WHAT DOES A CLIENT SERVICE ASSOCIATE DO?
Reviewed under Editorial Standards by Lam Nguyen

Published: July 17, 2024 - The Client Service Associate enhances client interactions by assisting advisors with documentation and mastering Money Guide Pro software. Play a crucial role in managing office operations, preparing AUM and sales reports, and onboarding new clients. Additionally, develop the team through training, act as a liaison for client feedback, and help improve services.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Client Service Associate

1. Client Service Associate Duties

  • Onboarding Management: Own and manage the Onboarding process of new customers across the team.
  • Project Management: Can manage multiple ongoing projects and customer-facing communication.
  • Support Ticket Resolution: Quickly own and resolve relevant support tickets, explain the breakdown, and suggest process improvements for reoccurring cases.
  • Communication: Communicate status updates and next steps by phone and email to internal stakeholders and customers.
  • Collaboration and SLA Management: Work diligently and collaboratively with members of other teams to meet or exceed communicated Service Level Agreements.
  • Clarity and Consideration: Communicates with clarity against the work they are leading and ensures that the priorities of others are considered.
  • Problem Solving: Applies solutions to issues or problems that occur and takes an end-to-end view.
  • Judgment and Problem Resolution: Uses judgment to identify and resolve day-to-day problems.
  • Data Quality Management: Be responsible for the initial and ongoing data quality of assigned customers.
  • Work Stream Management: Prioritize and manage concurrent work streams without supervision.
  • Client Support: Work with Trading/ Operations to fully support client needs on campaign delivery.
  • Campaign Execution: Learn and execute campaign setup, reporting, and data analysis processes.

2. Client Service Associate Responsibilities

  • Trade Execution: Execute mutual fund trade requests and portfolio rebalancing requests with financial clients.
  • Investment Advisory Communication: Discuss investment advisory products and platforms with existing and prospective clients.
  • Account Setup and Verification: Set up, review, and verify new accounts.
  • Account Maintenance Filtering: Filter account maintenance requests for the operations department for setup and input.
  • Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Work across various internal groups i.e. Analysts, Sales, and Operations to accomplish daily tasks and ongoing projects.
  • Priority Request Facilitation: Facilitate point-of-contact resolution of priority requests and customer problems.
  • Client Information Provision: Provide clients and financial advisors with account information.
  • Transaction Facilitation: Facilitate timely, accurate, and efficient mutual fund transactions.
  • Advisor Collaboration: Work closely with financial advisors to keep them updated on the progress and resolution of client issues/requests.
  • Quality Control Assurance: Serve as a quality control point to ascertain that all paperwork, policies, and procedures for customer requests have been adhered to by all compliance requirements.
  • Data Management: Use online resources to capture and provide appropriate customer data.
  • Departmental Support: Support other departments with campaigns and projects.

3. Client Service Associate Responsibilities

  • Systems Utilization: Utilize numerous operational systems to answer customer requests or inquiries regarding financial and non-financial transactions.
  • Product Knowledge Maintenance: Continually maintain a working knowledge of all consumer and business products and services, including but not limited to Online Banking and all solutions, Consumer Bill Pay, External Transfers, Consumer MRDC.
  • Account Servicing: Handle Account Servicing requests (Stop Payments, Adjustments/Refunds, etc.).
  • Customer Recommendations: Make recommendations to customers on products and services offered by the bank.
  • Skills Demonstration: Display problem-solving, listening, multitasking, and customer service skills.
  • Training Participation: Attend various product knowledge and customer service training classes – both online and in a classroom setting.
  • Issue Resolution: Take ownership and ensure timely response and resolution of customer issues.
  • Technical Support: Assist customers with technical questions related to our website, browsers, online banking, bill pay, and other self-service customer service options.
  • Platform Expertise: Become an expert at using the proprietary audience platform and immerse yourself in the product and technology.
  • Internal and External Liaison: Be a liaison between all the internal partners at the company and external clients.
  • Reporting: Submit weekly and other related account reports.

