4 Ways to Improve Customer Service to Increase Sales

Customer service and sales are very distinct from each other. Customer service is where businesses interact with customers on the front-lines — answering questions or solving problems — where as sales is expected to approach prospective customers, to convince them of the value of the product or service that their business is selling.

As a business owner, it’s almost instinctive to focus your attention on sales, as it’s a proactive approach to increase overall revenue for your company. However, it’s not the only way to do so.

Customer service can generate new revenue streams, improve customer retention and increase overall growth, and we’ll show you 4 ways you can improve customer service for your business to increase sales and produce these outcomes.

Why Customer Service is Important

With the economic downturn that we’re seeing today, customers are less willing to spend money — especially on products that they’re not looking for. This means that sales activities are less likely to have impact on buying decisions for customers that are already satisfied with products from a competitor.

But for incoming customers — those that approach the business on their own — it generally means that these customers have buying intent, that the company can leverage. This is what makes customer service so important.

Some key facts to consider are:

• Consumers are almost 3 times more likely to purchase from a company that provides excellent customer service. (Qualtrics XM Institute)
• 89% of consumers are more likely to purchase more after a positive customer service experience. (Salesforce)
• 43% of consumers remember previous positive customer experience when considering future purchases. (Emplifi)
• An increase in customer retention rates by 5% can increase profits by 25–95%. (Bain and Company)

In other words, customer service can have a significant impact in the overall revenue of your company — in some cases, even more than sales.

4 Ways to Improve Customer Service to Increase Sales

So how can you improve customer service to increase sales for your business?

Here’s a list of a few things you can do.

1. Have a Proactive Approach to Customer Service

A lot of the times, customer service tends to be more reactive than proactive, due to the nature of the role — customers come to the store and ask questions, before a customer service rep begins to move. But this isn’t best way to provide a good customer experience.

Approach the customers first.

It’s important to give your customers space to make decisions, but it’s also not a good idea to leave customers hanging until they’ve already gotten frustrated with a problem in your store.

Greet the customer when they enter your store — to let them know that you’re aware of them — and be available to them when they need you.

If you’re running an offline store, make sure you pay attention to their body language for any signs of frustration or confusion. This is when you would want to approach and offer help.

If you’re online, use a live chat platform that has automated greeting messages. This will have the same effect, as customers will be made aware of the chat widget in the corner of your page if they need help.

Once you understand what the issues are, double check to make sure there aren’t any underlying issues that even the customer might not be aware of. If you find problems for the customer before they even realize one exists, they’ll know that you have their best interest at heart.

This small, yet important move can encourage customers to approach you when they need further help, instead of leaving the store empty handed.

2. Provide the Right Information in the Right Way

One of the biggest reasons a customer hesitates on a purchase is due to a lack of information. When a customer leaves after contemplating on a purchase, it doesn’t always mean that the customer has lost interest or has changed their minds about buying the product.

Many times, customers don’t have all of the information they need on a product or service, and sometimes they don’t actually know what questions to ask. When this happens, they feel discouraged from spending money on what they don’t know or understand, in fear of making the wrong decisions.

Make the information readily available, or have customer service reps easily accessible.

Customer service reps should not only be knowledgeable about their products, but should also capable of teaching customers about their function and value in a way that’s clear and easy to understand.

Getting the wrong information or getting information that’s too difficult to understand, can be a turn-off for customers that are already feeling unsure of themselves.

If a customer feels more confident about one product, there’s a much greater chance that they’ll feel mentally and emotionally available to consider other products in your store.

3. Build Relationships and Personalize the Customer Service Experience

People love getting special treatment. When customer service agents greet customers by name — or show that they have a personal relationship with a customer — it improves the chances of customer coming back to the store.

This gives you a competitive advantage over competitors. By personalizing the shopping experience, customers grow attached to the brand and the people representing it — making them feel like they have a responsibility to stay loyal to that brand.

Most importantly, this relationship develops trust. Customers that trust the people behind the brand, feel more confident in their purchases. They will also be more willing to take advice from the customer service agents that they have these relationships with, or be willing to refer other potential customers to that business.

Don’t hesitate to get your customer’s name, and also try creating small talk if the customer seems willing to chat.

4. Learn to Adapt and Empathize With Customers

This is probably the most difficult out of the tips mentioned on this list, but try to be informed about who your customers are, and be ready to adapt and empathize with them.

When selling a product, it’s generally with the intention of solving specific issues for your customers, so you’re more likely to get customers with the same problems.

Being able to predict what types of customers generally come to your store, and the problems they usually face, can go a long way to improve the overall customer experience.

When customers feel like customer service agents truly understand the problems they’re dealing with, they’re more willing to be patient, and more willing to listen to advice and recommendations.

When their problems are solved with the help of a good customer service agent, their satisfaction levels are generally higher than those that find solutions on their own.

Conclusion

There are definitely many ways you can improve customer service, but these are 4 most effective ways that we’ve found have helped companies grow even during periods of economic recession. Depending on the type of business, there may be methods not listed here that might work better for you, but it’s a good place to start if you’re looking to make a change. Try them out and see if they make a difference for your business!

Originally published at https://channel.io/en.