WHAT DOES A CLIENT SUPPORT SPECIALIST DO?

Published: July 26, 2024 - The Client Support Specialist streamlines banking processes by automating routine tasks and ensuring accurate account closures, including associated banking products. The role involves proactive engagement with clients to update and verify information, enhancing customer satisfaction and retention. The specialist also supports cross-functional bank operations, training, and compliance with established policies and standards, ensuring a seamless banking experience.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Client Support Specialist

1. Client Support Specialist Duties

  • Automation Strategy Development: Analyze manual processes and develop automated strategies whenever possible.
  • Account Closure Review: Review all closed accounts to ensure proper closure including products (i.e., debit cards, lines of credit, online banking).
  • Transfer Setup: Set up automatic and dynamic transfers for the branches.
  • Departmental Contribution: Contribute to departmental processes including withholdings, account maintenance, and new account review.
  • Mail Processing: Review and process mail for all branches, contacting the client to receive current information.
  • Project Assistance: Assist with completing special projects and assignments by the Department Manager.
  • Training Participation: Actively participate in internal and external continuing deposit operations, electronic banking, and deposit account training.
  • Bank Product Knowledge: Knowledge of bank products and services.
  • Policy Adherence: Have a working knowledge of Choice Financials policies and procedures and comply with them.
  • Standard Service Performance: Perform services under bank standards, policies, and procedures.
  • Proactive Customer Response: Respond proactively to customers' total banking needs by making cross-sales and referrals to appropriate bank employees.
  • Service Quality Support: Support, advances and is responsible for meeting bank and department quality service standards.
  • Customer Service Excellence: Exhibits a personal desire to serve and a willingness to exceed customer expectations for prompt, efficient service.

2. Client Support Specialist Details

  • Team Collaboration: Work collaboratively with the Oakworth team to successfully support the daily functions and strategic deliverables.
  • Client Interaction: Answer incoming calls and emails, open accounts, make transfers, obtain necessary documents, complete client records, cut checks, and assist clients with various needs.
  • Meeting Preparation: Involve in all aspects of pre-client meeting activities, including data gathering, client documentation, required statements, as well as post-client meeting work.
  • Support Provision: Serve as the first line of support to internal associates and clients.
  • Service Excellence: Opportunity to help provide top-notch service to Oakworth clients.
  • Interdepartmental Cooperation: Work together with areas of Banking, Wealth, Credit, Compliance, Treasury Management, and other groups within the organization.
  • System Operations: Work in various online systems.
  • Confidentiality Maintenance: Maintain complete confidentiality with regard to customer accounts, loans, and bank relationships.
  • Positive Representation: Project a positive image of the bank when representing the organization.
  • Goal Support: Actively support management and organizational goals.
  • Teamwork Enhancement: Interact with other employees to promote teamwork, communication, trust, and respect.
  • Adaptability: Adapt to meet the ever-changing customer and community needs.

3. Client Support Specialist Responsibilities

  • Operational Support Provision: Provide merchant-specific operational support to MC/MS on procedures and help solve client concerns.
  • Follow-up Completion: Completing successful follow-ups to ensure accuracy, client satisfaction, and timely resolution.
  • Workflow Analysis: Analyzes common workflow scenarios and identifies gaps that may exist with necessary resource material.
  • Procedure Feedback: Provides feedback to leadership regarding procedures that may be out of process or outside of the scope of client needs.
  • Mentorship: Serve as a mentor for agents new to role by providing support, reference material, and real-time recommendations via chat, email, or floor support.
  • System Knowledge Expansion: Possess expanded knowledge of proprietary or external systems outside of normal production scenarios.
  • Escalated Engagement: Engages in escalated calls, emails, and correspondence from Merchants, Business Partners, and Leadership Team.
  • System Navigation: Navigate through various systems, including North, South, Proprietary and TSYS platform applications to research and resolve inquiries.
  • Tool Expertise: Extensive knowledge of boarding/maintenance/reporting tools such as Salesforce, Marketplace, Merchant Service Center (MSC), Client line.
  • Merchant Issue Resolution: Effectively respond to merchant issues regarding interchange and chargeback compliance, merchant billing, funding and batch detail reports, e-commerce products and reporting to resolve client concerns and answer questions.
  • Sales Support: Provide merchant-specific operational support to RM's/Sales on procedures and escalation points within the portfolio.
  • Inquiry Resolution: Resolve merchant inquiries regarding billing, reporting, payments, products and solutions researching and responding with a solution.