4. Client Service Associate Accountabilities

  • Client Service Assistance: Assist in day-to-day client service activities.
  • Documentation Assistance: Assist advisors in the preparation of client documentation.
  • Software Mastery: Mastery of firm software programs.
  • Software Utilization: Use of Money Guide Pro (planning software) for assigned clients.
  • Relationship Strengthening: Strengthen business relationships with current clients.
  • Reporting: Prepare monthly AUM and sales pipeline reports.
  • Office Management Assistance: Assist directors with general office management.
  • Client Onboarding: Responsible for the onboarding of new clients.
  • Team Development: Develop a high-performing team of Associates through training, coaching, and mentorship.
  • Client Advocacy: Act as the clients' champion across BlueWave, channeling feedback to BlueWave teams, and translating business needs and product requirements into new solutions for clients.
  • Client Engagement: Help drive client interviews, references, and case studies.

5. Client Service Associate Functions

  • Global Program Management: Running global programs in support of a Client Service Project Manager.
  • Process Mastery: Learning and executing our end-to-end process to support and delight our clients.
  • Quality Assurance: Pro-actively assuring client and coach of event quality and feedback.
  • Client Communication: Professional, informed, and timely responses to initial prospect or client inquiries.
  • Coach Coordination: Coordinating with our network of coaches for timely and informed feedback.
  • Trust Building: Building trust with clients to identify and create up-selling opportunities.
  • Special Project Support: Supporting special projects that might include specific sales and marketing initiatives.
  • Administrative Support: Providing administrative support for office, project, logistics, and team coordination.
  • Client Hospitality: Managing client hospitality and service for in-office meetings and learning delivery events.
  • Relationship Development: Developing multi-level relationships throughout client organizations, serving as a trusted advisor.
  • Strategic Alignment: Deeply understanding client's community solar investment strategies to align our services and support their business goals.

6. Client Service Associate Job Description

  • Client Interaction Handling: Handle all inbound client services calls, emails, and web inquiries from initial touch-point to resolution.
  • Sales Opportunity Identification: Identify sales and up-sell opportunities for the business.
  • Product Training Provision: Provide clients with product training and ongoing product support.
  • Client Engagement: Provide ongoing proactive outreach to accounts and end-users to drive client engagement and customer satisfaction.
  • Subject-Matter Proficiency: Maintain subject-matter proficiency of all data product offerings and associated value propositions.
  • Usage Data Analysis: Review product usage data to uncover trends and themes in data usage.
  • Product Development Input: Provide product development recommendations based on direct experience.
  • Contract and Invoice Management: Prepare investment contracts for clients and issuance of invoices and receipts.
  • Email and Report Management: Handle multiple emails/queries from clients and prepare monthly reports for clients.
  • Issue Resolution: Ensure client issues are resolved quickly, escalating to resources across BlueWave.
  • Client Portal Promotion: Drive client adoption of the BlueWave Client Portal.
  • Account Growth Collaboration: Partner closely with BlueWave's Business Development team to grow client accounts.

7. Client Service Associate Overview

  • Inquiry Response: Answer user inquiries via phone and email regarding software operations and medical billing questions to address client inquiries/needs or resolve problems.
  • Claims Management: Rebill claims, update insurance coverage for claim processing, and provide status information regarding claims or outstanding A/R.
  • Problem Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot and research problems through reading Knowledge Base Articles, reading Technical Manuals, conferring with other Technical Support Representatives, Team Leaders, or Managers.
  • Client Follow-up: Follow up promptly with status updates to clients.
  • Record Maintenance: Maintain records daily of each customer case in communication tracking software.
  • Knowledge Base Contribution: Contribute to Knowledge Base Articles for sharing with other technical support reps.
  • Communication and Documentation: Ability to communicate, write clearly, and document problems/issues to co-workers and clients.
  • Proposal Management: Receive Request for Proposals and produce digital media plans that adhere to company guidelines and Key Performance Indicators from clients.
  • Pre and Post-Sale Management: Manage day-to-day pre and post-sale activities to ensure successful planning and launch of all integrated marketing programs.
  • Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Work with cross-departmental colleagues to problem solve and implement best practices for marketing programs.
  • Client Communication Management: Manage day-to-day client communications.
  • Marketing Reporting: Provide regularly scheduled reporting with marketing insights.

