Never before has customer service been so critical to the sales process. When the COVID-19 pandemic cut off in-person access to many of our customers, it was up to customer service professionals to play a new, much larger role in understanding our customers’ immediate needs, deficiencies, and shortfalls.
In fact, a recent McKinsey study found that close to four out of five business-to-business decision makers now prefer remote sales — making it even more likely that “walking the manufacturing floor” and “dropping in for a quick chat” will remain verboten activities.
This is why assuring a flawless and engaged customer experience is a make-or-break proposition — not just a bridge to near-term value-added sales, but to long-term sales success. That’s why it’s key that your salespeople use a customer-focused, consultative selling process with every prospect and customer with whom they interact. It starts with strong alignment between the Customer Service, Marketing, and Sales departments.
Improve Cross-Departmental Alignment to Drive Revenue
We’ve known that a strong alignment between Marketing and Sales improves overall performance. Current research reveals just how critical it is for the Service department to be included in this alignment as well.
According to Aberdeen, companies that align Service and Marketing programs around the customer improve customer satisfaction and allow their sellers to sell more. The research reveals a 55 percent greater annual increase in customer satisfaction rates than those where the departments operate in silos.
Happy customers buy more, stay with your company longer, and refer more business.
Companies that have marketing and service departments in sync have customers who are more loyal and spend more, as the study reveals. Some additional findings from Aberdeen’s report include:
- Aligned firms enjoy 7.6 times greater annual increase in customer retention rates (11.4 percent vs. 1.5 percent) compared to all others
- Aligned firms achieve 2.8 times greater annual increase in company revenue, compared to all others (25.6 percent vs. 9.0 percent)
- Sales teams across these firms enjoy 41 percent greater annual growth in their attainment of quotas (51.2 percent vs. 36.3 percent)
Align Your Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service Teams with IMPACT
The IMPACT selling process is a buyer-focused sales process that allows salespeople to consult with prospects and customers and present the best possible solutions.
In addition to increased sales, training your team with IMPACT gets everyone speaking the same language—making conversations between team members much more efficient and productive.
Now imagine how much more productive your organization would be if your Marketing department understood the sales process and could provide marketing materials for every step of the buyer’s journey.
That alignment is achieved by our clients who train their Marketing teams in the IMPACT process.
And now, IMPACT customer service training is available for your Customer Service department. In the customizable live or virtual training program, your Service reps will learn to tailor their approach to each customer, solve issues quickly, and align strategically with your organization’s sales team.
Watch the video below to learn more about the IMPACT for Customer Service training program
Conclusion
In a world where the customer is in control, happy customers are the secret to growth. And that means refining your customer-focused approach is more important now than ever before.
It’s one thing to say your organization is taking a customer-focused approach, but to truly succeed you need an intentional strategy and strong cross-departmental alignment.
With IMPACT as your operating system, your teams will be able to understand customer needs, develop relevant sales collateral, identify untapped revenue potential, and sell more to customers who are ready to buy.
Schedule a consultation to learn how to align your team with IMPACT and start achieving sustainable performance lift today.
NOTE: Our sales training tools are designed to make your life easier. Use them to your advantage.
How to Align Sales & the Rest of the Organization to Drive More Revenue
We just finished an eye-opening research study which revealed that 47% of salespeople do not have confidence that the sales department is respected by other departments inside of the company. The fundamental truth is this: sales believes that the rest of the company wouldn’t have jobs if not for them… and the rest of the company feels sales wouldn’t have a job without them.
