What is a customer support representative?
When an organization sells a product or a service, the customer support team is often the face and the voice of the company. Upwork provides access to a variety of customer support representatives who help your company by connecting with customers and resolving concerns related to product or service quality, refunds, billing, and service options.
How do you hire a customer support representative?
You can source customer support representative talent on Upwork by following these three steps:
- Write a project description. You’ll want to determine your scope of work and the skills and requirements you are looking for in a customer support representative.
- Post it on Upwork. Once you’ve written a project description, post it to Upwork. Simply follow the prompts to help you input the information you collected to scope out your project.
- Shortlist and interview customer support representatives. Once the proposals start coming in, create a shortlist of the professionals you want to interview.
Of these three steps, your project description is where you will determine your scope of work and the specific type of customer support representative you need to complete your project.
How much does it cost to hire a customer support representative?
Rates can vary due to many factors, including expertise and experience, location, and market conditions.
- An experienced customer support representative may command higher fees but also work faster, have more-specialized areas of expertise, and deliver higher-quality work.
- A contractor who is still in the process of building a client base may price their customer support representative services more competitively.
Rates typically charged by customer support representatives on Upwork are:
- Beginner: $10 per hour
- Intermediate: $17 per hour
- Advanced: $50 per hour
Which one is right for you will depend on the specifics of your project.
How do you write a customer support representative job post?
Your job post is your chance to describe your project scope, budget, and talent needs. Although you don’t need a full job description as you would when hiring an employee, aim to provide enough detail for a contractor to know if they’re the right fit for the project.
Job post title
Create a simple title that describes exactly what you’re looking for. The idea is to target the keywords that your ideal candidate is likely to type into a job search bar to find your project. Here are some sample customer support representative job post titles:
- Our company needs 3 part-time customer support representatives
- Customer support pro needed to onboard newly signed customers
- Looking for customer support expert who can train new hires
Project description
An effective customer support representative job post should include:
- Scope of work: From fielding phone calls to onboarding new customers onto the network, list all the deliverables you’ll need.
- Project length: Your job post should indicate whether this is a smaller or larger project.
- Background: If you prefer experience with certain industries, software, or customer types, mention this here.
- Budget: Set a budget and note your preference for hourly rates vs. fixed-price contracts.
Customer support representative job responsibilities
Here are some examples of customer support representative job responsibilities:
- Retain existing customer base by providing exceptional customer service
- Help sales team by answering questions from new customers
- Manage confidential customer information and handle it with sensitivity
Customer support representative job requirements and qualifications
Be sure to include any requirements and qualifications you’re looking for in a customer support representative. Here are some examples:
- Track record of using discretion when problem solving
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Experience and proficiency in Microsoft Office 365