Customer Service Vs. Sales – Where To Put Your Money

We’re all limited on time these days, and with pinched business resources, how do you allocate attention to the tasks that matter most? When it comes to generating sales versus giving exceptional customer service, in an ideal world you would hope that neither would suffer at the hands of another. However, often companies struggle to find a balance between investing in marketing and sales and paying due attention to customer service needs. When the battle between customer service and sales comes to a head, which one wins? I’m here to break it down for you.

Your business relies on sales…

Let’s be real: your business would be nothing without sales. Sales are the profit that drive your business and allow you to succeed. However, what helps you gain sales?

Marketing and advertising are the basis to getting your product attention and bringing customers to you. Even with excellent customer service, a lack of strong marketing and sales tactics will lead to few customers and diminish your ability to survive. Apps and programs like the Raanana-based Pepperi can increase and open conversations between sales and marketing teams. So, marketing that leads to sales are of course the most necessary tenet of keeping your business alive, but sales also rely on your established brand image, which is inextricably tied to customer service.

In this way, customer service drives sales…

Bad customer service can cause you to lose valuable clients, while creating a company priority to deliver reliable, attentive, and quick customer service can significantly improve the public’s image of your brand and cause you to both keep current customers and gain the attention of prospective clients. That’s when startups like the Herzilya-based nanoRep kicks in and help high volumed traffic companies to personalize, automate and optimize their online customer service.

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As the Death of a Salesmen article in Agency Post pointed out, the sales of tomorrow will rely much less on traditional selling methods as customers begin to identify their own needs and seek out products that fit them rather than reps bringing the products to customers. However, the biggest impact of this is that brand transparency will be of greater importance than ever, as the ease of leaving online reviews and comments can seriously impact the likelihood that possible clients searching your company or product online will want to purchase your product or service. Customer service, in effect, is already as major of a force as marketing in generating and sustaining sales.

So how do you choose?

The good news is, you don’t have to. Customer service and sales are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they function best when integrated together. Apps and programs that increase open conversations between sales and marketing teams and customer service reps can help identify customer needs quicker, leading to better marketing tactics that answer real customer complaints. Even the best marketing strategy is useless if it doesn’t address the needs of customers, and customer service reps are the liaison that can give the most valuable input because they see the trends in customer complaints and needs day in and day out.

To facilitate the teamwork between teams, look for ways to make sure everyone is on the same page. Sales and marketing teams should understand the impact of customer service on long-term sales and growth, and customer service reps should be able to communicate the pertinent needs so that marketing teams can respond through viable campaigns.

Don’t just take our word for it – what’s your opinion? Is one more important than the other? How do you balance customer service and sales in your business?