Hiring High-Paying Customer Service Roles | Aniday

1. What is Customer Service?

Customer service is a department of a business that provides pre-sale and post-sale support and assistance to customers to satisfy their needs and expectations and give them the best user experience. It is the department that customers want to be served and the work needed to retain existing customers. 

Today, as living standards increase, customer requirements are becoming more sophisticated and demanding. Therefore, customer service is increasingly important to maximize customer satisfaction. Customer service today goes far beyond traditional phone hotlines. In addition to phone calls, you can interact with customers via messages, emails, and social media. Many companies now also have automated response systems for 24/7 support. In addition, the hospitality and restaurant industries are constantly expanding, and customer retention is a key factor in brand building and competitive advantage.

2. Roles and Responsibilities of Customer Service

A customer service agent acts as a liaison and company representative when interacting with customers. Their work focuses on optimizing the customer experience, including:

• Direct and indirect customer care: Always promptly resolving customer inquiries and requests. Tracking orders from existing and individual customers, and handling new customer orders. Consulting and convincing customers about company products to gain more orders. Providing promotional programs and customer service policy information. Cooperating with Quality Control to analyze product issues and formulate appropriate solutions for customers. 

• Reporting and advising on customer care plans including pricing and service strategies.

• Developing pricing for standard and customized company products. 

• Collaborating with other departments to fulfill orders on schedule.

• Supporting Sales with new projects and internal requirements.

3. Required Skills for a Customer Service Agent

Key skills include:

• Teamwork: Customer service work involves teams. Sharing experiences improves service levels.

• Listening and communication: Most important for customer comfort and satisfaction before and after purchase.  

• Friendliness and empathy: Create positive impressions and experiences. 

• Product knowledge: Agents require solid baseline and in-depth product/service knowledge for accurate, fast consultation and trust-building.

• Speed and responsiveness: Handle customer requests quickly and promptly.

• Process improvement identification: Any process has room for enhancement, especially people-to-people and business-to-customer interactions. Agents should analyze processes and propose suitable improvements.