Know Everything About Career in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Executive/ Customer Service Executive

Will have to start earning money as soon as you leave school? Or are you not much interested in higher education? Do you want to build your career by working in a BPO or BPM (Business Process Outsourcing or Business Process Management)? Then you can take up CRM Executive career which will help you earn decent money. As a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Executive / Customer Service Executive, you will be involved in the process of sales, customer services, business development, recruiting, marketing, or in similar other processes in a business. You will be responsible for responding and making phone calls, web-chats, and emails. You will be responsible for managing the external interactions and relationships with customers and others for driving the success of the organization for which you are working.

Why become a CRM Executive/ Customer Service Executive? 

As a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Executive, you will be involved in the process of sales, customer services, business development, recruiting, marketing, or in similar other processes in a business. You will be responsible for managing interactions with the existing or potential customers as well as manage relationships with the existing customers of the company in which you work.

You will be responding to phone calls from existing and potential customers of a company; chat with the customer using a web application or mobile application, or over social media; and you will respond to emails. You will do one or all of these, depending upon your responsibilities, for resolving queries, problems, recording complaints of the customers who are directly or indirectly engaged with your company and for receiving feedback from the customers. 

Depending upon your work role, you may also be responsible for making calls to potential customers for generating leads. Lead generation is a process of generating the interest of a potential customer about the products or services that your company offers.

Depending upon your work role, you may also be responsible for making calls for the purpose of promotion or sales of products and services that your company offers. You may also be responsible for handling and resolving the queries of customers who walk-in at the shop/showroom/relationship centre/repair centres. You will be either working as a Non-Voice Process Executive or as a Voice Process Executive.

Now you must be wondering what is Non-Voice Process and Voice Process?

In the Non-Voice process, you will be responsible for answering and resolving queries related to products or services your organization is dealing with over web-chat, mobile chat, social media interactions, and emails. On the other hand, in the Voice process, you will be responsible for answering calls of the customers for resolving queries, problems, recording complaints, receiving feedback, etc. 

Non-Voice Process Executives respond to queries by either using preexisting email templates or by drafting customized emails. Whereas Voice Process Executives make or answer calls for which the responses are primarily scripted, basic, and routine with the assistance of a computerized system. Nowadays, many types of software are available for generating automated mails and replies to the queries of the customers received over emails and web-chat, mobile chat, or social media interactions. 

What is CRM?

Customer Relationship Management is a kind of approach that is required in a company for managing the interaction of the company with various existing as well as potential customers. CRM is a process which leads to customer satisfaction and which will eventually lead to business growth. In simple terms, CRM is an art of studying the needs and meeting the expectations of the potential as well as current customers by providing them the right solution for their queries or complaints. 

In CRM for improving the business relationship with the customers and also for knowing the history of the customer, data analysis techniques are used. Data analysis is a process in which inspection, transformation, and modeling of data is done to discover useful information, informing conclusion and supporting decision-making.

Popular Specialization in CRM Executive/ Customer Service Executive

1. CRM Non-Voice Process Executive: As a CRM Non-Voice Process Executive, you will be responsible for answering and resolving queries related to products or services that a company is dealing with. You will be responsible for resolving the queries and cases of the customers over web-chat, mobile chat, social media interactions, and emails. 

As a CRM Non-Voice Process Executive, you will be forming a primary layer of contact between the customer and the organization. You will be responding to the queries by either using pre-existing email templates or by drafting customized emails.

2. CRM Voice Process Executive: As a Voice Process Executive, you will be responsible for answering phone calls of the customers of a company for resolving queries, problems, recording complaints, receiving feedback, etc. You will be responsible for making calls for generating leads (lead generation is a process of generating the interest of the potential consumers of a company into products or services your organization is dealing with), selling purpose, or promotional calls, etc. 

A CRM Voice Process Executives make or answer calls the responses to which are primarily scripted, basic, and routine with the assistance of a computerized system.

3. Customer Care Executive: As a Customer Care Executive, you will be responsible for handling and resolving queries of the customers who walk-in at the shop/showroom/relationship centre/repair centres. You will be responsible for taking the complaints of the customers and will be selling the products and services your organization is dealing with.
4. Customer Care Executive (Repair Centre): As a Customer Care Executive (Repair Centre), you will be responsible for providing support and assistance to the customers who walk-in at the shop/showroom/relationship centre/repair centres for servicing and repairing the products they bought from a company.
5. Customer Care Executive (Call Centre): As a Customer Care Executive (Call Centre), you will be responsible for providing support and assistance to the potential as well as the existing customers of a company over phone, mobile chat, social media interactions, web-chats, and emails. You will also be handling, resolving complaints or queries of the customers related to the products and services your organization is dealing with. You will be responsible for following up with the customers after resolving the queries or complaints.

What does CRM Executive do? 

As a CRM Executive, you will be engaged in all or some of the following key roles and responsibilities:

• You will be required to answer phone calls of customers and greet them. 
• You will be required to answer and resolve queries of customers as well as complaints related to products or services quickly and efficiently over web-chat, mobile chat, social media interactions, phone calls, and emails. 
• You will be required to check the recorded data of the customers of your company to resolve their queries or the complaints of the customers.
• You will be required to update customers about their complaint ID, complaint status, etc. 
• You will be required to understand the needs of the customer and address them accordingly. 
• You will be responsible for updating the customer about the latest products for increasing the sales of the organization. 
• You will be required to build and maintain a profitable relationship with your customers. 
• You will be required to meet your managers, internal communication team members, and content development team members, to integrate or modify the communication script.

