The Rise of the Customer Service Rep

Posted on 30. Mar, 2009 by Kelly Feller in Community Management, Social Media, Social Media Tools

One of my jobs in a past life was to help set up a customer relations department at a giant organic salad company (yeah…that one). At the time the job was rather unglamorous; I set up processes and fielded phone calls from both ranting and raving customers wanting to know answers to questions like “are the salad greens really were pre-washed?” or “where are the greens actually grown?” Fast forward ten years and I’m doing the Web 2.0 version of this same task at an even larger company.

As companies like the one I work for across the world—and the web—tackle the challenge of how to listen and respond to customer feedback or criticism, we’re beginning to see a trend emerge: companies with strong customer service skills and an online presence (like Dell, Comcast, Southwest Airlines, & Ford) are winning fans (and creating passionate brand advocates) across all industries. From agencies who service these clients to the small and large businesses themselves, the voice of the customer is being given more weight than ever before. And this is a terrific thing for innovation, companies & consumers, and the economy as a whole.

Just today I noticed two blog posts that tackle this issue. One was Jeremiah Owyang’s post on the “Future of PR: When Agencies Represent Communities–Not Brands.” It talked about the growing power of online community voices and how agencies might harness that power into creative ideas. Additionally, Southwest Airlines today announced it was dumping its use of powder creamer for coffee and switching instead to liquid creamer at the request of its customers.

So with all this talk of listening and responding to customers, we’re also seeing the emergence of a new paradigm: the rise in the need for customer service reps. Unlike the past when corporations were scrambling over each other to hire outsourced customer service agents in call centers across the globe, increasing numbers of companies are looking inside their walls for people who can speak the language and who have familiarity with social tools to join online conversations where they are happening.

Last week I presented at the Social Media Club of Portland on the topic of careers in social media. I summarized many of the different jobs that are needed as more companies look to connect with customers online. These include:

marketing and PR professionals
strategists
lawyers
web designers and developers
community managers
online customer service reps (in my opinion the most important)

This last group of folks includes the people brands are looking to as the front-line response teams to reach out and respond when customers discuss their company or product in the many online forums that exist.

All this is super sweet news! I’m guessing this might be a harbinger for a whole new type of workforce–one who is well connected and possesses the super stellar customer service skills to wow and woo online.

Tags: customer service, listening, social media jobs