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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Inquiry Coordinator

💰 $ - $

Customer ServiceOperationsCoordination

🎯 Role Definition

The Inquiry Coordinator is the central point of contact responsible for receiving, categorizing, tracking, and driving resolution of inbound inquiries across multiple channels (phone, email, web forms, chat). This role ensures timely responses within SLA, maintains accurate case documentation in CRM/ticketing systems, escalates complex issues to appropriate teams, provides clear status updates to stakeholders, and continually refines intake and tracking processes to improve quality and throughput. The ideal candidate balances excellent customer-facing communication with disciplined data entry, reporting, and cross-functional coordination.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Customer Service Representative or Contact Center Agent with hands-on ticket handling experience
  • Administrative Assistant with experience scheduling, documentation, and stakeholder liaison
  • Claims Processor, Support Specialist, or Intake Coordinator from healthcare/insurance sectors

Advancement To:

  • Inquiry/Case Team Lead or Coordinator Supervisor
  • Inquiry Manager / Customer Experience Manager
  • Operations Manager or Service Delivery Manager
  • Process Improvement Analyst or Quality Assurance Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Quality Assurance Specialist (support operations QA)
  • Operations Coordinator (broader operational responsibilities)
  • Case Manager or Account Coordinator (client-facing case ownership)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Receive, log, and triage incoming inquiries from all channels (phone, email, web form, chat, social) into the CRM/ticketing system, ensuring each record contains accurate contact information, inquiry type, priority, and required documentation.
  • Prioritize work against defined service level agreements (SLAs), routing urgent and high-impact inquiries immediately to senior staff or specialized teams and monitoring response and resolution times to meet performance targets.
  • Maintain ownership of open cases until resolution by coordinating internal resources (technical teams, compliance, legal, billing, field services) and updating stakeholders on progress and action plans in a timely manner.
  • Execute first-contact resolution for routine inquiries by applying documented processes, knowledge-base articles, and escalation protocols, reducing repeat contacts and improving customer satisfaction.
  • Manage complex escalations by collecting relevant facts, assembling context and supporting documentation, and facilitating rapid cross-functional working sessions to drive decision-making and closure.
  • Perform detailed data entry and case documentation to ensure completeness and accuracy of each inquiry record, including categorization tags, root cause notes, resolution steps, and follow-up actions for auditability.
  • Generate and distribute daily/weekly status reports and dashboards on inquiry volume, backlog, SLA compliance, resolution time, and common issue trends to stakeholders and leadership.
  • Analyze inquiry trends and create actionable insights; recommend process, script, or knowledge base updates to reduce rework and improve first-contact resolution rates.
  • Maintain and update the internal knowledge base and FAQ content by drafting, editing, and vetting articles in partnership with subject-matter experts to ensure consistent responses across channels.
  • Implement and maintain standardized intake templates, checklists, and classification taxonomies within the ticketing system to maximize data quality and support downstream reporting.
  • Conduct outbound follow-ups with customers, vendors, or internal teams to collect missing information, confirm issue resolution, and close tickets according to defined closure criteria.
  • Coordinate scheduled callbacks, appointments, or field service dispatches associated with inquiries—confirming availability, documenting outcomes, and reconciling billing or scheduling conflicts as needed.
  • Validate and escalate compliance-sensitive or potentially fraudulent inquiries to legal, compliance, or risk teams while documenting the rationale and evidence for escalation.
  • Collaborate with IT and system administrators to request and test system changes, automations, and integrations (e.g., CRM workflows, auto-acknowledgements) that improve inquiry throughput and reduce manual work.
  • Participate in root cause analyses and post-incident reviews for high-impact cases, documenting lessons learned and translating them into preventative process changes or training.
  • Support continuous improvement initiatives by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), identifying bottlenecks, and piloting process adjustments to improve speed and quality of responses.
  • Provide regular coaching and on-the-job training for new Inquiry Coordinators and cross-functional stakeholders on intake standards, escalation paths, and customer communication best practices.
  • Ensure data privacy and security protocols are followed on every inquiry by redacting or protecting sensitive information and following retention and disposal guidelines as required by policy (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR where applicable).
  • Reconcile and close batch inquiries or bulk-uploaded cases, verifying data integrity after system imports and correcting any mis-routed or duplicate tickets.
