Everyone wants to be liked (especially Sally Field), so how do you get your customers to really like you? It’s a competitive world out there, and with social media, any failure can be detrimental to a corporation. If you make a mistake, most consumers would have their disappointment spread over the internet faster than Rosanne Barr’s mouth. And let’s face it, your customers expect a lot: they want products and services at the moment, at the best price and quality. All of this without them feeling like they must wait or that you’re harassing or selling to them. If you can’t make their desires happen straight away, you can bet they will jump ship and swim to the competition.
The key is for marketing, service, and sales to work together to build a strong and lasting relationship with their customers. And the smoother sales and service work together, the less marketing you’ll have to do to keep clients in the loop or win back clients who’ve wandered off. Here are four tips to help your internal business align themselves for a competitive edge.
Let your service reps in on the sales
Your customer service reps are on point when it comes to your clients needs, so why not have them be in the know when it comes to upgrades and new features? They will know how your customer operates and may be able to provide insightful and helpful features that can enhance your customers existing product, and without coming across as being pushy. Once they lay the foundation, sales can follow up, and they can let the company know what marketing support materials they need based on this new knowledge.
Keep them happy
We’ve all heard about how a customer is more likely to comment on a bad experience than a good one, and unfortunately, sometimes you can drop the ball and make a customer unhappy. This is when your sales and service teams really need to align. Listen to the customers, take ownership, deal with the situation, and if you can’t fix it immediately, give them the proper expectation of when they can expect a remedy. Afterward, follow-up to ensure they’re satisfied. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% versus only 5-20% for a new customer* so keeping them happy and turning a negative into a positive will keep them as a long-term client. If there seems to be a trend in the form of complaints customer service receives, they can inform the marketing department, who can assess the issue, and provide a solution within out-going materials to improve their public image. Responding to social media issues in the moment shows a company that’s professional and willing to work with their customers, and that builds brand loyalty.
Build a long-term relationship through sales
Once upon a time, sales would close the deal and walk away, unless they wanted to garner more business. These days it’s important to continue to foster the relationship to keep the customer happy. The easiest way to do this is through social media and marketing materials. Sharing insights and being an informative contact for them will help them connect to your brand. Sure, customer service will still be on point to deal with any problem-solving, but a sales person who can be the brand ambassador for the client will go a long way to building loyalty.
Talk to each other
Never assume that customer service knows what’s happening with sales, and that sales knows what’s happening with marketing. The teams need to meet on a regular basis and discuss the latest challenges each side is facing, and work together to provide solutions. Being on the same page will end up giving your customers a consistent message and avoid confusion. Ensuring your team has the tools to bring customers from the bottom of the funnel to the top, and keeping dialogue open during that customer journey, will translate to your customers and help build your brand.
Aligning your team can help you reach long-term success. Starshot can provide you with the assets needed to ensure long term loyalty. Reach out to us to find out more.
*Source: Marketing Metrics