How to become a CRM Executive – Eligibility Criteria 

After Completing Class 10 in School, you may obtain:

• NSQF Level 4 Qualification in CRM Domestic Non-Voice or CRM Domestic Voice
• NSQF Level 4 Qualification in Customer Care Executive (Relation Centre) or Customer Care Executive (Repair Centre) or Customer Care Executive (Call Centre)

After Completing Class 12, you may:

• Get a job as an Assistant or trainee on various customer service roles
• Obtain Diploma in Computer Application and then apply for various job opportunities on Customer Service Roles,
• Obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in any Discipline and then apply for various Job Opportunities,
• Obtain Bachelor’s Degree in any Discipline and then obtain NSQF Level 4 Qualification in Customer Care Executive (Relation Centre) or Customer Care Executive (Repair Centre) or Customer Care Executive (Call Centre). 

Alternatively, if you have completed a Master’s Degree in any discipline, you may obtain:

• NSQF Level 4 Qualification in CRM Domestic Non-Voice or CRM Domestic Voice

Educational Fees

The cost of education for becoming a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Executive in India can vary depending on the type of education you choose.

One option is to pursue a degree in business administration or marketing. The cost of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration or marketing can range from INR 50,000 to INR 2,00,000 per year, depending on the institution you choose.

Another option is to pursue a diploma or certification course in CRM. The cost of such courses can range from INR 10,000 to INR 50,000, depending on the institution and the duration of the course.

In addition to the cost of education, you may also need to consider additional expenses such as textbooks, transportation, and accommodation.

Job Opportunities 

As a CRM Executive, at the beginning of your career, you will start off as a trainee or intern on various customer service roles such as Customer Service Associate, Customer Service Representative, Customer Service Advisor, Helpdesk Coordinator, Customer Support Representative, and Process Associate Voice, Customer Support Assistant (Voice or Non-Voice), etc. in various banking, finance, accounting, insurance, legal, sales, marketing, IT, manufacturing, management consulting, public sector, etc. Some of the industries where you may find job opportunities are:

• In various Business Process Outsourcing companies or Business Process Management companies such as TATA Consultancy Services, Genpact, Wipro BPO, Aegis Limited, Serco Global Services, Infosys BPO, WNS Global Services, etc. who are working for other companies such as Amazon, Airtel, Samsung, Flipkart, Nykaa, Myntra, Paytm Mall, Snapdeal, etc. 
• In various airline companies such as Air India, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Indigo, Vistara, Air Asia and Go Air, etc.
• In various couriers or food delivery companies such as Shadowfax, India Post, DHL, Blue Dart, FedEx India, First Flight Courier Limited, Swiggy, Dunzo, UberEats, etc.
• In various Telecom sector companies such as Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, MTNL, BSNL, etc.
• In various Electronic and Appliances companies such as at their repair centres or support centres such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Nokia, Apple, etc. 
• In Various Banking and Finance Industries such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Muthoot Finance, Bajaj Finance Ltd., GIC Housing Finance Ltd., IDFC First Bank Ltd, Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd., etc.

Salary of CRM Executive 

Salaries vary according to job profiles and the kind of facilities you get to work at.

In the entry-level jobs: You may expect to get about Rs. 8,000 –15,000per month.

Salaries increase with your work experience and as you get promoted.

In junior-level roles, you can expect to earn about Rs. 10,000 – 20,000or more per month. 

In the mid-level jobs, with 6-12 years of work experience, you may expect to get about Rs.15,000 – 80,000 per month or more.

In the senior-level jobs, with 12-15 years of work experience, you may expect to get about Rs. 35,000 – 1,50,000 per month or even more. 

Also, you will be receiving incentives for completing targets, apart from the above-mentioned salaries.

Career Progression in CRM Executive 

Here is how you may grow:

Trainee (Voice/ Non-Voice Processes) for domestic/international clients – Customer Service Executive/ CRM Executive / similar role – Senior Customer Service Executive/ CRM Executive / similar role or Team Lead (Voice or Non-Voice Process) – Voice or Non-Voice Process Manager – Senior Manager Voice or Non-Voice Process – Assistant Vice President – Associate Vice President – Vice President.

If you perform well, within 3-4 years, you can be a Team Lead position and within 5-6 years, you can be a manager. In 8-10 years’, time, you can become a Senior Manager or an Assistant Vice President. However, promotions are few and far between as progress upward. Most people move up to a Senior Manager role.

What does industry trends say – Future Prospects

According to the report of KPMG and ASOCIO (Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization), India’s IT-BPO Market has achieved impressive growth of USD 71.6 Billion in 2009 and is expected to reach USD 285 Billion in 2020 as it is growing at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 15%.

As per the report generated by IBEF (Indian Brand Equity Foundation), the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow from US$ 38.5 billion as of 2017 to US$200 billion by 2026. This growth has been triggered by increasing internet and smartphone penetration. This growth in the e-commerce industry will also boost employment for various job positions such as customer care executives, customer support executives, etc.

However, it’s also expected that soon, the demand for various Customer Service Roles will slow down because of rapid deployment of automation such as the adoption of the automated chat box, automated email reply, and AI-powered chatbot for resolving customer queries.

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