customer service assistant jobs

If you like finding solutions to issues, providing assistance to other people, and making a direct contribution to the financial success of your organization, working in customer service might be an excellent option for your career. I've got you covered if you're interested in working in customer service but aren't sure whether that's the proper line of work for you in the first place.

Since I began my time at HubSpot working on the customer care team, I possess first-hand expertise on the operational side of the business. In this article, you'll learn about the skills and knowledge you may get from working in customer service, as well as the ways in which the experience will assist you for the rest of your professional life.

Is working in customer service a satisfying occupation?

Working in customer service may be quite rewarding. Due to the fact that customer service representatives may join the profession with varying degrees of expertise and backgrounds, it is wrongly branded a "backup vocation." After being responsible for the creation of the product and the closing of the deal, one of the most important things you can do is to provide excellent customer service. It enables you to have an effect on the bottom line of your business while at the same time cultivating meaningful ties with both your coworkers and your clients.

In point of fact, providing excellent service to customers is perhaps the single most crucial function of any business. According to Microsoft's research, the quality of a firm's customer service is the primary factor that influences a consumer's decision to do business with that company. It's possible that you identify with their sentiments. How often have you decided not to do business with a certain firm because of your negative experiences with their customer support? You would have a direct influence on your role as a customer care representative on the amount of income generated by your firm from repeat customers.

It's possible that your own experiences in the field of service have left you with certain preconceived beliefs on customer assistance. These conversations may lead you to question whether or not you would be suited to a career that involves direct engagement with customers.

On the other hand, I'm here to tell you that a position in customer service may be an excellent beginning step on the route toward a successful career – in almost any business function that you could be interested in.

Are you intrigued to learn more about those potential benefits? Continue reading for a list of compelling arguments in support of a career in customer service.

The Top Ten Benefits of Working in Customer Service

1. You'll enhance your emotional intelligence.

Working in a position that requires you to interact directly with customers will inevitably help you improve your people skills. And although the fact that working on the phone with consumers for a whole shift might present some difficulties, the abilities and tactics you'll acquire more than make up for those difficulties.

You will be assisting clients in the resolution of a wide range of difficulties, the resolution of which may have a significant influence on the customers' personal or professional lives. It will be essential for you to have the ability to sympathize with consumers and make use of social abilities in order to establish connection with them and get the facts you need to assist them.

If you encounter clients that are difficult to deal with or who use belligerent language, you will need to draw on your capacity for self-regulation in order to properly de-escalate the situation in order to better serve the consumers. You'll tap into your senses of motivation and self-awareness to keep yourself on track and positive so that you can buckle down and get everything done on those challenging days when you don't feel like you can make another phone call (we all have those days). This will allow you to buckle down and get everything done.

According to a number of studies, success in the workplace is more directly related with certain interpersonal abilities.

cognitive intelligence is more important in the job, particularly when it comes to management. When you begin your professional life in customer assistance, you immediately put yourself on the ideal path for developing and expanding these talents. (In addition to this, they are useful for successful communication and cooperation amongst individuals in interpersonal relationships.)

2. You will get an in-depth understanding of your product or service.

If you want to be effective in customer support, you need to know all there is to know about your product or service. This allows you to rapidly respond to queries from customers and handle problems they may be having. However, this is not just beneficial for the individuals who will obtain the information they want as soon as it is available; it is also a huge gain for you.

Becoming an expert in a subject area helps you become a subject matter expert, which may open a ton of different doors for you as your career progresses. Learning about your product or service helps you achieve this.

You might, for instance, specialize on training and onboarding new members of your customer care staff by educating your own clients how to use your product or service. This would allow you to assume a leadership role within the organization. If you are someone who enjoys writing, you could be able to start contributing to your company's knowledge base by penning articles or blog entries, which would be used in addition to one-time customer service contacts. You may also put your artistic skills to use by making video walkthroughs of your products that demonstrate each step in detail for the purpose of assisting your consumers and expanding your web visibility.