8. Client Service Associate Details and Accountabilities

  • Meeting Preparation: Initiate and prepare for client meetings while maintaining client communication.
  • Account Opening Coordination: Coordinate the account opening process, including assembling and organizing account information/documents and establishing required banking documentation.
  • Account Management: Oversee account processing and management including maintaining records, reviewing daily transaction reports, and managing daily workflow.
  • Financial Transactions: Prepare remittances, wire transfers, bill paying, and/or receipt transactions with proper transaction and tax codes.
  • Email Response: Answer client emails in a fast-paced environment, including questions about nutrition and health.
  • Product Upselling: Work to up-sell and cross-sell clients on new Sakara products and programs.
  • Issue Resolution: Resolve issues by clarifying the customer's complaint and determining the cause of the problem.
  • Solution Implementation: Explain the best solution to solve the problem and follow up to ensure the resolution.
  • Client Experience Enhancement: Provide feedback and communicate with internal departments to enhance the client experience.
  • Campaign Management: Manage campaigns to meet or exceed client KPIs and internal benchmarks.
  • Billing Coordination: Provide end-of-month billing to the finance team for collections and reconciliation.
  • Billing Liaison: Act as the point of contact for all billing matters as it relates to the finance department.

9. Client Service Associate Tasks

  • Operational Support: A key member of the day-to-day functioning of all processing and operational servicing of the organization.
  • Account Servicing: Primarily focused on support, TOAs, and existing account service requests.
  • Operational Requests Handling: Handle all operational service requests from advisors' books of business.
  • New Account Processing: Responsible for all new account processing and all paperwork for existing clients.
  • Operations Assistance: Assist the Operations Manager in handling all operational service requests from advisors and other associates.
  • Flawless Execution Maintenance: Maintain flawless execution for processing and service items.
  • Account Distribution Processing: Process all account distribution requests for existing client accounts, as well as for all new client accounts.
  • Resource Leveraging: Leverage available resources to meet daily service targets, improve customer satisfaction, support projects, and manage high-risk exposure items.
  • Rejection Correction: Review, assess, and correct any rejections and/or issues.
  • Efficiency Identification: Help identify opportunities to create efficiencies within all aspects of the operations department.
  • Operational Setup Assistance: Assist with processing and operational setup for all associates and any new financial advisors.

10. Client Service Associate Roles

  • Relationship Management: Develop and maintain client relationships.
  • Onboarding Management: Onboard all new starters within the Client’s SLA, providing a positive experience and ensuring the accuracy of contractor setup including rates, awards, agency margin, client, worksite, and client contact details.
  • Document Collection: Communicate with contingent workers to obtain mandatory documents before the contract agreement, e.g., Sub-contractor Statement and Work rights.
  • Documentation Coordination: Coordinate and properly escalate outstanding documentation to complete CXC and client requirements after contract agreement, e.g., WHS, Induction, Policies, LHLD, Deedpoll, etc.
  • Background Check Oversight: Ensure background checks are completed and any adverse findings are escalated to the Specialist.
  • Discrepancy Management: Coordinate with the AU Specialist or Client any discrepancy on RFS/AWE/FG Work Order.
  • Extension Management: Manage the extension process ensuring delivery of a quality, consistent and timely service in line with contracted SLAs.
  • Rate and Tax Adjustment Facilitation: Facilitate rate changes, tax structure changes and/or other requests impacting contractors and ensure liaising/notifying Specialist.
  • Communication Management: Ensure details are well communicated to the contractor, client, or both before revision/amendment.
  • Service Leave Coordination: Ensure all contractors eligible for Long Service Leave are flagged to the Specialist/CSM before proceeding with the extension request.
  • Offboarding Management: Manage the offboarding process, updating contractor records and proper notification to all parties involved.
Editorial Process

Lamwork content is developed through structured review of publicly available job postings and documented hiring trends.

Editorial operations are managed by Thanh Huyen, Managing Editor, with research direction and final oversight by Lam Nguyen, Founder & Editorial Lead. Content is periodically reviewed to reflect observable labor market changes.

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