Administration

Customer Service

A customer services professional ensures that the company they work for satisfies its customers' needs. You could be working at any level in a company; at the forefront of the business dealing with customers on a daily basis to behind the scenes at head office helping to develop a customer service policy for an entire organisation. You might find yourself managing a team of customer services staff, dealing with customers over the phone, handling face-to-face enquiries from customers and helping to think up news ways that your company can provide a better service.

Roles vary widely. The work as a customer services professional will vary depending on which of the above sectors you work in and which employer you work for. For example, working on a customer service desk in a supermarket, will mainly be working with customers face to face. However, working in a call centre for an insurance company, will be mostly involve contact with customers over the phone.

Customer services management covers a range of job titles, including customer care manager, corporate services manager, relationship manager and customer operations manager. For all of these roles, customer services managers are expected to understand, meet and exceed their customers' requirements.

Although the work will vary depending on the type and size of organisation, typical day to day jobs might include; problem solving, answering queries over the phone, by email and face to face, handling customer complaints, generating customer service reports and training staff to deliver a high standard of customer service.

Jobs are found in a wide range of private and public sector organisations of all sizes. Typical employers include retail companies, such as supermarkets, department stores and mail order companies, banks and building societies, insurance companies and local government.

 

Useful links:

The Call Centre Association (CCA)

 

The Call Centre Management Association (CCMA)

 

Chartered Management Institute (CMI)


Institute of Customer Service (ICS)


Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM)


International Customer Service Assocaition (ICSA)