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Customer Relationship Officers handle the concerns of the people who buy their company’s products or services. They work to rectify issues experienced by individual customers as well as aim to improve the organization’s overall customer satisfaction ratings.
Those interested in a career as a Customer Relationship Officer should like to interact with people in various ways. For instance, Customer Relationship Officers for a bank may email existing clients to make them aware of new services or handle the phone call of someone experiencing a problem with his account. They may also greet people on the bank’s main floor to obtain a sense of their satisfaction with tellers and other personnel or make a presentation to a community group about the bank’s initiatives.
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Customer Relationship Officer Duties and Responsibilities
To accomplish their goal of building customer satisfaction and loyalty, Customer Relationship Officers perform a variety of tasks. Among the primary ones we identified from our analysis of job listings are:
Understanding Customer Concerns
By asking questions, listening carefully and showing empathy, Customer Relationship Officers aim to get to the heart of what customers truly want. They may deal with specific questions over the phone, by email or in person. At establishments with a sales floor, Customer Relationship Officers may spend time simply interacting with people to get a better feel for the company’s customer base and how employees are serving them.
Communicating within the Company
Customer Relationship Officers often act as a liaison between customer service and other departments, especially sales. They bring a specific complaint from a customer to the attention of someone who can resolve the situation They also may pass along general feedback they are hearing from customers in order to help build a better product or develop a new service.
Investigating Problems
Sometimes there isn’t an easy answer to a situation with a customer. When such scenarios arise, Customer Relationship Officers are tasked with figuring out what went wrong, how problems might be fixed and how to keep them from happening again.
Training Staff
Using both their knowledge of the company and of customer service best practices, Customer Relationship Officers educate others hired to respond to customer complaints.
Public Relations
Customer Relationship Officers build connections on behalf of the company. They may call existing clients to ensure their satisfaction, network within the community to identify prospective customers and contribute to the organization’s marketing campaigns.
Monitoring Competitors
To enhance their own company, Customer Relationship Officers may be charged with examining what others in the industry are doing.
Customer Relationship Officer Skills
Customer Relationship Officers are excellent communicators with great interpersonal skills. They must successfully balance the needs of customers with the best interests of the company. Candidates capable of the following draw attention from employers:
- Attending to detail to ensure nothing slips through the cracks
- Analyzing problems in order to come up with resolutions
- Caring about customers, whose happiness can make or break a company
- Following through so customers know their concerns are taken seriously
Tools of the trade
Customer Relationship Officers rely on several tools in order to do their job. A few of the most important include:
Feedback – Input from customers as to their likes, dislikes and satisfaction; may be in the form of numerical ratings or free response
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data– Information on customers obtained from various sources — such as the company’s website, live chat, social media and email – used to learn more about customers and what they want
Computers – To input data, create spreadsheets and keep in touch via email with others in the company and with clients
Accounts – Existing customers who do business with the company
Customer Relationship Officer Education and Training
Most Customer Relationship Officers hold a college degree, oftentimes in a field such as marketing, journalism, communications or business. They typically have previous experience in customer service before advancing to this leadership position.
Customer Relationship Officer Resources
Ready to become a top-notch Customer Relationship Officer? We’ve come up with a list of outstanding books and organizations that can put you on your way.
The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service by Lee Cockerell
The author of this handbook is the former Executive Vice President of Operations at Walt Disney World, so he knows a thing or two about hospitality. Readers describe his book as “easy to read” and “understandable, but profound.” Among his rules: Ask Yourself “What Would Mom Do?” and Treat Every Customer Like a Regular. His universal wisdom can help Customer Relationship Officers become better at their own job, and they may want to make it required reading for their direct reports.
The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service by Jeff Toister
Billed as a guide to “help customer service teams unlock their hidden potential,” readers give the book high marks for its straightforward approach, realworld examples and tangible activities. Toister was named one of the Top 30 customer service professionals in the world by Global Gurus and one of the Top 50 Thought Leaders to Follow on Twitter by the International Customer Management Institute.
Surviving Customer Service: Avoid Burnout, Develop Valuable Career Skills by Donovon Jenson
With a great mix of “wisdom, humor, personal examples and simple steps you can take to improve your customer service and your own work experience,” this book draws rave reviews from both those new to customer service and seasoned professionals.
International Customer Service Association
The mission of this industry group is “to assist individuals and organizations with their goal of providing exceptional customer experiences by providing access to professional growth and development, and recognition.” Its website features a variety of webinars, job postings and a blog written by industry experts.
Customer Service Professionals
An informal networking group of customer service professionals that aspiring Customer Relationship Officers may want to consider joining on LinkedIn. Chances are someone among the 150,000+ members will be able to answer your questions!
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