Customer Service Agent Job Description Example
What Does a Customer Service Agent Do?
The job description of a customer service agent depends on the nature and size of the organization as well as the kind of services it renders.
However, irrespective of the above factors, all customer service agents perform customer service-related duties.
The duties and responsibilities of the customer service agent hover around building and sustaining strong and profitable business relationship with customers and potential customers.
He/she ensures that an organization’s customers have memorable experience each time they visit, inquire or transact business with it.
The success or failure of any organization depends on how happy the customers are with the services rendered by its employees.
To this end, it is the primary responsibility of the customer service agent to make sure that the organization’s visitors and customers are always satisfied with services rendered to them for them to patronize the organization in future.
In discharging his/her duties, the service agent greets, welcomes, and answers all questions asked by a customer regarding organization’s services and mode of business transaction.
He/she must be well-versed in knowledge of services provided by the employer so as to be able to answer customers’ inquiries in an efficient manner.
In some organizations, the customer service agent work description may include making sales and receiving payment.
In such environments, customer service agents are expected to communicate with customers to know their needs and then help them in getting the appropriate service(s) they desire.
Then after, he/she will assist the customer to make payment by ringing up payment, entering purchase in a cash register, and collecting cash/processing credit payment.
A customer service agent may also perform marketing functions while at his/her work post.
He/she may inform customers of new products/services that may be of benefit to them following their requests or complaints.
Another important role of most customer service agents is conflict resolution. On a regular basis, a service agent is expected to deal with disgruntled customers or those with complaints.
He/she should be able to listen to such customers to understand the issue and proffer the best possible solution to resolve the problem.
While doing this, he/she should be able to speak to the customer in a calm and soothing manner. For complex issues, he/she should be able to direct the customer to the appropriate desk.
The customer service agent job description also entails being a data collation officer for his/her organization.
He/she is expected to collect relevant customer information like name, contact information, purchase history and so on.
It is equally part of the tasks of the service agent to receive incoming calls, schedule appointment and remind customers of appointment schedules.
In circumstances where the organization wants to obtain or correct information regarding a customer’s account, it is the duty of the service agent to place calls to the customer to obtain such information.
Being a customer service related job, the first and most important quality expected of the individual working in this role is exceptional customer service orientation.
In addition, he/she must have outstanding conflict resolution skills.
A high school diploma and some years of experience in a similar position are often required by most hiring organizations for the post.
However, only a high school certificate and other abilities like stamina, patience, and flexibility may be all you need to get a job as a customer service agent.
Customer Service Agent Job Description Example
The work of customer service agents is important in ensuring the satisfaction of clients.
The following job description example shows the main duties, tasks, and responsibilities of most customer service agents:
- Greet and welcome visitors and customers in a courteous and well mannered way
- Build and maintain strong and profitable relationship with customers and potential customers
- Ask how you could be of help to customers as well as listen to them to identify their needs
- Answer customers’ questions in a prompt and effective manner
- Assist customers to resolve their complaints, as well as assist them in getting desired services quickly
- May be required to make sales and process cash or credit card payments
- Inform customers and potential customers of new or existing products that they may like to try out
- Assist customers in filling necessary forms, as well as collecting customers’ data for organization use
- Schedule appointments with customers and remind them of appointment schedules
- Answer incoming calls, and respond to emails and social media messages.
Customer Service Agent Resume Preparation
When preparing a customer service agent resume, information about your past of present experience on the job if you have it should be part of the resume.
This will assure employers that you will be able to work with little or no supervision and do a great job, which makes your resume stronger.
To help you to easily and effectively give information about your customer service agent work experience, the sample job description shown above consists of relevant duties and responsibilities of the role that you can use.
Requirements – Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities –for Customer Service Agent Job
The following are customer service agent skills and qualities to develop to succeed in the role, which are also part of most employers’ requirements when recruiting for the position:
- Education and Training: Most companies hire only candidates with at least high school diploma to work as a customer service agent. Advanced certificates and training may be required for experienced customer service positions but most companies still train newly-employed service agents for 1-3 weeks
- A candidate for the position of customer service agent must have a flexible work philosophy because the position often involves working at night, weekends, and holidays
- A customer service agent is expected to be good at dealing with people irrespective of their background, and also required to be temperament. He/she must have outstanding relationship building ability
- Outstanding multitasking and communication skills are very essential. He/she must be a good listener and should have the ability to speak persuasively to people.
Customer Service Agent Skills for Resume
You also need to add the skills section if you are making a customer service agent resume.
This section, which can be made by employing information from the above skills requirements, shows hirers the relevant qualities that you have to be able to excel on the job.
Conclusion
The role of a customer service agent is crucial for a company to build a sustainable business relationship with its customers.
You need to have detailed knowledge of the duties and responsibilities that make up the job description of the position for you to be well prepared for the job if hired.
Also, employers need to know what the customer service agent job description entails to design the right one for employees, so as to get the best performance from them.