A Day in the Life of a B2B Customer Service Rep

Problem solvers. Relationship builders. Revenue generators. In today’s B2B landscape, Customer Service Reps (CSRs) are expected to wear many hats. Trouble is, B2B CSRs can’t drive the
value they’re capable of when so much of their day is lost to performing menial, mundane
tasks. Fortunately, adding a little “digital assistance” into the mix can make a big impact on the morale of your team, the loyalty of your customers, and the longevity of your business.

Are you aware of how your CSR team spends their time? Let’s explore what
a day in the life of a B2B CSR looks like in a traditional,
non-automated environment.

(& How AI-Driven Automation Makes
It So Much Easier )

Managing the lifecycle of orders

If the shared inbox experience can’t break the spirit of a B2B CSR, the order management lifecycle might just do the trick. Because despite the importance of getting the right order to the right customer at the right time, the entire process is often littered with unnecessary and unproductive and unfulfilling errands. These include:

When you consider the totality of incoming orders and different layouts used — including free text in the body of an email — it’s easy to see why manual data entry is a laborious nightmare for B2B CSRs.

Manual order entry & updates

Every minute that B2B CSRs spend gathering order data before making a decision is time that could’ve been used more effectively elsewhere.  

Day-to-day decision making

Without the proper communication outlets to clarify orders, B2B CSRs not only waste their own time, but the time of downstream departments and customers. 

Communication with customers & coworkers

With so much to do on any given day, can one Customer Service automation solution actually address all this busy work? Moreover, if you’re already getting by without it, is the time and financial investment really necessary? Time will tell …

What’s at stake?

Let's hear it from
real-life Customer Service leaders

Ready to learn more?

Hi, we’re Esker. As a global leader in AI-driven solutions and pioneer in cloud computing, we help B2B Customer Service teams all over world automate low-value tasks to perform more timely and meaningful interactions that directly impact customers and company.

To learn more about the ROI your CSR team could see from automation, visit www.esker.com or check out esker.com/blog.   

Handling customer inquiries

Time to sit down, log on and cue the Yakety Sax music. Because if you’re a B2B CSR about to peruse the department’s shared inbox, your day’s about to get stupid-silly in a hurry. Shared inboxes might be the primary point of contact for most customer-facing business transactions, but there’s a reason 62% of companies fail to respond to customer emails.*

Here are some of the biggest time-wasting pain points likely holding your CSR team back:

Not all inquiries are created equal. With quote requests buried under a mountain of order status requests and the only point of reference being a subject line, quickly parsing out priority inquiries is a tough ask of any CSR. But if not them, who?

Classification chaos

Responding to inquiries quickly and accurately should be a given on any good CSR team. But with so many emails to answer and so little clarity afforded? Good. Luck. 

Slow inquiry response

Nothing bogs down a shared inbox (and a CSR’s time) quite like a Where’s my order?!? email from curious customers. If only there was a better way …

Endless status checks

AI to the rescue >Did someone say ChatGPT? >Why CSRs ♥ self-service >

So here’s the question:

What if a B2B CSR’s day could look like this?

The job of a B2B CSR is demanding — that will never change. But to properly nurture, develop
and maintain critical relationships with B2B customers, organizations must rethink how
their CSR team spends its time. That’s where automation comes in.

By seamlessly integrating with any ERP or CRM system, AI-driven solutions transform Customer Service into a more productive, proactive and positively impactful department thanks to:    

  • Relationship building & nurturing CX initiatives with your most
    strategic customers
  • Reengaging with inactive
    & formerly disgruntled customers
  • Cross-selling &/or upselling
  • Proactive communication regarding shipment status, partial shipments & more
  • Working with buyers

More time to focus on
high-value work like:

  • Classifying incoming customer inquiries
  • Fielding status calls & emails
  • Crafting email responses
  • Manually entering order data in ERP
  • Tracking down missing order data
  • Handling change orders
  • Investigating claims
  • Creating quotes

Less time wasted on:

Handling shortage or damaged claims

Analyzing reports (SLA compliance, negative sentiment trends, etc.)

Portal-related tasks (pulling orders, acknowledgments, uploading invoices, etc.)

Quote request management

Contract creation

Change order management

RMA investigation

Of course, it’s not all managing customer inquiries and processing orders. There’s no shortage of critical Customer Service transactions that require the attention of your CSR team — each with their own unique brand of manual minutia. This can include:

Performing other 
Customer Service transactions 

© 2023 Esker S.A. 

* Steven MacDonald, Customer Service Benchmark Report. March 24, 2021.