What does a Client Associate do?

A client associate is an individual who builds a strong relationship with customers by providing support for their account needs and provides training if necessary. Client associates are required to communicate with their customers either on the phone, through email, or in person. They carry out administrative tasks for financial advisers, such as maintaining client account information and assisting with special projects. Client associates must also collect and analyze competitor data and client usage so that they create new business opportunities.
Client associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real client associate resumes:
- Manage business development of electronic trading services for cash equities.
- Process payroll and payroll taxes, generate financial statements, compute taxes owe and file corporate tax returns
- Enter client trade orders, respond to client inquiries, research questions, troubleshoot problems, and maintain accurate client records.
- Coordinate the conversion of data base from mainframe to windows base application
- Establish advanced CRM skills that can be used through any interactions with clients.
- Greet high profile clients, and act a liason between them and their attorney.
- Analyze, troubleshoot, and fix system issues impacting efficient operation and IA to minimize client interruptions.
- Handle a broad spectrum of financial instruments including stocks, bonds, loans and other types of equities.
- Serve as an informational contact or go-to person relating to employees issues or problems, payroll or benefits inquiries.
- Account liason for institutional and retail clients, servicing hedge funds, partnerships, money managers and day traders.
- Consolidate two CRM systems to be share between two divisions to provide insight into shared clients and target new sales opportunities.
- Create PowerPoint presentations and companion documents.
- Monitor Medicare and Medicaid quality insurance/incentive programs.
- Maintain continuing education requirements associate with FINRA license.
- Receive Medicaid appeal requests and assign them to appropriate mediation center.
Client associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Client Associates are proficient in Client Service, Wealth Management, and Sales Support. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Client Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Client Service, 23%
Worked heavily in team environments across multiple departments to promote a comprehensive client service experience.
- Wealth Management, 13%
Analyzed investment portfolios and partner with Wealth Management specialists to provide custom investment solutions for prospect and client discussions.
- Sales Support, 12%
Provided dedicated administrative and sales support to multiple Financial Adviser's.
- Investment Products, 6%
Conducted extensive market research that are necessary for time-sensitive information and ensure consistently update and delivery of news for investment products.
- Customer Service, 4%
Processed electronic transactions through face-to-face interactions with customers; provide excellent customer service by handling financial transactions accurately and efficiently.
- Branch Management, 4%
Serve as a liaison between branch management, compliance and various business units throughout the firm.
Common skills that a client associate uses to do their job include "client service," "wealth management," and "sales support." You can find details on the most important client associate responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a client associate to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Client associates often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "implemented a marketing and client communication model designed to improve the overall client relationship. "
Customer-service skills. client associates are also known for customer-service skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to client associate responsibilities, because "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." A client associate resume example shows how customer-service skills is used in the workplace: "processed customer transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, wire transfers, drafts and foreign currency. "
Interpersonal skills. client associate responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." This resume example shows what client associates do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "implemented excellent interpersonal and communication skills dealing with customer in person and on the phone. "
Listening skills. Another crucial skill for a client associate to carry out their responsibilities is "listening skills." A big part of what client associates relies on this skill, since "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." How this skill relates to client associate duties can be seen in an example from a client associate resume snippet: "communicated with clients to strengthen existing client relationships. "
Patience. Another skill commonly found on client associate job descriptions is "patience." It can come up quite often in client associate duties, since "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day client associate responsibilities: "praised by clients for patience and caring during training and problem resolution. "
The three companies that hire the most client associates are:
- Bank of America700 client associates jobs
- Wells Fargo183 client associates jobs
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.100 client associates jobs
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Client associate vs. Associate customer service representative
An associate customer service representative is responsible for providing high customer service by assisting customers on their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor or tenured customer service representative. Associate customer service representatives also process orders and payments from the customers, replacing defective items, and issuing refunds as needed. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on handling data processing procedures to the database for reference to customer concerns.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between client associates and associate customer service representative. For instance, client associate responsibilities require skills such as "client service," "wealth management," "sales support," and "investment products." Whereas a associate customer service representative is skilled in "patients," "outbound calls," "customer complaints," and "inbound calls." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Associate customer service representatives earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $37,473. On the other hand, client associates are paid more in the professional industry with an average salary of $52,757.On average, associate customer service representatives reach similar levels of education than client associates. Associate customer service representatives are 4.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Client associate vs. Associate, member services
An associate member services worker is responsible for supporting the operations of an organization and assisting in customer service activities. Member service associates perform various administrative and clerical duties as needed and coordinate related membership communications. They generate reports and update membership information on the database, ensuring the timely release of all announcements and services offered by the organization. They process transactions, create membership contracts, and provide a detailed explanation of membership fees and benefits. An associate member service also manages membership application requests and evaluates eligibility.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real client associate resumes. While client associate responsibilities can utilize skills like "client service," "wealth management," "sales support," and "investment products," associates, member services use skills like "address changes," "quality customer service," "member service," and "front desk."
On average, associates, member services earn a lower salary than client associates. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, associates, member services earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $52,794. Whereas client associates have higher pay in the professional industry, with an average salary of $52,757.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Associates, member services tend to reach similar levels of education than client associates. In fact, they're 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Client associate vs. Sales associate and customer service
Sales and customer service associates are employees who are responsible for closing out sales deals and attending to customer needs. They are in charge of selling company goods and services to potential clients, often citing the common needs of prospective clients to ensure sales. They also handle customer inquiries and complaints and try their best to mitigate any problems that would arise. They are expected to be experts on company products to ensure that they can provide the best service to customers. Sales and customer service associates should have strong interpersonal skills, customer service skills, and communication skills.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, client associates are more likely to have skills like "client service," "wealth management," "sales support," and "investment products." But a sales associate and customer service is more likely to have skills like "plumbing," "sales associates," "phone calls," and "booking."
Sales associate and customer services earn the best pay in the manufacturing industry, where they command an average salary of $30,394. Client associates earn the highest pay from the professional industry, with an average salary of $52,757.sales associate and customer services typically earn similar educational levels compared to client associates. Specifically, they're 4.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Client associate vs. Customer service associate/cashier
A customer service associate/cashier is responsible for processing payments for the customers' orders. The customer service associate/cashier inspects the items, ensuring that the pricing and quantity from scanning are accurate. They also check for possible item defects and offer replacements, process payment refunds as needed, issue receipts to keep proof of payment, respond to customer's inquiries about a product, market promotional offers, and operate cash registers. A customer service associate/cashier must have excellent customer service skills and communication skills to boost customer satisfaction and increase sales goals.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between client associates and customer service associate/cashiers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a client associate might have more use for skills like "client service," "wealth management," "sales support," and "investment products." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of customer service associate/cashiers require skills like "front end," "cash handling," "math," and "basic math. "
In general, customer service associate/cashiers hold lower degree levels compared to client associates. Customer service associate/cashiers are 5.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of client associate
Updated January 8, 2025