A successful company is nothing without its customers and clients and that’s usually thanks to the customer service department. Whilst they may not consider themselves salespeople – they are. However, they’d fall under the category of reactive more than proactive. So, how can you guide your customer service to its best level to increase revenue? Here are six tips.
Selling Isn’t Sleazy
Those who choose the customer service route over the sales route may do so because of the stigma that can sometimes be attached to salespeople. However, as we’ve established, resolving issues with customers and clients from a customer service perspective is just reactive selling. You’re encouraging repeat business by solving an issue or answering a question.
The customer service team are there to help customers make smarter buying decisions not to be self-serving and fighting for commission. Framing sales from this perspective can take away that stigma.
Establish A Process
Customer service representatives might think that they don’t know how to approach pushback but they’re experts at it. When dealing with a tricky customer, it’s all about knowing what to say to deescalate the situation and come to a resolution. Whilst this may be uncomfortable or awkward, it’s best to give them a step-by-step process to fall back on. Giving them steps to follow can help bolster their confidence and allows them to combine their own experience or pushback with a more sales-focused approach, which will in turn help you increase revenue.
It’s Not That Deep…
At what level are you engaging your customers and clients? Are you just solving their problem and sending them on their way? When you take it deeper than surface level, find out their problems, thoughts and challenges when it comes to a product or service you’re offering…free feedback! Come up with thoughtful questions and encourage active listening amongst the customer service team to help initiate these deeper conversations. Cultivating these kinds of relationships is just the same as how a salesperson would follow up with an existing lead.
Always Check For Problems
When a client or a customer comes to you with a problem, it’s often a little more than it appears to be. The real problem lies just beneath the surface. Is it a communication problem? Are they feeling undervalued as a loyal customer? Customer service reps should always try and dig a little deeper when it comes to complaints. If you can’t see the issue, it won’t get fixed. It will just grow and grow and come back to haunt you at a later date. If you want to start increasing your revenue you can’t afford to lose clients.
Yes Is Best
Often, when you end comms with a client or customer you’ll ask if there’s anything else you can help them with. Quite often the problem is solved so you’ll be met with a ‘no’. However, that immediately closes off the conversation. Try rephrasing the question. Mention a product or service they subscribe to from you, let them know about upcoming offers or deals etc. In doing your research on each client or customer you can tailor the questions to be more specific to them. This creates that deeper sense of a relationship that encourages repeat businesses and sees client satisfaction shoot through the roof.
Take Value In It
You might understand the value in your product or service and so do your salespeople. But how about the customer service reps? When they start to understand a price is just a number and that the real value is in…well, the value, they can better upsell. It stops from assuming buyers only want the cheapest and instead their needs can be taken into consideration to make a better suggestion. The best part? Somebody working in customer service already possesses the product knowledge, experience and problem-solving skills to do the job. Which will increase the happiness of your clients and help you by increasing revenue.
There is untapped value in your customer service, you just need to unveil it.
