteristics(KSAO)

Serving others should come naturally for people who go into this role. It requires those who are gifted in dealing with people.

The applicant must be able to acquire product knowledge fast to assist customers with their issues.
Ability to work under pressure
High frustration tolerance as the candidate is likely to face demanding clients.
High attention to detail will enable the candidate to solve client problems.
Ability to handle client problems using modern CRM systems.
Highly computer literate.
Strong communication skills are required.
Ability to assist multiple clients at the same time through multitasking.
Ability to work with minimum supervision.
This role requires a self-motivated individual.

Conclusion

The customer services representative role plays a crucial function in an organization. That this role does has a significant impact on the level of customer retention and acquisition a company will have. How well this role is performed determines whether customers have a negative or positive customer experience. For this reason, the job description for the customer service representative should be clear on the overall purpose of the job and the primary duties the incumbents will perform. Even more critical is the KSAO required for someone to succeed in this role. A clear job description for the customer service representative will assist the company when hiring employees for this role.

A customer service representative receives customer complaints or queries and carefully tries to understand them before proffering a solution. People that are naturally suited to this position have a personality that is marked by agreeableness and conscientiousness. Agreeableness trait allows them to serve others diligently and with courtesy. Conscientiousness will enable them to be organized and follow through on issues raised by clients until they are resolved. The role, therefore, requires someone who has empath and the ability to listen to clients.

You can use this template to develop your job description for customer service representative. When doing so, please customize it to your situation. While the core functions of a role remain the same regardless of the organization they are working for, there are certain aspects of a job that may be unique to a particular organization.