You may become an expert on your team, within your company, and in your industry if you have an in-depth understanding of the product or service that you are selling. This is true regardless of the path that you choose to follow.

3. You'll gain transferrable Skills.

You will gain vital skills that you may use to get a new position if you want to branch out even further if you build up your subject matter knowledge while working on your customer support team. This will help you advance your career within the customer support team.

Sales Skills

Working directly with consumers can show you precisely how they may use the product or service your firm provides to attain the objectives they have set for themselves. Should you want to pursue a career in sales, the information and experience you have gained may be put to good use. If you are able to tell prospects over the phone precisely how your product or service has benefitted previous customers, they may be more interested in completing a deal with you. Social proof is an excellent selling strategy.

Marketing Skills

Your marketing staff will benefit tremendously from having product expertise as well. If you wish to write for the blog, conduct research on products and markets, or handle support channels for social media, having in-depth knowledge of the products you sell and excellent communication skills might help you earn a place on your marketing team.

Competence in Product Development

If you are familiar with every aspect of the product, you may be able to construct it on your own. If you acquire some skills for product development — whether it consists of software engineering, outreach, or vendor management — you could be able to utilize your extensive knowledge to help assist a shift away from using phones if you do this. After that, you will be able to work behind the scenes to construct the product that you are serving.

4. It is possible to educate clients without making a sale.

When I worked in customer service, one of the things that I enjoyed most about my job was being able to educate a client anything about the product without having to sell them on the solution. This was one of the best aspects of my job.

HubSpot, for instance, is a platform that provides a variety of goods at a variety of subscription and tier levels. In some situations requiring help, the most effective option was to make use of a product that did not belong to the consumer. Because of this, we were faced with two options: either consider the benefits of purchasing the extra goods or devise inventive solutions to our problem.

My sales abilities were given a little workout with the first choice, and I didn't even have to worry about the pressure of making a sale. My involvement in the case would be limited to passing it off to a sales representative, who would go on with the remaining portion of the presentation.

Option two inspired me to be creative with my solutions. Because I was the product specialist, the client looked to me to find a solution to their problem because I was the only one standing between them and the product. I always felt like a genius anytime I discovered a workaround to an issue that I couldn't directly address. This may be because I was utilizing a product in a different manner or because I was thinking of an option that was beyond the norm.

5. You may establish a side project.

At HubSpot, we make it a point to ensure that our customer service representatives intentionally take breaks away from the phones.

This time spent away from the line allows for the completion of many tasks. It affords customer service representatives the opportunity to eat, take breaks, attend meetings, walk their dogs, and do other non-work-related activities. Taking time away from the call queue allows customer support representatives to focus on side projects and other initiatives that may offer enormous value to our company as well as to the representatives themselves. This is the most essential benefit of taking time away from the call queue.

For instance, a HubSpot customer service representative who specialized in social media made the decision to launch a dedicated social media channel on Twitter for the purpose of providing speedy customer help. They put the information they gained from speaking with clients over the phone to good use by carrying out research and getting an effort off the ground that they believed would have a significant effect, and they were correct.

While you are on the phone, you will get a wealth of knowledge on the clients of your firm. Consequently, you should make sure that you are keeping track of such ideas and devoting them to a side project or endeavor that may offer a significant amount of value to both your firm and to you personally.

Additionally, anybody who has a handle on the voice of the customer has a ton of value to give their team as well as other teams; thus, it is another another asset you may bring to the table when having a conversation with your manager about a promotion or a transfer.

6. You will acquire the skills necessary to address challenges in an efficient manner.

At its core, providing customer care involves actively assisting consumers in resolving issues that they have brought to your attention. To handle any issue that a client has, whether it's a simple problem or one that involves a number of steps, you'll need to use your imagination, have good people skills, and be an expert.

