Should Customer Service Contact Be A Selling Opportunity

Some companies have added a new twist to customer service… sales.  The overall idea is that customer service costs money so why not offset that “expense” by turning the customer service contact to a sales opportunity.

Where can this be applied? All customer service, sales representatives, customer and technical support teams, receptionists, and accounts payable personnel, in fact any client-facing employee can be turned into a revenue stream.

Good idea?

The customer service person is first to handle the customer’s concerns or questions and then continue the conversation by offering the customer an opportunity to purchase something that may or may not be related to the reason for the call or contact.

Some companies even offer the customer service representative a commission on the sale made to offset the cost of his service to the company’s customer.

We fully understand the motivation to help offset the cost of doing business.  Companies must maintain a profit to stay in business. But if your customers find your sales efforts at the customer service level are intrusive or excessive they may no longer remain customers.  It is a fine line to walk. In order to stay in business a company must first retain its customers.

Any client-facing employee can be turned into a revenue stream. But the question is, should they. What is your competition doing?  Have you asked your customers how they feel about your sales offers?

How and what you offer can also affect how well this strategy works. If you can offer the customer a solution to a problem they experienced they are more likely to be receptive. When a customer feels the sales offer is not for their benefit is when these offers lose their effectiveness and can become a source of irritation. 

Timing is everything. Where possible, focus on selling at the point of sale when customers are ready to buy. Offering upgrades, special deals and free gifts is a great way to convince customers to spend a little more.

Add-on selling is all about relevance. Look at what your customers have bought before and offer them other relevant goods and services that might be useful. They will see this as good customer care, rather than an intrusive sales pitch.

SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is a great start to creating your very own customer service legends. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.

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