Internet jobs at home remote customer support by ericwelke

Articles from EricWelke.com Internet Jobs at Home: Remote Customer Support by Eric Welke

A Remote customer support representative performs the same duties as a regular support representative in a regular call center. The main difference is that the representative is working remotely; at home, in a remote office or in a café. The concept isn’t new and a large chunk of freelancers work as remote customer support. Remote customer support representatives are usually employed by small start-ups who are maximizing their budget. Internet jobs at home like remote customer support aren’t limited by a scope of responsibility. Since workload can vary and can even be seasonal, a representative is often called upon to do other tasks. Freelancers who have other usable skills have a definite edge over the rest. A job in customer support entails a lot of communication and this same skill can be repurposed for other related tasks. Reps can be assign tasks like writing process flows, product descriptions, and even training new support reps. Usual tasks of a remote customer support representative: 1. Product orientation – guide a customer through the setup of a product, its assembly or activation. 2. Product Support – provide information on how a customer can fix common issues or answer questions about the product. 3. Billing inquiries- check on the status of a customer’s payment history 4. Payment processing- accept and post payment over the phone 5. Price quote creation- create a price quote for specific products that the customer wants to order 6. Remote PC support- access a customer’s PC remotely to aid in

7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

troubleshooting Email support- answer customer issues and concerns via email Chat Support- answer customer issues and concerns via real time chat Report generation- create reports based on information collected from customer interactions Inbound marketing- sell products to callers and upsell to current customers Server administration – remote administration of a server via web interface or secure console.

Pay varies but is typically higher for technical support jobs. Rates for a voice support agent starts at around $4. It can go higher depending on the expertise required for the product being supported. There are also considerations for special skills such as fluency in other languages and qualifications like Cisco Certification. Competition can be tough since this is one of the internet jobs at home that really deliver good money. Technical support can be quite lucrative especially if you have the required knowledge and experience to do remote monitoring and maintenance. There are freelancers who support multiple servers and there are also those who specialize in a particular application like VOIP. They aren’t the designers or coders for the system but they have enough knowhow to isolate problems and even fix the minor ones. Anyone working on internet jobs at home should expect lots of phone time. Customer support is best handled through a phone where there is real time interaction. This type interaction helps to resolve issues quicker. It is critical that you have a work area that’s free from distraction and loud ambient noise. If you plan to start on this line of work you’ll need to make sure you have the following: -

Excellent call handling

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Above average communication skills both written and oral

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Familiar with troubleshooting methods

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A quiet, distraction free work area

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Reliable internet connection that can ensure high quality voice communication

When you work as a remote customer support representative you should expect to get a few nasty calls from time to time. These types of calls are more prevalent if the customers youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re supporting are experiencing frustration with the product or service.