Problem-solving skills that are prompt, efficient, and diplomatic are essential for any position, regardless of whether or not they include assisting customers. One such position is customer service. Problem-solving is the foundation for being able to prioritize, manage projects, and handle disagreements; all of these abilities are essential if you want to advance in your career, manage a group of people, and utilize your influence and experience to accomplish your objectives.

7. You'll become an expert in a variety of communication modes.

A great number of customer service companies expect their representatives to operate across a variety of support channels. This implies that you will go from communicating with them over the phone one day to communicating with them through email the next day. However, if you keep practicing via the different channels of communication that your firm provides, you will ultimately become an expert in the digital conversation art form.

The following is a list of the many support channels that will be available to you:

Email

Phone

Real-time chat

Social Media

Community Discussion Forum

Learning how to interact efficiently on these platforms can assist you in developing connections with others that you may not have had the opportunity to meet in person. This is a talent that will definitely come in helpful, particularly while searching for a new career.

8. You'll be working with a really varied group of people.

Customer support teams aren't necessarily like other tech-focused groups you may encounter. Many are populated with fascinating folks who each have their own distinct personalities and points of view.

In point of fact, serving in this capacity on the HubSpot support team was my favorite aspect of the job. When you worked on a case with someone for the first time, you always found out something new about that person.

This is beneficial for you in terms of the development of your profession as well. Being exposed to a wide variety of various viewpoints might help you discover answers to questions that you might not even be aware of having. When you look at a problem from a perspective that you hadn't thought about previously, it might also cause you to rethink your view on the matter. Instances such as this, in which our worldview is called into question, not only aid in our development as professionals but also as individuals.

9. You'll get the ability to operate from a distant location.

Working remotely is becoming more common in the field of customer support. In point of fact, forty percent of businesses in the United States now provide more opportunities for work from home than they did five years ago. As advances in technology for customer service continue to make it possible for representatives to do their jobs from home, an increasing number of customer service teams are seizing the chance to do so.

But working from home is more than simply a convenient convenience. No matter what line of work you decide to go into, having this ability will be essential to your success. As the price of office space continues to climb and more roles are converted to remote work, it's possible that your job may be converted to a totally remote one in the near future. And even while this may not affect the work that you perform for a job, it will undoubtedly affect the way that you carry out those duties.

Any professional field may benefit enormously from gaining experience working remotely in a customer service capacity. It forces you to become proficient in your everyday process without the instant support of your surrounding coworkers, which may be a challenging experience. You get the ability to independently troubleshoot difficulties and the ability to teach yourself remedies when there is no one around to assist you.

10. You may create a network inside your company by meeting with other people.

If you work in customer service, you should be prepared for the possibility that you may not always know the solution to a client query. It's possible that you'll need to discuss comments from customers with key stakeholders. Or maybe you can share some ideas with the leadership of your firm that will cause them to rethink the characteristics of your ideal consumer persona.

To accomplish any of the aforementioned goals, you will need to draw information from the people around you, namely your coworkers. You will not only be able to complete your work more quickly and efficiently if you are able to build a network of coworkers who have different skill sets and areas of expertise from you, but you will also be able to build a network of new opportunities for personal growth and professional advancement.

A job in customer support will teach you valuable skills that you'll need, again and again, over the course of your career, whether you aspire to have a long career in the customer support space or you are simply eager to get your foot in the door at an innovative company. This is true regardless of whether you are simply eager to get your foot in the door at an innovative company.

11. You do not need to have any certain expertise or background to apply, and may come from any background.

The fact that I got recruited for a customer service job at HubSpot was honestly a surprise to me, given that I graduated from a so-called "artsy" school, where the sole math class taught you how to compute audience figures for Seinfeld. I did not come from a technical background, nor did I have any actual expertise in giving customer service over the phone.

