Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Agent Assistant

🎯 Role Definition

An Agent Assistant provides proactive operational and customer-facing support to sales and service agents, enabling faster response times, higher productivity, and improved customer satisfaction. This role is responsible for managing inbound and outbound communications, qualifying and routing leads, maintaining CRM and knowledge base accuracy, scheduling appointments, preparing documentation, and executing recurring administrative processes. The Agent Assistant works closely with agents, team leads, and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure smooth case resolution and data-driven improvements across customer touchpoints.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Customer Service Representative or Call Center Agent
Sales Development Representative (SDR)
Administrative Assistant or Office Coordinator

Advancement To:

Senior Agent Assistant or Senior Sales Support Specialist
Team Lead / Supervisor — Agent Services
Customer Success Manager or Account Coordinator
Operations Analyst or Process Improvement Specialist

Lateral Moves:

Sales Support Specialist
Quality Assurance Analyst (Customer Service)
Training & Onboarding Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Manage high volumes of inbound and outbound customer interactions (email, phone, chat, and social channels), ensuring each touchpoint is logged, triaged, and resolved or routed within defined SLAs while maintaining a consistent brand voice.
Qualify incoming leads by asking targeted discovery questions, verifying contact information and basic needs, and entering accurate lead scores and disposition codes into the CRM to support agent follow-up and pipeline hygiene.
Schedule and coordinate customer appointments, demos, and follow-ups across multiple calendars, ensuring time-zone accuracy, sending confirmations and reminders, and proactively resolving scheduling conflicts.
Maintain and update CRM records, contact lists, and opportunity statuses daily; merge duplicates, update custom fields, and run periodic data-cleanup tasks to ensure reliable reporting and forecasting.
Create, edit, and publish Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) articles, standard response templates, and knowledge base entries to reduce agent handling time and ensure consistent answers to common inquiries.
Prepare pre-call and post-call documentation for agents, including account histories, call notes, disposition summaries, and recommended next steps to improve conversion and resolution rates.
Escalate complex technical or billing issues to subject-matter experts or supervisors, document escalation rationale, and follow up to ensure timely feedback and closure for the customer.
Monitor real-time dashboards and ticket queues to identify SLA breaches, aging tickets, or backlog spikes; initiate triage and re-prioritization to meet operational KPIs.
Assist with live chat and co-browsing sessions by sharing links, initiating chat transfers, deploying canned responses, and capturing session transcripts for later analysis.
Conduct first-pass troubleshooting for common technical, billing, and account access issues, using documented escalation paths and diagnostic checklists to resolve or escalate incidents efficiently.
Support outbound outreach campaigns, performing list segmentation, CSV imports/exports, personalization of email templates, and tracking deliverability and engagement metrics.
Validate new account setup and onboarding checklists, ensuring required documentation is collected, initial system configurations are completed, and customers have the necessary next-step resources.
Reconcile and process order entries, returns, or simple billing adjustments under established rules, coordinating with finance and operations for approvals and documentation.
Run and distribute daily/weekly operational reports (ticket volume, response time, conversion rates) and provide concise executive summaries highlighting trends, risks, and opportunities for process improvement.
Perform routine QA sampling of agent interactions to identify coaching opportunities and compliance gaps; prepare concise feedback reports for team leads and training partners.
Manage customer satisfaction surveys and follow-up outreach for detractors, capturing verbatim feedback, and providing actionable insights to the product and service teams.
Execute targeted outreach for upsell and cross-sell opportunities identified by agents, using scripts and approved messages to nurture interest and schedule follow-up handoffs.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of product features, release notes, pricing changes, and promotional programs; proactively communicate updates to agents and adjust internal templates and scripts accordingly.
Implement and enforce data privacy and security practices during customer interactions and CRM handling, including masking sensitive data and following verification protocols.
Coordinate with legal, compliance, and operations teams for ad-hoc auditing requests, gathering required records, and responding to inquiries with appropriate documentation.
Assist in the development and execution of process documentation, SOPs, and runbooks to reduce onboarding time and improve consistency across agent operations.
Participate in continuous improvement initiatives by identifying repeatable tasks that can be automated, testing automation flows, and providing feedback to engineering or RPA teams.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Train new Agents on CRM etiquette, ticketing workflows, and internal escalation procedures; provide coaching on effective written and verbal customer communication.
Assist marketing and product teams with customer segmentation feedback and use-case examples gathered during day-to-day interactions.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

CRM proficiency (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, or similar) — record management, custom fields, lead scoring, and list segmentation.
Ticketing and helpdesk tools (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, or similar) — ticket routing, macros, SLA configuration.
Live chat and omnichannel platforms (Intercom, LiveChat, Drift) — session handling and canned responses.
Calendar and scheduling tools (Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly) — time-zone management and automated reminders.
Basic data skills — Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP), Google Sheets, and the ability to run/interpret reports and dashboards.
Reporting and analytics tools (Looker, Tableau, Power BI or internal dashboards) — generating recurring reports and identifying trends.
Knowledge base and content management systems — article creation, SEO-friendly titles, and version control.
Familiarity with VoIP and call routing systems (RingCentral, Aircall) — call logging and transfer etiquette.
Basic SQL or ability to run saved queries (preferred) for ad-hoc data pulls and verification.
Experience with ticket automation and workflow builders (Zapier, Workato, native automation in CRMs) to streamline repetitive tasks.
Order entry and billing systems experience — processing simple transactions, credits, and refunds with attention to compliance.
Strong documentation skills — drafting SOPs, runbooks, and training materials.

Soft Skills

Empathetic and professional communication — able to de-escalate, clarify, and build rapport with diverse customers.
Excellent written communication and editing for concise, customer-facing messaging.
Strong multitasking and prioritization — manage concurrent tickets, chats, and calendar commitments while meeting SLAs.
Problem-solving and analytical mindset — quickly diagnose issues and determine the correct escalation path.
Attention to detail and accuracy — essential for data entry, CRM hygiene, and compliance tasks.
Time management and ownership — follow through on tasks and escalate proactively when blockers arise.
Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, frequently changing product and policy environments.
Collaboration and cross-functional teamwork — coordinate effectively with product, sales, engineering, and billing teams.
Customer-centric mindset — focused on outcomes that improve customer satisfaction and agent productivity.
Continuous learning orientation — embraces feedback, documents improvements, and updates knowledge resources.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
High school diploma or equivalent; proven experience in customer-facing or administrative roles.

Preferred Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Communications, Marketing, Information Systems, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Communications
Marketing
Information Systems
Customer Experience Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
1–4 years of experience in customer support, sales support, call center operations, or administrative roles supporting revenue-facing teams.

Preferred:
2+ years supporting sales or customer service teams with hands-on CRM and ticketing tool use; demonstrated experience in lead qualification, appointment scheduling, or customer onboarding.