Customer service and increased sales aren't mutually exclusive. The line between offering support and promoting your business is blurry, especially online. Here is how you can make two important aspects of running a business work together for everyones benefit.
Leading the Customer
When a customer's had a poor experience, it can be difficult to cross-sell or up-sell. The key is in determining whether or not the customer's in the right frame of mind to buy, which you can discover through asking certain questions. The best customer service allows the customer to decide on their own that they want your product or service. How do you help them reach this decision? By asking simple, subtle questions that give you insight into the customer.
Customer Service Meets Marketing Power
As you get to know your customers, you'll learn the challenges, concerns and problems they face. This makes you more prepared to prevent and fix issues moving forward. Your customer service representatives can undergo training at Challenger so they can learn how to deliver a low-effort customer service experience. Ultimately, you'll be armed with an arsenal of insight regarding what the customer wants and needs, which makes it easier to sell to them.
Service Goes Viral
Both poor and stellar service can have a viral effect. When a customer's happy and feels valued, they share their experience with their friends and family members in person and online. Social media is the modern day word-of-mouth. This time, though, you can help control the conversation. Listen and respond to customer needs quickly and publicly. Customers flock to and stick with brands that have excellent track records. Keep in mind that whenever you're servicing a customer, you're also making an impact on their entire network.
Where Customer Service and Marketing Overlap
Depending on your industry, circumstances may be constantly changing. For example, the financial industry shifts on an almost daily basis and trends emerge in the hospitality industry every few weeks, if not sooner. This constant evolution will cause customers to have new questions all the time. Depending on a team that keeps up with industry fluctuations is imperative. Your digital marketing department can regularly post updates and new information to the website, blog, newsletter and social media, which means customers are getting answers to their questions before they even have to ask them. For your business, this cuts down on time spent replying to the same queries over and over. Plus, up-to-the-minute industry information has the ability to go viral, which can be a huge boost for your marketing.