Customer Service Representative Job is a link between customers and businesses: businesses want to sell their products and make sure they can meet the demands and customers want to learn more about said products. This is where the customer service representatives come in. They speak on the company’s behalf by engaging with their customers to improve the customer experience of their products.
One such example is Xfinity by Comcast. They have 24/7 customer service, who respond promptly to any queries that the customers may have and are proactive about resolving their concerns. Head over to the link to check out their Xfinity internet packages or maybe even reach out to their customer service representative for any information about their services.
Customer Service Representative
Although being a customer service representative is viewed as a dead-end job, with their routinely long hours, repetitive tasks, the difficulty of dealing with clients’ unpredictable behavior, there are some reasons why it can turn out to be a rewarding one.
Zero experience? No problem
Being a customer service representative does not require any experience, which is why most of the recruits start right after completing high schools or colleges, some even having finished only secondary education. However, with zero experience, this field can turn out to be an excellent start of their professional careers guaranteeing them abilities and skills to deal with situations. These skills are related to customer service and sales teaching them how to communicate with a potential customer, contractor, or employer.
CSR’s basic characteristics
Customers want their queries to be answered right away which is why they expect quick and specific replies to their problems. This often requires quick thinking, the ability to work under pressure, and knowledge about the subject being discussed. Also with quick thinking comes situational awareness which means that they have to be able to read into customers’ behavior. Most of the time, customers lash out and in such a situation, the customer support representative has to be patient, tolerable, mindful, and greet the criticism with positivity. These are just some of the few characteristics that a customer support representative gets to adopt while working in this field.
No script needed
In the past, the role of customer service representative included sticking to a script that had all the answers to customers’ queries, with no room for flexibility. But that has now changed. Today, the products and services are much more complex which require customer service representative to be more flexible and dynamic towards dealing with clients. It includes collaborating across various departments within the company and researching for answers and solutions to clients’ queries that the business did not prepare them for. Hence, there is more room for growth and learning for the customer support representative as each new day brings about new challenges.
Means of communication
There are various means of communication to reach out to customers since the key is to meet the customers where they are. A customer service representative can choose whichever option suits him best. Using phones is the oldest means of communication with customers and it remains a powerful way to answer customers’ queries. Emails are a bit slower method of communication, but with the help of emails, customer support representatives can forward to or CC HR, Payroll or IT teams to try and resolve the customers’ issues collectively. Some customer support representatives feel that messaging or chats are the easiest ways to communicate with their customers. They feel that this method is personal, convenient, and secure, the same as the customers do. With messaging and chats, customer support representatives have easier time multitasking by looking up solutions to the customers’ queries along with answering multiple queries at the same time. All three means of communication provide customers, support representatives, a way to deal with customers and they can also prove to be good for their professional growth and development.
Horizontal and vertical promotions
There is always some kind of opportunity present in the most mundane work. There are various promotions in this field that one can aspire for: horizontal and vertical promotions. Horizontal promotions include the change in projects or campaigns that are currently running. For instance, if a person works in telesales and he feels that this work does not satisfy him, he can always ask to be shifted to customer services. Or if he is working on an outgoing sales project, he can put in a request to be moved to the complaints or order department. However, these are only possible if such projects are implemented in the company. Vertical promotion is like moving up the ladder and for that to happen, a person needs to have appropriate skills for the required position. For instance, he can be promoted to be a team leader, operational leader, quality leader to move up on the organizational structure. Hence, there is always a possibility that with appropriate skills, the person can have a change of environment to further his career in customer service.
Perception of a dead-end job exists in a person’s mind and there is always some kind of growth and opportunity in any kind of job. Being a customer support representative has its kind of challenges that can help one to maximize their potential.
