Customer Service andSales

Consultative selling skills are an essential skill to have in today’s business environment because they provide the ground work for developing trust with a client. Trust is essential in ensuring a client is truly receptive to your ideas and viewpoints, which might differ from theirs. Where there is no trust, or it has not been established fully, the buyer will remain dubious, perhaps suspicious and may well look to other providers for a solution or product.

For any business to succeed providing an excellent level of customer service is vital, not only does this build loyal and returning customers but also increases the level of recommendations you receive. Customer service representatives have a significant impact on how an organisation is perceived by its customers; they build an organisations credibility, reputation and overall success.

All staff within an organisation are responsible for the delivery of professional customer care, but there are always those who play a key role and are the first point of contact with clients. These people can influence future sales by ensuring that the current contract or order runs as smoothly as possible, making the client feel they are truly important and that their concerns and problems matter.

There is always a reason for behaviour. This is a simple truth, and when someone is complaining, and perhaps being aggressive, there is always an underlying driver of this behaviour. The skill is in determining what lies behind the behaviour, and then in looking after the “human” element and the underlying emotion driving the behaviour, before focusing on in house processes and procedures.

How many sales opportunities are lost through poor technique? Too much giving of information, and overloading the sales pitch, failing to identify the client need and want, or failing to identify and articulate the benefits of the product or service to the client and merely talk about the features.