When it comes to client relationships, there are two aspects that often get confused with each other - customer support and customer service. These two aspects might be different in nature, but they serve the same purpose, namely, keeping clients happy.
The one cannot exist without the other and when one aspect fails, the other one also gets pulled down. For a business to grow, both customer support and customer service need to run smoothly. To make things a bit clearer and easier to understand, here are the major differences between these two business operations.
Broadly speaking
When one looks at the general description of each business operation, the difference is very clear. Customer service revolves around the services that a team delivers to a customer, whether it is in-store assistance or financial in nature. Customer service is a very wide operation that encapsulates all the personal dealings between a business and the client.
Customer support revolves around the products and the clients. The customer support team works at the backend of a sale to ensure that the interaction between a client and the product is smooth.
A virtual phone system is the preferred method of communication. TalkRoute provides businesses with phone systems on desktops and smartphones, which enable them to deal with more than one client at a time.
When do these operations come into play
Customer service teams are at the front line and are responsible for meeting the client and guiding them through to a purchase. Once a customer has purchased a product and leaves the shop, the customer support team comes into play. This makes the role of the customer service team purely transactional.
Customer service relies on individuals to approach the clients where they are and offer their assistance. On the other hand, customer support relies on the client to reach out to them to provide them with a support service. The role of the customer support team is more reciprocal in nature as they try and improve the customer experience after the sale.
The right candidates for the job
Essentially, your customer support and service teams will have different types of people doing the job. A customer service member is more relational and reads what the customer needs and wants. They have the ability to upsell other products and bring in more revenue for the store. They need very general product knowledge, but their knowledge needs to cover the full spectrum of the business.
Customer support members are not necessarily the biggest relational players on your team. They do, however, possess deep knowledge about the products of the shop. Their knowledge is generally specialized, but with experience, their knowledge base also grows. They are the ones who provide the after-sales service and ensure that the clients come back.
Level of expertise
Generally, customer service staff are entry-level staff members. Apart from new products or services that they need to take note of, there is not much career path growth for them except for management-level employees.
Customer support staff members are much more involved in the technical aspects of the business’s products and services. There are much more career opportunities available, including research and development and management.
Customer service staff connects customers to existing solutions and it is an important skill they need to have. They are the ones who can make suggestions on what is available in the shop or business.
The support members are the ones who brave the uncharted waters and provide answers to problems that they have never encountered before. Their work is pioneering in nature, which means that they can find new solutions by making new connections.