Difference between customer service and receptionist?

Question

job posting and wondering what the difference is?

Answer 1

costomer service is soemtimes a recording like you know the press one for blah blah blah and a receptionist is usually a real person but beware you may be on hold for a while

this is if your calling

Answer 2

Receptionist just take phone calls for the most part and act as an operator. A CSR handles customer relations. Quite often they are the same person

Answer 3

Customer service positions usually are behind the scenes in call centers and are not customer facing in terms of face to face meetings.  They are usually paid per call or have a per call quota.

Receptionists are customer facing and usually are up front in a high foot traffic walk in businesses typically where the client needs direction like medical offices or where there is a security type building not controlled by a security guard.  

Receptionists receive clients and direct them to where they need to be and customer service operators service a remote client.

Answer 4

Customer Service Position has knowledge  and trouble shooting abilities about the product or service that their company is selling.  A receptionist does not.

Answer 5

okay well...... customer service is the ability to provide a service or product in the way that it has been promised.  

receptionist is....

* a secretary whose main duty is to answer the telephone and receive visitors

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

* A receptionist is a person in an office/administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office/desk of an organization or business. ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Receptionist

* One who receives visitors or calls, typically in an office setting; Alternative name for a secretary

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/receptionist

i'm not sure if it helps you much but there it is

Answer 6

Receptionist answers phones and basic questions. She/he would lead you to the person you are looking for. Customer Service would be someone who could directly answer someone's inquiries.

Answer 7

The duty of receptionists are usually answer phones, direct call to destination and take messages.  Customer Service has to respond phone calls, return calls and other stuff.

Answer 8

A receptionist handles basic duties such as answering phones, greeting walk-in clients, handling incoming/outgoing mail, etc.  A customer service rep's primary job duties involve dealing directly with customers.  In some companies a CSR deals with everythign except taking/placing new sales orders.  In some companies a CSR's job duties include sales.  If I had to choose, I'd say that a customer service position is slightly higher than a receptionist position at the same company.  Then again, there's really no standard definition of job titles so there's really no way to know for sure what a particular company means by receptionist or customer service.  If you read the descriptions in each job posting it should give you an idea of the kinds of things the position is responsible for.  If not, focus on phones, filing, basic typing, etc if you apply for a reception job and focus on sales, customer interaction, and problem resolution for customer service positions.  You can always ask for more specific information if and when they want you come in for an interview.

Of course, you'll have to remember that retail stores will use the term customer service to refer to all of their employees regardless of each person's primary function.

Answer 9

A receptionist is more like a phone operator or a greeter at the door while a customer service rep is more like a sales rep or technician.

Answer 10

thats easy... csr (customer service representatives) are there to handle and help the customers, receptionests are mainly there to help with paperwork, set appointment and meeting schedules, and other office things...

Answer 11

Receptionist answer phones and greet customers.  But they do not take care or handle a customer cases, files etc, like a customer service agent would.  A receptionist handles more then just phones, however a Customer service rep primarliy deals with cusotmers.

Answer 12

The difference is:  receptionist, answers and directs incoming calls, greets patrons and consultants, maybe works on mailings or things as such.   Customer service deals with incoming calls (mostly), they handle the customer's request...such as change of address, change of PIN, research the account, item, shipment, complaints, cancellations, and other various requests.