  • Liaise with external vendors and third-party service providers to obtain status updates, escalate unresolved issues, and ensure contractual service levels are upheld.
  • Prepare and present monthly performance reviews, SLA reports, and quality audit results to operations leadership and cross-functional partners.
  • Monitor and respond to customer feedback and satisfaction scores related to inquiry handling, initiating corrective actions when satisfaction drops or issues recur.
  • Plan and execute outreach campaigns for proactive communication (service advisories, known issue notifications, policy changes) related to recurring inquiry themes to reduce reactive volume.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting requests and one-off data pulls to inform business decisions, product fixes, and stakeholder briefings.
  • Assist in the design and testing of automated routing rules, canned responses, and macros inside CRM to accelerate response times.
  • Participate in business continuity and disaster-recovery testing for customer-facing intake systems and procedures.
  • Help coordinate cross-training programs so other teams can handle overflow during peak periods or staff shortages.
  • Conduct periodic data quality audits on closed inquiries to ensure categorization accuracy and identify training opportunities.
  • Serve as a subject-matter contact during system upgrades or new channel rollouts to validate workflows and user acceptance testing.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proficient with CRM and ticketing platforms such as Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk, ServiceNow, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar systems — including ticket creation, routing, SLA configuration, and reporting.
  • Strong data-entry accuracy and experience maintaining case records, tags, timestamps, and audit trails in high-volume environments.
  • Experience building and interpreting reports and dashboards in Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP) and BI tools (Power BI, Tableau) to monitor SLAs and team KPIs.
  • Familiarity with multi-channel communication tools (chat platforms, VoIP phone systems, email routing, web forms) and omnichannel workflow management.
  • Basic SQL or query-writing capability to extract ticket/transaction data when needed for ad-hoc analysis (preferred but not always required).
  • Knowledge base and content management skills, including drafting troubleshooting steps, updating FAQ pages, and maintaining article version control.
  • Understanding of SLA configuration, escalation matrices, and operational KPIs such as first response time, mean time to resolution (MTTR), and abandonment rates.
  • Experience with automation tools or workflow builders (e.g., Zapier, Salesforce Flow, Zendesk Triggers) to streamline recurring tasks and auto-responses.
  • Compliance literacy relevant to the industry (data privacy laws like GDPR/HIPAA, record retention policies, PCI where applicable) and the ability to follow secure information-handling procedures.
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel) and collaboration platforms (Teams, Slack, SharePoint).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to craft clear, empathetic, and professional responses to customers and stakeholders.
  • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail to manage competing priorities and ensure zero-loss handoffs between teams.
  • Problem-solving mindset and analytical thinking to identify root causes and propose sustainable process improvements.
  • Customer-centric attitude with empathy and patience for handling frustrated or escalated customers while maintaining composure.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to balance high-volume inbound work with time-sensitive escalations and reporting deadlines.
  • Collaborative team player comfortable coordinating with cross-functional groups such as IT, legal, billing, and field operations.
  • Adaptability and resilience in fast-changing environments, including new product launches, policy shifts, and seasonal volume spikes.
  • Conflict resolution and negotiation skills to de-escalate situations and find mutually acceptable solutions.
  • Initiative and ownership — follows through on open items, documents outcomes, and proactively communicates delays or risks.
  • Strong coaching and mentorship ability to train peers and contribute to improved team performance.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent; demonstrated experience in customer support or administrative coordination is often accepted in lieu of formal degree.

Preferred Education:

  • Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Communications, Public Administration, Information Systems, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Communications
  • Information Systems / IT
  • Public Health or Healthcare Administration (for clinical support environments)
  • Customer Experience / Service Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1 to 5 years in customer service, contact center operations, case management, or administrative coordination roles.

Preferred:

  • 2–4+ years handling CRM/ticketing systems and multi-channel inquiries; demonstrated experience meeting SLAs and managing escalations.
  • Experience in industry-specific contexts (healthcare, insurance, finance, utilities) is a plus for compliance and domain knowledge.
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