Every Customer Contact is an Opportunity to Sell

I simply find it amazing and annoying to see how many companies make their customers wait on the phone when they call them for customer service. Customers could be calling them with a question on the product or make a suggestion for improvement or even place an order! Yet they have to wait listening to the repetitive message that reminds them how important their phone call is to them. Oh Really!!! Just imagine what is going on in customer’s mind, your mind during this time – “God save me from this misery. Bring some human soul I can talk to.”
Many businesses have sacrificed customer service in the name of efficiency and automation in the last 5 years. The so called advances in voice recognition have made matters even worse. Now it’s not just a matter of punching numbers on the phone keypad. The machine will interact with you as if it understands, or at least pretends to, all your questions – “Hello. I can help you find anything you are looking for today. What can I do for you?” My answer – “how about finding a human being somewhere in your company?”

Some companies understand this frustration and have taken steps to remedy the situation. Visit an Apple Store today and you will find at least 20-25 “Genius” employees walking around the store ready to help with your request or question. No wonder their customer satisfaction is so high and they are ranked #1 in so many categories.
We have been telling you about the importance of customer service in many of our past posts. We showed how to deliver great customer service. We also asked how many life-time customers does your business have; which is a direct result of providing great customer service. No company can become successful in the long-term without taking care of their customers. Just look at the example of large companies built on the backbone of great customer service – Netflix, Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom, Zappos.com and so on.
Companies need to change thinking customer service in terms overhead expense and treat it as sales and marketing opportunity. You have to treat every customer interaction as an opportunity to “sell”. You don’t have to sell them right at that moment, and most likely you will not, but it will result in sale at some point in the future. In fact, the customer may even tell few of his friends about his experience resulting multiples sales opportunities.
One way to do this is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and walk through the entire experience that customer goes through when he interacts with your company. This includes the processes ranging from phone/email inquiry, order placement, product preparation, delivery, payment, returns and finally feedback to your company. At each step of the way notice what the customer has to go through – how long does he have to wait; who does he interact with; how many times does he have to repeat the steps; how difficult is it for him to get in touch with a human being (your employee)? Take careful notes about your experience and identify improvement opportunities. I bet you will find at least 10 of them in just one experience. Every one of these steps and interactions is an opportunity to sell your company. Notice that I didn’t say opportunity to sell your product. What you are selling is your business that will result in product sales and revenue at some point in the future.
Go ahead. Do it at least once for your business and let us know what you uncover. Happy Selling!!