Although most customer service reps don't like to sell, they love to help and to be useful. If you ask them if they would feel good if they could provide their customers with more ease, more convenience, more peace of mind, or more value, they will enthusiastically respond, Yes! Joanna Brandi provides steps you can take to create the right environment for maximum selling result.
Customers love to buy. We love it when someone helps us solve a problem, meet a need, satisfy a desire, or do something nice for ourselves. If this is true, then why aren’t your customers buying more? Perhaps you aren’t asking them to.
Many agencies take the position that customer service staff shouldn’t sell. They believe that CSRs should be responsible for answering inquires, dealing with complaints, and handling other service-related issues.
However, smart agents realize the amazing potential of giving clients more opportunities to buy and CSRs more opportunities to create client happiness by being astute enough to know what those clients need.
My experience with CSRs over the years tells me that most of them don’t like to sell. In fact, many of them have less than glowing opinions of salespeople. However, on further inquiry, I find that CSRs love to help and to be useful.
Here are several steps that you can take to create the right environment for effective selling by your CSRs:
- Reframe the Activity. Help CSRs see that by offering premiere upgraded service, a maintenance contract, or matching accessories, they are indeed creating more value for the customer. As a customer, I want a rep to be astute enough to recommend the right glue for the glue gun I am buying, the best insurance product for my small business, or the fertilizer that will make my new roses thrive.
- Set Reasonable Goals. The art of the up-sale or cross-sell lies in asking the right questions. To find out what else a customer needs or how they're planning to use your product, ask and then listen for responses. This takes more time. Make sure not to penalize a rep for doing a good job at this probing activity. Set goals based on outcomes, not just time spent on calls. Rushing a customer off the phone won't get you where you need to go. Create incentives tied to goals. Some companies pay team incentives for selling activities, while others pay individual CSRs. There's no right way. Do what works best for you, your reps, and your customers. Make selling fun by tying it to contests and rewards. After all, we're asking people to stretch outside their comfort zones.
- Train People to Sell. The more a rep knows about your product, the easier it will be to see the opportunity cues. Do your reps use your products or services? If not, could they? Can you get them out to customer sites to see your products in use and to talk to the people using them? Help them become specialists in using your products or services so they can easily make recommendations to customers. Teach them the benefits, not just the features. The more that the rep understands, the easier it will be for them to sell.
Remember, customers love to buy, so go sell em something! Skillfully.