The Role of Customer Service in Sales Success

For small businesses, providing excellent customer service is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have

I am going to be blunt. Don’t sell if you can’t deliver. Providing poor service after selling yourself and your product, passion, or service to someone is a colossal waste of time. So, before you go and invest in the resources to get leads and revenue, make sure your customer service, quality, and operations can handle the volume you are trying to create.

The Connection Between Customer Service and Sales

Customer service plays a critical role in the success of any sales strategy. For small businesses, providing excellent customer service is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. Great customer service not only helps you retain customers but also turns them into advocates who refer others to your business. In this post, we’ll explore the connection between customer service and sales success, and provide practical tips for enhancing your customer service efforts.

Why Customer Service Matters in Sales

Customer service is more than just solving problems; it’s about creating positive experiences that lead to long-term customer loyalty. Here is why it matters:

  1. Customer Retention: Retaining customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Great customer service ensures that customers keep coming back. It stops them from exploring alternatives, or using your competitors.

  2. Word-of-Mouth Referrals: Satisfied customers are more likely to refer others to your business. This can significantly boost your sales without additional marketing costs. Getting a word-of-mouth referral creates instant trust, and people that already trust you are much easier to engage with your business.

  3. Competitive Advantage: In a crowded market, exceptional customer service can set your business apart from competitors. In fact, for those in service sectors, customer service may be your value proposition. You will need to deliver.

Key Elements of Excellent Customer Service

What does great customer service look like? Here are the key elements that contribute to exceptional service:

  1. Responsiveness: Customers expect quick responses to their inquiries and issues. Timely communication shows that you value their time and business. Have you ever submitted an online form, ready to engage, perhaps ready to buy, and you never hear from the company? Having a solid and reliable sales funnel that allows your team to respond to leads is crucial to your success.

  2. Empathy: Showing empathy means understanding and acknowledging the customer’s feelings and concerns. It helps build trust and rapport. Listening, responding, solving a problem or concern – these all lead to providing an empathetic approach.

  3. Consistency: Consistent service ensures that customers receive the same high level of service every time they interact with your business. According to Trust Edge, consistency is a pillar of trust. Without that, people may not trust your ability to deliver. And if they can’t trust you, they can’t refer to you either.

Training Your Team for Success

Providing excellent customer service requires a well-trained team. Here’s how to ensure your team is equipped to deliver outstanding service:

  1. Invest in Training: Regular training sessions help your team stay updated on best practices and new technologies that can enhance customer service. Did you know that in Ontario, a Job Grant may provide you with funding to have your team trained for 85% of the cost? Other training grants, programs, and development opportunities also exist. Seek these out if training your team seems unaffordable.

  2. Empower Your Team: Give your team the authority to make decisions that benefit the customer. This helps them resolve issues quickly and effectively. Involve them in the process and get them to have say in the customer service needs, improvements, and levels of excellency to which they want to achieve.

  3. Encourage a Customer-Centric Culture: Make customer service a core value of your business. Encourage your team to always put the customer first. Ask them how they are doing this, build in metrics, celebrate success, and innovate the challenges.

Leveraging Technology to Enhance Customer Service

Technology can play a significant role in improving customer service. Here’s how to leverage it effectively:

  1. Use CRM Tools: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software helps you track customer interactions, preferences, and issues, allowing for more personalized service. It can manage follow-up timelines, metrics, and leverage lost leads to revisit later.

  2. Automate Routine Tasks: Automation tools can handle routine tasks like sending follow-up emails, freeing up your time to focus on more complex issues. Make sure your automation meets the needs outlined above by employing empathy and a very customer-centric approach.

  3. Provide Multiple Communication Channels: Offer customers various ways to reach you, such as phone, email, live chat, and social media. This makes it easier for them to get in touch. Your team will need to respond to the customer as the customer wants – not always in the way your business wants. As an example, if customers are not using your online referral form you will need to provide alternatives. Or, if you are trying to get customers to login to your program and they are not, you will need to pivot.

Measuring Customer Service Success

To ensure that your customer service efforts are effective, it’s important to measure success. Here are some key metrics to track:

  1. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): This metric measures how satisfied customers are with your service. It’s usually collected through surveys or feedback loops.

  2. Net Promoter Score (NPS): NPS measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend your business to others. It is easy to ask your customers to rate this, as part of your feedback loop, or separately.

  3. First Contact Resolution (FCR): FCR measures the percentage of customer issues that are resolved on the first contact. Higher FCR indicates more efficient service. Once you set a baseline, you can decide if the score is acceptable or needs improvement.

  4. Reviews. Whether through Google or other methods, people have many channels to talk about you online. Comments on your Facebook page, shout-outs on LinkedIn, reposts and shares, or ratings that others can see, find a way for people to positively share the message about what you do or offer.

Ensuring Long-Term Sales Through Exceptional Service

You will need to be proactive with your customer service efforts. Waiting until you have a service problem is often too late. While you can recover from service misses, you will need to work harder to rebuild or build trust with those that had a poor experience. And if you don’t ask for feedback, people might be willing to share it through channels and messages that you don’t like.

Customer service is a vital component of sales success for small businesses. By prioritizing customer service, training your team, leveraging technology, and measuring success, you can create positive experiences that lead to increased customer loyalty and higher sales. Remember, every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to build a stronger relationship and enhance your business’s reputation.

Interested in learning more or in working together to make this happen for you? Reach out.


Adapted from “Module 4, Sales” by FocalPoint Coaching and Training Excellence, Copyright 2018, by Brian Tracy and Campbell Fraser. Reprinted with permission.

Julie Entwistle MBA, BSc (OT), BSc.

Julie Entwistle is a Certified FocalPoint Business Coach and works with business owners and professional service providers.

Julie helps her clients by building their business confidence so they can run, grow, and develop legacy practices that are focused and optimally successful. Julie knows that when professional service businesses do better, their clients also benefit. She knows this because she was one! Prior to joining FocalPoint, Julie was an independent owner of her own healthcare business before successfully merging, growing, and selling the practice. As an owner Julie had her own business coach, and this was a key element in her success.

Academically, Julie has degrees in Health Studies and Gerontology and Health Science (Occupational Therapy) from the University of Waterloo and McMaster, respectively, and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier. She attended Queens University as a part-time Doctorate student prior to discontinuing her studies in 2023. Julie is also a Chartered Director and has Board and governance experience.

Julie grew up in a franchise family, so business is in her DNA. She has raised four daughters who are off writing their own stories as young adults. Julie is active and fit with a black belt in Karate, a competitive golf game, and enjoys many other sports. She believes in authenticity, showing kindness to all living things, and is happiest when helping others to build their own wealth and wellness.

Find Julie on LinkedIn at: linkedin.com/in/julieentwistle

https://www.businessyou.ca
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