Job description
A customer service representative interacts with a company’s customers to provide them with information to address inquiries regarding products and services. In addition, they deal with and help resolve any customer complaints. For instance, a customer representative may assist you in opening an account or help you to resolve a problem if you cannot access your account or if your order never arrived. Usually, customer service representatives gather their information via a telephone call.
Handling Problems
Customer inquiries often involve some form of complaint that the customer service representative must handle in accordance with the company’s guidelines and policies. Sometimes, the representatives may attempt to solve the problems or at least propose some solutions. Some representatives may also be authorized to send customers their replacement products or reverse erroneous fees. Others may function like gatekeepers, getting information on the problem and passing it along to someone else to solve. Customer service representatives must make sure first that the complaints made are valid and must do whatever they can–within the bounds of their authority–to make sure the customer is satisfied when he hangs up the phone.
Assisting in Sales
Selling the company’s products and services may be part of a customer service representatives job, even though he may not be part of the sales division. Some representatives may provide product or service information to assist customers in making a decision about a product to buy. Customer service representatives may also help generate sales leads. For instance, after addressing a customer’s inquiry, the representative may attempt to sell them some new products upgrades. For instance, he may suggest upgrading your cable service.
Clerical Tasks
The job of a customer service representative may also involve clerical responsibilities. Such duties may involve answering telephone calls and making the appropriate transfers. For example, when a customer makes an inquiry about Internet broadband, the representative can transfer the call to a technical service representative. Other duties include processing new client accounts, maintaining customer accounts, implementing changes to existing accounts, and filing documents and other paperwork.etc etc
