- Customer service representatives serve customers, answering phones and waiting on customers in person. They also coordinate customer requests with other departments, including sales or shipping departments.
- Customer service reps, as the name indicates, are expected to help customers--or to find someone who can. Customer service expert John Tschohl says that representatives are expected to listen to customers, to make eye contact with them, and to empathize with their requests.
- Customer service representatives work in the private sector in industries like retail, food service and banking. They also play a role in government organizations in local, state and federal agencies and in nonprofit operations.
- To be great, customer service representatives need to like customers, of course, and be committed to their organization. Technology management expert Jay Grady writes that solving customer problems also requires a "knowledge base," which customer service reps tap into. Product knowledge, and knowing where to find it, is one of the keys to becoming excellent.
- Because customer service reps learn so much about products, services and customers, the career can be a springboard to bigger things. Sales, human resources and management are just a few career paths for the successful customer service rep to consider.