However, as I progressed through the first weeks of my training, I was relieved to discover that I wasn't the only one there. Surprisingly, it seemed that a greater percentage of my coworkers had degrees in English and writing rather than computer science. We were not a bunch of outgoing people who were passionate about technology; rather, we were a varied collection of professionals who each offered a unique set of capabilities and points of view to the table. (Just so you know, if you are interested in joining the HubSpot customer service team, we are currently recruiting.)

I share my personal experience with you so that you can understand how feasible it is to get a career in customer assistance regardless of what you majored in during your time at university. This is a very accessible and lucrative field of work, and some companies even waive the requirement that applicants have a degree that took at least four years to complete.

You may get an advantage over other applicants by enrolling in a certification program for customer service even if you are unsure as to whether or not you are suitable for a position providing customer assistance.

12. Your actions will have a direct and positive influence on the financial results of your firm.

When it comes to the financial performance of a business, it is all too easy to place an excessive amount of emphasis on the role that sales and marketing play in the success of the organization. But I would say that providing good customer service is the one thing that genuinely makes the difference between a business that is unsuccessful and one that is successful.

The quality of the service that a consumer receives determines whether or not they will become a brand devotee who repeatedly makes purchases from that particular company. One of the biggest advantages of working in customer service is having the knowledge that your actions will have a significant and direct influence on the outside world. You're not going to be entering data into spreadsheets or calculating statistics all day. An upsell sale may be made from anything as easy as a single pleasant phone conversation with a consumer at a later time.

That is not to suggest that it won't be challenging in any way. Maintaining a cheerful attitude when working in customer service is challenging in general, but it is more challenging when clients are being rude or even unreasonable. However, you do not want to maintain a client that is difficult to work with. However, a good client who has a positive experience with customer service has the potential to become an ambassador for the company, which may bring in more referral business than any marketing effort could.

Let's have a look at the many customer service occupations that are out there for you to pursue now that you've been persuaded about why you should work in the field of customer service.

Positions Available in the Field of Customer Service

When you first begin your career in customer service, you have the opportunity to apply for a broad range of different positions in the field. The majority of candidates for entry-level positions begin their careers as representatives or experts, and then progress into more management and strategic roles as they gain experience. To put it another way, if you're concerned that you'll spend the rest of your life working in a contact center, you shouldn't worry about it since providing good customer service involves more than just picking up the phone.

Representative or Specialist of the Customer Support Department

A customer care professional works one-on-one with consumers who have had isolated problems with the product or service. These customers often have a single complaint about the product or service. Representatives of the customer service team are often the first individuals to pick up the phone or respond to an email.

In the event that the problem continues, the inquiry may be sent to a support professional. Client service experts generally provide longer help to a customer and focus their attention on resolving a single issue that a customer is having with a product or service.

The Manager of Customer Support

Managers of customer service have the option of working in one of two approaches. They may also:

Manage a group of people that provide customer care.

Offer help that is both highly specialized and ongoing to high-value clients.

Some managers of customer service perform a little bit of each of these jobs. In addition to this, they are able to provide higher-up personnel, such as the director of customer experience, with a report on the performance indicators of their team. There are numerous sub-roles that fall under this umbrella, such as the customer success manager and the service operation manager.

Director of the Experience or Success of Customers

A customer's trip, both before and after they make a purchase, falls within the purview of the director of customer experience, who is responsible for all aspects of the customer's journey. They often construct a "customer-centric vision" at all levels, which ensures that everything, from sales techniques to website material, is focused on assisting the consumer rather than just gaining their business. Customers will have a satisfying and favorable experience with the firm as a result of this arrangement.

Chief Executive Officer of the Customer

The chief customer officer, often known as the CCO, is a high-level executive who is responsible for making broad, strategic choices on the quality of the company's interactions with its customers. In addition to taking the company's financial objectives into consideration, they make these selections. There are certain businesses that could employ a vice president of customer experience rather than a chief customer officer. Someone else may recruit both of them. In such scenario, the CCO would be in charge of supervising the vice president's responsibilities.