Customer Service - A Missing Skill?

You have to make more sales! This is the message that is drilled into the mind of every vendor on a daily basis. Usually you expect to accomplish this by cold calling and other ancient techniques in a hope that they will be able to make a sale. However, this single-minded focus on sales data tends to leave the customer unhappy and unwilling to buy from seller again. How is this possible since successfully sold the first time?

The answer is not, as you might think, in the product or service. The reason for this dissatisfaction is that many sellers are excellent at selling, promising unparalleled service, but are not able to meet customer expectations. There is such a unique way to target a minimum of + 50 calls a day, but how long does that actually leave for a seller to deliver? The need to perform so many calls in a day leads to an inefficient use of a time of sellers. Yes, they can make a sale, but it is vitally important for sellers to adapt the methods to focus on long-term customer relationships.

Put yourself in the position of a decision maker. With such a huge amount of choice when it comes to service providers, each selling the same service, which will make you stand out? Quite simply it is the level of customer service you provide. This may seem obvious, but very few vendors provide efficient service to its customers. There are a number of simple techniques that will allow you to not only improve the service we provide, but also increase the number of sales you make with your customers.

First, figure out exactly what the client is and where your services would be better to act in concert with that. Move the focus away from the quick sale and to work with the client as a partner. In this way we will work as an extension of the client's business and with your unique and thorough understanding of this activity, you will be able to customize solutions and make more sales, providing services that your customers really need. Being able to customize solutions for customers that will increase the opportunities you will have to make a sale. This is why you and stop wasting time trying to sell your client's products and services that are inappropriate or unnecessary.

Get the single point of contact. For all that you are selling, customers will soon become unsatisfied after a sale if you are constantly talking to other sellers of information. Taking responsibility for the service and to be the single point of contact, not only are you helping to build the relationship and improving sales opportunities, you are giving the customer a better service, because it can always talk to the same person who understands their activity and will be able to provide quick information on the services provided.

Be honest about the services that you can provide. Assumption of work that are not able to complete will be detrimental to the relationship. Being in advance and honest about your capabilities to provide services to the customer, the level of service will improve because it creates trust. If the customer trusts you, they are more likely to buy from you as they believe that they are working to their advantage and, rather than just your own.

With this in mind, consider what value added services that you can offer your customers. It can be anything from a simple notification on changes to legislation or technology that affects your services or for new industrial facilities that can provide solutions to customers who were aware of. Simple things like this costs you nothing, as a seller, but it opens up a wealth of opportunities that simply do not make cold calls.

To improve the level of customer service that is provided, you can get away from one-off sales and the constant need of new customers and to focus on developing customer accounts and have constantly come back to you for products and services. This will make you a more successful salesperson who is able to adapt to the changing business environment.

Mandy Leonard...