Customer Service Can Increase Sales--Fiction Or Fact?

If you’re an Interconnect sales person or sales manager and are scrambling like other sales managers for ideas that will give you an edge and set your company apart from your competitors, some people believe exceptional Customer Service could very well be the answer you're looking for. 

Or is this just a myth?

Some companies think it's a fact. Their managers say they have seen phenomenal increases in sales which they attribute to  revamped customer service programs. 

If this is true, if there really is gold in better Customer Service, then why would Interconnect companies not want to use it? Why would you not want to give it a look?  

If you decide you do want to check out this possibility, you should be aware of one thing: standard Customer Service won't do it. Average Customer Service won't make a difference in your sales. You'll need something exceptional. Something your competitors don't have. What you need to boost sales is something unusual. Something unique and different. Something EXTREME! 

If make your Customer Service unique they will come. Iif it is far superior to that of your competitors, why wouldn't it set you apart from them? Why wouldn't it give you an edge?

After all, service is one of the key issues Interconnect prospects seem to value most. Some Interconnect companies’ managers can even point to specific system sales where customers’ decisions to buy systems were directly linked to superior vendor service.

Application of Customer Service programs may be different in Interconnect than in other kinds of companies, but these programs can be just as effective in boosting sales for Interconnects as for other kinds of companies. Unlike these non-Interconnect companies who depend on repeat business, the life blood of Interconnects is primarily in new sales, just one of the unique characteristics found in Interconnects, and one of the primary reasons Customer Service may require special applications and marketing.

While it is true that you, as an Interconnect manager, depend on adds, moves, and changes to keep your company afloat during lean times, if your company is to grow and reach its income potential, you will have to depend on new sales for your growth. For this reason, then, these potential customers should be the target of your Customer Service marketing programs.

What does this mean to you as an Interconnect manager? It should be a clue to you as to how you should develop an effective marketing program. It should identify who your target audience should be.

Does this mean Customer Service and its related marketing program replaces more traditional ways of getting sales? Certainly not. But it does make a pretty darn good addition.

You can learn a lot about Customer Service by observing what other companies do right or what they do wrong. Try a little research. Go to the Internet and find articles about Customer Service. You’ll find some amazing things there that can give you great ideas.

Here are a few used by companies who have created new and more productive Customer Service programs.

• Provide a 24-hour call-in service for customers who may have emergencies or just need questions answered after normal business hours. This does not mean you need to have a staff person available at your office, but you can arrange to have one of your people available to answer a call forwarded to his cell phone. Some companies rotate this responsibility among office and technical staff. Be sure, though, that the person taking these calls is trained in Customer Service call handling.

• Train both sales and tech people in Customer Service relations techniques. This training will not only sharpen your personnel skills, but you can use this in your marketing program, informing people about your training program.

• Designate one person as the primary CSR, and instfruct customers to call her, not the technician, not the sales person who sold the job. Customers will be impressed that you have gone to such lengths to make service better for them.

• Instead of hiring a CSR, train an employee as your CSR specialist, a staff member who has other functions (such as bookkeeper/receptionist; even the owner, if the company is a one man organization)

• Offer inducements to existing customers to give you feedback on your products and services, then use this input as testimonials in your sales presentations, as well as in your proposals, presentations, Websites, and promotional material.

You’ll find interesting and helpful articles about Customer Service on the Internet. Here are excerpts from one. (words in parentheses are ours)

(The following are quotes from author, Susan Greco):

"During these soft economic times, small businesses are uniquely positioned to offer something that many lumbering giants can't: peerless customer service."

"In an age of competitive fever and instant communication, customers have learned to expect the world. Remarkably, the great new customer-service providers are giving them more."

"(RMR) staff totals 40, and its revenues last year were just $12 million...RMR's stunning 600% growth since 1995 is in ‘direct relation to the reputation (they) have for being fanatical, (about customer service)’ says Carbonell (RMR executive)."

"In the new world of fanatical customer service, even small companies never sleep and no request is too ridiculous. That intensity is evident among cutting-edge companies."

"Companies in the vanguard are using the Internet and other technologies to further their customer-service mission. One of them, an online retail fish market based in Westbury, N.Y., is no jumbo corporation. Yet with just $2.7 million in sales, it maintains a live chat room on its Web site, zapping answers to customers' queries almost instantaneously round the clock."

If you're looking for help to jump start your sales through a superior customer service program, there are services available to lend a helping hand. Telcom Today is one of them. You can request a free estimate at our Contact Us page.