Selling and customer care
Featured in the Selling through Customer Service training manual
By Tony Gillen
Category: Sales Skills
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
Effective and efficient selling depends, to a large extent, on good customer care. This training activity deals with: the link between sales and service; the customer care loop; and discovering the windows of opportunity that lead to more sales. Customers who know they are being treated well will be willing to continue as customer and so will buy again and again, provided they are given the opportunity. Selling is the leading edge of customer care – until someone becomes a customer you cannot provide high-quality after-sales service. At the same time, high-quality customer care encourages people to buy – customer care, therefore, is the bedrock of efficient selling. No one person in an organisation is wholly responsible for either selling or for delivering customer service. There is a customer care loop in which sellers, service providers and customers operate. By serving and selling well, each person creates ‘windows of opportunity’ to generate more sales and deliver more service. Most people provide a good standard of service, or would if they could. Many less experienced staff often do not see a clear link between good service and a direct increase in sales or sales opportunities; and this training activity will seek to redress this, using a mix of whole group work, syndicate discussions and feedback presentations.
Begin the training activity by explaining its purpose and content. Follow this by checking the group’s attitude to customer care and selling – is it positive (‘It’s our job to serve and to sell’) or negative (‘The trouble with customers is they expect too much’)? The initial discussion enables them to clarify their thinking and prepares them to take on the responsibility to serve and sell. Note negative comments and say you will revisit them as you progress through the session. The discussion includes general statistics on the link between sales and customer care – you might want to introduce your company’s own statistics or results of mystery shopper activity. (‘Mystery shopping’ is a survey method in which researchers pose as customer. They are tasked with noting or measuring staff actions, words and attitudes. The results are used to focus on general strengths and weaknesses.) Participants define the customer care loop, as they understand it, and highlight areas that work well or could be improved. The windows of opportunity for increased sales within the loop are exposed ready for further action.
Who is it for: This training activity is intended for use by trainers to explain to participants the link between sales and service, the customer care loop, and windows of sales opportunity.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 6 |
| Max Group Size: | 12 |
| Typical Duration: | 02:15:00 |
| No of Pages: | 21 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training activity is intended for use by trainers with inexperienced counter and telephone staff as well as with those whose sales are falling off. It is often more effective to refocus staff on customer care to generate higher sales than to retrain them is sales skills.
Download the training activity, Selling and customer care as featured in the Fenman training manual; Selling through Customer Service