4. Client Support Specialist Accountabilities

  • Administrative Assistance: Assist in day-to-day administration operations associated with issuing surety bonds.
  • Documentation Accuracy: Ensure accuracy and timely issuance of client documentation including bonds, prequalification letters, renewal certificates, invoices, and endorsements.
  • Client Coordination: Work in partnership with client executives & client representatives to ensure approval of bonds.
  • Data Management Support: Support data management and maintenance.
  • Costing Preparation: Prepare bond costing for tenders, & final bonds (contract/commercial) including primary & pro-rated return/additional premium costing.
  • Research Assistance: Provide support in conducting primary and secondary research with client executives on behalf of clients (i.e., pulling bond liabilities reports, collection of financial information, etc).
  • File Management: Create client files and update filing documentation.
  • Record Keeping: Maintain proper records for reporting and audit purposes.
  • Document Verification: Ensure all documents are current and correct.
  • Electronic File Maintenance: Maintain an electronic file system for scanned bonds & email documentation.
  • Document Preparation: Prepare correspondence/reports/other documents with guidance from the client team.
  • Internal Collaboration: Collaborate internally to identify and resolve information gaps in key account data.
  • Procedure Adherence: Adhere to company procedures and data integrity standards.

5. Client Support Specialist Functions

  • Advertising Insight Provision: Leading provider of advertising information and insight.
  • Client Query Handling: Dealing with client queries and running regular client reports.
  • Client Satisfaction Support: Supporting the account management team to deliver excellent client satisfaction.
  • Inquiry Response and Recording: Answering and recording client inquiries and questions by phone/email.
  • Query Ownership and Tracking: Owning and tracking queries to an effective resolution.
  • Client Report Management: Running and sending clients' reports.
  • Client Service Setup: Setting up clients with access to Nielsen services.
  • Client Training: Training clients on the relevant Nielsen tools and services, mainly through online training tools but also, occasionally face-to-face.
  • Feedback Integration and Project Management: Bring client feedback to the team and suggest areas for improvement, then manage the subsequent projects.
  • Client Satisfaction Enhancement: Put a smile on clients' faces! Provide them with excellent email and phone support, and act as a consultant to solve their challenges.
  • Product Expertise Development: Develop expert knowledge of products to share with clients.
  • Process Efficiency Creation: Create efficiencies in internal and external processes.
  • Issue Identification and Resolution: Identify, troubleshoot and resolve issues encountered by users, confirm and report bugs.

6. Client Support Specialist Job Description

  • Service Desk Management: Independently process all work at the Service Desk.
  • Customer Communication: Contact customers on all questions relating to the operation of applications.
  • System Support: Answer all questions that affect the company's system landscape.
  • Problem-solving Coordination: Independently organize and coordinate customer-specific problem-solving processes.
  • Interdepartmental Liaison: Serve as an interface function between customers and all internal (specialist) departments.
  • Application Support: Support customers in the operation and handling of applications.
  • Relationship Management: Build and maintain relationships with all customers.
  • Contractual Compliance: Comply with customer-specific contractual agreements and applications.
  • Quality Assurance Development: Identify and develop quality assurance measures.
  • Statistical Reporting: Create statistical evaluations.
  • Cross-functional Collaboration: Work in close partnership with sales and other departments.
  • Customer Satisfaction: Answer questions, resolve issues, and ensure customer satisfaction.

