How your Customer support can generate revenue?
Most companies see the customer centre like a cost only department. You have a lot of expenses for people that don’t generate any profit. But this is a limited way of thinking. Maybe on paper customer support is not generating direct revenue but if you look closer it is a critical tool for retaining and up-selling to existing customers.
First of all, we should know that it is 5 times more expensive to sell to a new client than to retain one. On the other hand, you are 60–70% more likely to sell to your current customers and they will spend more (around 31%) than a newly acquired one.
Having that in mind let’s see how you can optimize your Customer service department and increase your revenue?
- Focus on engagement
Make sure that the transition from the sales agent to the support is easy and smooth. If the client feels like he is continuing his journey and not being considered as a “done deal” you will increase the chance of up-sell and retention. Don’t let your customers feel insignificant once they splash the cash.
How to achieve this?
- Keep a record of their actions and behaviour before the sale or during the trial period
- Offer solutions that fit their needs
- Keep them informed about actions or features that they didn’t try or use
2. Give your support team the Big picture
It is really important to keep your support team part of the process. If you “put them in the corner” dealing only with tickets they will do exactly that and nothing more. Imagine a support agent who knows the marketing channel that brought the client, the full sales cycle and the status of the development of the features he is using. In this case, your agent will be able to propose the right solution and explain/present other products or services suitable for the customer.
This kind of soft marketing will increase your Customer lifetime value without additional expenses.
How to achieve this?
- Provide your support team with tools for cross-functional communication
- Access to marketing and development information
- Training about customer’s sales cycle
3. Measure and track with flexible metrics
To track the contribution of the support team up-selling should be different than the one for sales agents. First of all, you don’t want from them to communicate with clients like a salesman, second, they are not expected to act like ones. The right measurement is engagement like webinar participation, survey filled and trials. Let them be “friends” with your customer who just keep them informed about “tricks” to make the best of your product.
A well-functioning support team is the first step to higher Customer lifetime value. To optimize and increase your support team efficiency ScaleForce.io is providing you with all the needed tools.
