You have the best products and services. And you’ve got the best prices in town. But without sufficient customer service skills, you have nothing.
What good is the best stuff at the best prices if you have no one who can sell them? We just told you: no good.
But if this sounds like your business, don’t despair because things are about to change. Below, we’ve listed all the best ideas for improving customer service. Check out these top ten strategies for leveling up your team’s customer service skills.
1. People are People
Your employees are people. Your customers are people. But when a team starts getting overzealous about the sale, humanity sometimes takes a back seat.
Your team must remember to act, and treat others, like human beings. The idea is to help people with your products while they help you with compensation.
On the other hand, if you treat selling like winning, you’re in danger of caring more about the sale than the customer. Then, you’re no longer trying to help them. You’re only trying to trick them out of their money.
Also, we’re not savages anymore, so let’s kill “tribal” thinking. Eradicate all traces of “us vs them” mentality your team has in regard to customers.
“Us vs them” is a really stupid way to sell. It actually implies you’re competing against your customers instead of trying to help them.
Remember to make “helping people” the focus of your selling.
2. Be Nicer Than You Need To Be
Now, take that same idea one step further. Don’t just be nice enough to close the sale. Go the extra mile for your customer.
Treating every customer with genuine care is way more important than closing the sale, anyway. Even if you don’t make this single, one-time sale, you build a memorable relationship with the customer. They’ll remember your kindness and come back multiple times when they have need of your services in the future.
3. Clarify Their Mission
You likely hired your sales team because they’re good at sales in general. But general selling is generic selling. And that just won’t do.
If you really want to see results, your team must be good at selling your products. Make sure your sellers have a good understanding of your business, products, and services, and how these help the customer.
They should know and identify with your company’s mission statement. They should know, and care, why the sale helps the customer, and the company, and the employee. Get all your sellers on the same page.
4. Make Them Want It
We’re not talking about the customer, here. We’re talking about your sales staff again.
A clear understanding of their mission may not be enough to make your sellers care. Nor will one motivational strategy work for everyone.
You must find out what motivates each of your staff and make it personal. Start with the staff members who are most important to the sale and do some one-on-one coaching.
Some do well by knowing that their selling is helping people. Others do better with incentives like commission or staff contests. Find out what works for your team members and stay consistent with it.
5. Always Cross-Sell
More transactions make more money, but they also cost more time. Why not focus instead on selling more per transaction?
Then you make more money with no time wasted. That’s like free money!
Make sure your sales staff is prepared to ALWAYS up-sell or cross-sell.
One of the best ways to increase conversions with cross selling, is to take advantage of online video.
6. Play Team-Building Games
Team-building/training games help in so many ways. Obviously, they hone the selling skills of your team. But that’s not all.
They also give you an up-close look at their skills in action. And that gives you an exclusive opportunity to coach them at the moment without interrupting an actual sale.
Also, it builds your relationship with your team members. (That’s why it’s called “team-building!”)
Such exercises boost communication, adaptability, and other skills as well as morale. And, they’re fun!
7. Get Customer Feedback
Not sure where your sales tactics are failing? Ask!
Customer feedback is so invaluable and extremely easy to obtain. It’s shocking how often companies fail to take advantage of it.
71% of your customers will leave you feedback IF ONLY you remember to ask. Or, you can forget to ask and let all that easy feedback slip through your fingers. It’s your choice.
But we suggest you include customer feedback survey invitations on your receipts. And train all point-of-sale employees to ask every customer to fill it out. You can also incentivize your survey with special coupon deals or a monetary prize.
8. Turn Their Frowns Upside Down
Most companies aren’t too thrilled when they receive customer complaints. But they should be.
Nothing has the power to tarnish your image like bad reviews. And that’s why few marketing tactics have the power to boost your image like reversing a bad customer experience.
Be always on the lookout for bad customer reviews. If you address the review immediately, you might turn their bad experience into a good one. Then, anyone who sees it will be impressed instead of repelled.
This is especially true for complaints on your social media. Customers who complain on social media are expecting to be answered in a timely manner.
9. Incentivize Customer Referrals
You want more customers. Your customers want a good deal. When you offer an amazing coupon or another freebie for customer referrals, everyone wins!
50% off their order is a small price to pay when it doubles your customer base.
10. Enhance Your Team With Technology
We put this one last for good reason. Most of the points above can be enhanced or completely automated with apps or other technology.
Most notable, and helpful, are business apps powered by artificial intelligence. One of the most popular is customer service chatbots.
These give your online customers the 24/7 support they need for a fraction of the cost you’d pay for live support. And with today’s advanced AI, the quality of virtual support is nearly as good as live.
There are even apps that use AI to track successful sales strategies and use them to train your team. The best one on the market right now is called Gong.
Improving Customer Service Happens Now!
What are you waiting for? You’ve heard how important all these customer service tactics are. Get out there and use these tips to start improving customer service now.
Next, read more about becoming customer-service-oriented. Check out Focus on Service, Not Self-Service.