7. Client Support Specialist Overview

  • Initial Issue Identification: Answer calls from customers and identify initial issues.
  • Customer Request Resolution: Successfully resolve customer requests via email, phone, and chat while utilizing a varied set of ticketing, content, and task management tools.
  • Stakeholder Tasking: Identify and task issues that require involvement from Computer Engineers, General Contractors, and Internal Stakeholders.
  • Process Enhancement: Add suggestions and efficiencies to improve documentation, processes, and knowledge base.
  • Billing and Sales Management: Manage some billing and sales-related requests.
  • Stress Communication Techniques: Apply appropriate communication techniques when responding to customers, particularly in stressful situations.
  • Written Customer Inquiries: Respond to customer service inquiries in writing.
  • Transaction Documentation: Maintain timely, accurate documentation for all appropriate transactions.
  • Performance Standards Adherence: Consistently meet established productivity, schedule adherence, and quality standards.
  • Issue Reporting: Keep management abreast of all outstanding issues.
  • Ad-hoc Reporting Assistance: Assist with ad-hoc reports and projects for internal financial purposes and external requests.

8. Client Support Specialist Details and Accountabilities

  • Product Knowledge: Possess a broad knowledge base of health and welfare-related products offered by offices.
  • Online Navigation Assistance: Assist callers with maneuvering through the online enrollment portal.
  • Enrollment Processing: Process enrollment elections via telephone and educate clients on different available products.
  • Claims Guidance: Provide direction for claims resolution.
  • Customer Service Excellence: Ensures quality customer service for internal and external customers.
  • Response Handling: Responds to incoming customer service requests, both verbal and written.
  • Needs Analysis: Identify and assess customers' needs quickly and accurately.
  • Problem Solving: Solve problems systematically, using sound business judgment.
  • Cross-departmental Collaboration: Partner with other department representatives to resolve complex customer service inquiries.
  • Issue Monitoring: Monitor delegated customer service issues to ensure timely and accurate resolution.
  • Documentation Update: Assists with updating applicable user guides in Seller Web.

9. Client Support Specialist Tasks

  • First-Line Technical Support: Serve as first-line technical support for clients and help resolve issues with the client success managers, product and engineering teams, or partners and partnerships team.
  • Feature Troubleshooting: Keep up to speed when new features are being released and help troubleshoot client issues.
  • Technical Issue Handling: Handle technical issues/escalations over Zoom, email, phone, or other client management tools (FreshDesk, Monday.com, …).
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work cross-functionally with product, engineering, client success, and partnerships teams to help achieve clients’ desired end goals.
  • Knowledge Database Contribution: Contribute to the knowledge database, allowing other team members and clients to learn quickly.
  • Client Feedback Utilization: Use client feedback to help influence product features, projects, and bug prioritization.
  • Technical Support Process Setup: Contribute to setting up and providing input into technical support-related internal processes.
  • Tier I Support Provision: Provide Tier I support via phone or email, including diagnosing and solving software issues.
  • Documentation Development: Develop written business and technical documentation.
  • Project Status Reporting: Develop and deliver weekly project status reports to keep the client and internal project teams on task and updated.
  • System Enhancement Recommendations: Formulate recommendations for system enhancements and process improvements to increase efficiencies with the client support department and client end-user experience.

10. Client Support Specialist Duties

  • Client Support Management: Receive and respond to client support tickets quickly and efficiently.
  • Technical Issue Diagnosis: Work closely with internal Technology and Development teams to diagnose and resolve issues in a timely manner.
  • Technical Troubleshooting: Support Assist Implementation Managers with client launches by supporting technical troubleshooting.
  • Feedback Collection: Share client feedback and functionality requests.
  • Documentation Creation: Create and maintain knowledge base materials and support documentation.
  • Client Experience Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve the client support experience.
  • Issue Escalation: Raise high-priority/escalation items to management to ensure tasks are completed promptly.
  • Problem Resolution: Work closely with the Support team to investigate and resolve issues.
  • Client Relationship Management: Provide clients with an excellent experience during office visits.
  • Task Management: Maintain all tasks and comprehensive notes within bespoke software in line with company standards.
  • Client Feedback Integration: Work closely with the development team to ensure client feedback is heard and used to improve technologies.