How Does a Customer Service Representative Spend a Workday?

Who Customer Service Representatives Are

The title "customer service representative" can mean different things in different employment settings. In some places, a customer service representative might mean a salesperson, but in most offices, customer service representatives are individuals responsible for answering phone calls or emails from current or prospective customers. In retail and similar settings, customer service representatives may work at information desks handling issues such as product returns and refunds. Or, they may be available on the sales floor to help customers find what they are looking for or answer questions.

Retail Customer Service Representatives

In some fields, such as retail, customer service representatives may report to work before the employer opens its doors to the public. They may be responsible for setting up their computers or cash registers in preparation for meeting customers' needs once the business opens. As customers begin showing up, the customer service representatives will answer their questions or help them to exchange or refund products, or otherwise complete their business with the store. Customer service representatives in retail settings usually have a goal of making sure that the customer leaves happy, so as to best increase the odds of repeat business by that customer. Throughout the day, the customer service representative needs to make sure that appropriate records are kept of any monetary transactions by entering them into a computer or record book. At the end of the day, these records usually need to be reported to the manager.

Office Customer Service Representatives

In offices, customer service representatives will typically arrive to their cubicles or offices and start their computers and other equipment in order to begin the workday. Some customer service representatives may work primarily on the telephone, taking calls from customers and answering questions, processing orders, or making changes to customer accounts. Other customer service representatives may spend their workdays answering email inquiries from customers, especially those working for businesses where sales are conducted via the Internet. Customer service representatives may be responsible for fielding customer concerns to other areas of the company, such as to tech support if the company's business is related to electronics. As with retail customer service representatives, representatives working in offices usually need to have computer skills to maintain records of customer contacts and make reports at the conclusion of the workday.

Other Responsibilities

Regardless of employment setting, customer service representatives may have varying levels of authority to meet customers' wishes, such as deciding when refunds are merited for faulty products. But customer service representatives may also encounter questions from customers for which they do not have answers, in which case customer service representatives will have to be able to figure out where the customer can find the answer so as to make a proper referral. This requires good problem-solving skills as well as interpersonal skills in order to maintain good contact with the customer and other employees within the company.