This past weekend I had some of the most gorgeous ocean views from my hotel room. We were celebrating a friend’s themed destination wedding and planned to mix wedding attendance with weekend getaway. The Hotel’s service however was mediocre and to be honest I really wanted us to just sleep, pack our bags and check out!
Now having revisited these service interactions in my mind (given my hospitality sales background); I wondered if other similar businesses were missing the opportunity to grow their revenue as a result of their customer service.
Why customer service matters
Customer Service is best defined as how you take care of your customers needs before, during and after the sale is made. It involves delivering and even surpassing the customer’s expectations.
Hubspot in its 2019 customer service trends report cited customer service as the second most important factor in influencing purchase decisions. That translates into a sale or incremental revenue for your business if you or your team is focused on delivering exceptional service. My suggestion is to develop your organization to be customer centric so that customer service becomes your competitive advantage. Consequently, your sales team uses this as a means of showing value to your ideal customer and boost sales!
What this customer service experience taught me about sales
- Empathy.See the issue from your customer’s lens. Nobody wants to buy from a company that does not understand them.
- Problem solving. I will always say that problems will occur. How you anticipate them or creatively solve them can win a potential client over.
- Silence is not golden. Ever got nervous when a hot lead goes cold? The same can be said for a customer who experienced bad service. Some may choose to not complain and those tend to be the ones to do more damage. Be sure to encourage customer feedback; your customers may have key insights for your sales process.
- Response time. We live in an era where information is at a customer’s finger tips and their request for information is always now. Provide a standard for your team to respond to your customers. Nothing is more unnerving than a customer trying to connect with your business for a response and the request is pending for days.
My advice is to continuously improve on your customer service and watch your sales grow exponentially! Let me know of any questions you may have on this or share your own experience soon.