WHAT DOES A CUSTOMER SERVICE EXECUTIVE DO?
Published: September 12, 2024 - The Customer Service Executive establishes professional relationships with customers to enhance brand loyalty, manages both inbound and outbound customer inquiries, and maintains the quality of service interactions. This role involves detailed record-keeping of customer interactions in care software, ensuring efficient resolution of inquiries and complaints, and escalating issues when necessary. Additionally, there is a focus on sales opportunities through proactive customer engagement, promoting offers, and executing upselling and cross-selling strategies.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Customer Service Executive
1. Customer Service Executive Duties
- Customer Service: Responsible for handling all customers' inquiries, including but not limited to stock availability and sample requisitions.
- Sales Coordination: Liaise with Sales Personnel to process sales orders.
- Order Management: Lead and oversee the end-to-end delivery process of orders (from delivery arrangements to delivery dates), ensuring no delays.
- Invoicing: Process and issue invoices and credit notes.
- Claims Handling: Handle all claims related to defects and incorrect pricing, etc.
- Return Process Management: Manage return inquiries and provide clear guidance to customers on the return process.
- Payment Documentation: Prepare Proforma Invoices for advance payment and bank documents for L/C negotiation.
- Inspection Coordination: Arrange inspections by relevant government bodies as required in some regions.
- Shipment Arrangement: Coordinate shipments with 3PLs and relevant forwarders, ensuring attention to special requests from certain countries (e.g., Stamping of Origin, SNI, CCC labeling, etc.).
- Supplier Liaison: Liaise with suppliers regarding the availability of special products.
- Order Status Reporting: Provide and update information on the status of backorders via Promise Date Reports.
- Payment Follow-up: Follow up with customers to ensure timely payments.
2. Customer Service Executive Details
- Customer Service Support: Support all customer service activities in the Customer Service department.
- Delivery Coordination: Ensure on-time delivery for all spare parts and related services to customers' desired locations.
- Order Review: Perform daily Turn Around Time and On Time Delivery review on customers' orders.
- Account Support: Support the Account Management Team by consolidating daily transactions (performance reports, status reports, etc.).
- Stock Reporting: Compile consolidated weekly stock replenishment/repair status reports for customers on a timely basis.
- Customer Feedback Handling: Collect and report customers' feedback, sharing and aligning with Account Managers.
- Time Management: Maintain excellent organizational and time-management skills, with strong follow-through and perseverance to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
- Team Support: Provide support and back-up assistance to peers in the Customer Service team.
- Regulatory Compliance: Comply with all US and Singapore Export Control, Dangerous Goods, and hazardous material regulations.
- Customer Relationship Management: Develop, manage, and maintain strong relationships with customers.
3. Customer Service Executive Responsibilities
- Customer Relationship Management: Develop a professional rapport with the customers and build positive brand loyalty.
- Sales Engagement: Engage potential customers and provide them with clear explanations of the company’s offered programs to boost lead creation.
- Call Handling: Handle inbound and outbound calls pertaining to customer queries.
- Quality Assurance: Ensure the quality of calls is met.
- Customer Interaction: Interact with customers to provide and process information in response to inquiries, concerns, and requests about products and services.
- CRM Software Proficiency: Work on customer care software to log tickets pertaining to customer queries, record customer interactions, and track transactions, details of inquiries, and complaints.
- Problem Solving: Apply processes and product knowledge in replying to customers to provide the quickest resolution to all customer queries.
- Escalation Management: Escalate complaints to the next level to ensure timely action and resolution.
- Issue Resolution: Follow up on issues until closure.
- Communication: Communicate final resolution to the customers.
- Sales Promotion: Utilize the opportunity to pitch sales, generate further needs, promote offers, upsell, and cross-sell products.
4. Customer Service Executive Job Summary
- Lead Management: Taking calls and directing leads to the Sales Executives.
- Relationship Management: Building and managing relationships effectively with customers, drivers, suppliers, and colleagues.
- Complaint Resolution: Dealing with and resolving inbound inquiries and complaints by email and phone.
- Communication Skills: Proving written and verbal communication skills to deliver first-time resolutions, ensuring the correct advice is given the first time.
- Collaboration: Liaising with suppliers and colleagues to proactively resolve queries and complaints.
- Product Knowledge: Developing knowledge by fully understanding all products, services, processes, and customer contracts.
- Market Awareness: Keeping up to date with market conditions, industry knowledge, and organizational changes.
- Sales Support: Conducting and assisting in sales activities and events for the generation of more leads and student enrolments.
- Event Management: Managing and working with the staff needed for the events.
- Customer Service: Attending to customers’ feedback and challenges in a professional manner and following through effectively and efficiently to resolution within the team.
5. Customer Service Executive Accountabilities
- Stakeholder Coordination: Liaise with customers, sub-contractors, and internal operatives to arrange mutually agreeable appointments for inspection or resolution of defects.
- Defect Resolution: Ensure that all reported defects are dealt with in a cost-effective, timely, and professional manner to the satisfaction of the customer.
- Relationship Building: Develop positive working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders.
- Database Management: Maintain the Customer Service Database by logging all defects, updating communication records, and saving all relevant correspondence.
- Administrative Support: Generate worksheets, maintenance orders, and defect notices in line with the required works.
- Issue Reporting: Ensure that any complex issues or patterns of common complaints/defects are reported to the line manager.
- Escalation Management: Ensure that all NHBC resolutions are escalated and communicated appropriately.
- Customer Engagement: Attract potential customers by answering product and service questions and suggesting information about other products and services.
- Task Follow-Up: Contact customers back where necessary for following up tasks.
- Partner Coordination: Keep close contact with implementing partners for day-to-day work.