Why Customer Experience and Sales Are the Perfect Match
Valentine’s Day may have come and gone a month ago, but we are still thinking about the role that certain relationships play in growing your business. Not between romantic partners, of course, but the professional relationship between salespeople and their customers are typically much healthier and more harmonious than you will find in a typical rom-com.
And the engine that powers this relationship is customer experience (CX). In straightforward terms, CX refers to the journeys, interactions, and overall impressions that your customers share with your business. A positive customer experience can result in repeat business and strong brand loyalty while analyzing a negative customer experience can help illuminate areas of improvement for your sales team. In short, understanding the nature of CX, and leveraging that information to empower your sales strategies is essential for your sales team to provide top-level service for new and returning customers.
Why Customer Happiness Cannot Be Taken for Granted
We all know what a bad customer experience feels like. Even with a product or service of high quality, an underwhelming customer experience can sink the reputation of an entire organization in the eyes of new prospects. And within a competitive marketplace and a shaky economy, a single disappointing customer experience can sink any hope of a future sale.
But working to avoid these negative customer experiences is only one element of a larger strategy. With the rise of influencer culture and brand ambassadorship, we have seen how effective customer-oriented marketing can be. While these partnerships are usually paid for in-house by businesses themselves, influencers and ambassadors reveal the power of referrals on a wider scale.
For more specific, qualified referrals, businesses rely on returning customers with a strong sense of loyalty. We consider these qualified referrals to be the most effective way to grow your business which involves the least amount of work for your team in the long run. So long as the relationships are solid and reliable, the initial CX will do the heavy lifting to build these referrals.
Setting the Right Expectations
At the end of the day, a quality customer experience comes down to one thing above all else: education. A few of the key things we believe are important to educate prospects on: What to expect when they become a client, who is going to guide them through the process, and the level of service provided to them by the sales team.
By the time the customer experience comes to an end, the prospect should have no unanswered questions or ambiguity about the product or service. Transparency and availability are critical to building a lasting relationship with a potential client or customer. Service is everything.
That said, we should make an important distinction between customer experience and customer service more broadly.
Experience vs. Service
At times, we have found that business leaders often confuse or conflate the terms ‘customer experience’ and ‘customer service.’ In reality, these two components—while important for building a base of clients of customers—are completely different from one another.
Most companies have a customer service department, but these are not comparable to customer experience departments. You may notice some overlap between the two, but the key difference is that customer service is not a revenue generator. Customer service is the process in which employees (or third-party contractors) help clients and customers work through any objections they may have with your product or service.
CX, on the other hand, drives revenue by building relationships with clients and prospects and capitalizing on opportunities for referrals.
Always Be Looking Forward
Customer experience is a reminder that sales are not just about closing business. The best salespeople operate with the motivation to set up prospects for a successful client relationship moving forward. Encourage your sales team to take the initiative and follow up with clients following a closing. Every great customer experience helps fill your funnel of happy and satisfied clients willing to refer your service to others.
Are you looking to develop new workable customer experience strategies but are not sure where to start? Get in touch with our office today and learn how our outsourced sales management services can help your sales/CX departments provide unforgettable experiences for your clients and prospects and build lasting relationships with an eye toward higher revenue and rate of referrals.
If you are interested in outsourced sales management services for your firm, we here at Sebastian Lane can help point you in the right direction. Feel free to reach out for further information, resources, and recommendations. Call Sebastian Lane Consulting at 443-534-6783 or email us at jesse@sebastianlaneconsulting.com.