What Are the Duties of a Customer Service Executive?
The "customer service executive" job title can encompass many different customer service jobs. The customer service executive can be a manager, director, vice president or president of customer service. In some corporations, the customer service executive reports directly to the chief executive. Depending on the structure and size of the organization, the duties will vary.
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Budgeting (P&L)
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This director will have budget (profit and loss) responsibility for the department and ensure that spending remains under the organization's targets. The budget will contain line items such as hiring, training and development, and office supplies. As director, you are responsible for monitoring departmental purchasing and spending. Medium-sized and large organizations usually have contracts with staffing agencies, office supply stores and other vendors that will provide discounts for using the products and services. These contracts help you stay within the budget. A company's purchasing department is usually responsible for developing these contracts. Speak with the purchasing department to get a list of preferred vendors. Use those vendors as much as possible.
Escalation Handling
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Customer service executives also handle customer escalations. If a customer is not satisfied with a representative's resolution, she may ask to speak to someone with more authority. The next person she speaks with could be a customer service manager. The manager may be able to provide additional resolution within his authority that can further help the customer.
When dealing with a customer, do not undermine the credibility of previous customer service worker who tried to help the customer. Instead of saying "They did not know what they were doing," tell the customer that the representative was operating within his parameters.
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Strategic Plans
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Customer service executives are responsible for defining the strategy of an organization's customer service. That strategy includes using technology, training and developing employees' skills, standardizing policies and procedures, consistent quality control and setting customer service performance expectations. Once the strategy is outlined, you are also responsible for its execution. You must work within and outside the department to remove obstacles. To create the strategic plan, create a vision for customer service. Present that vision to other stakeholders and ask for their ideas. Seek assistance from groups such as marketing, finance and operations.
Team Building
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The customer service executive must establish and maintain working relationships with other areas of the organization, including sales, IT, finance, operations and marketing. Each of those areas affects customer service. You are part of a team that seeks to make the company more efficient and are the leader of the customer service team. You are responsible for ensuring that the team that reports to you is functioning efficiently and effectively. To do this, you may schedule retreats for his management team, start recognition programs for excellent customer service and provide support to his management team for their individual team-building efforts. A team-building off-site outing as much as twice a year will be helpful. Encourage team members to recognize each other when they do good things. This is another way of building camaraderie within the team.
Community affairs
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You may also have to interact with the community. You may speak on behalf of the company at customer service conferences, industry conferences or association meetings. To stay apprised of the latest developments in customer service and in the industry, you must constantly educate yourself through training classes, books and other materials. Stay up to date on industry developments and how they affect the delivery of customer service.
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References
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- Photo Credit Image courtesy of Microsoft Office online
