Running a successful sales operation means keeping customers happy for as long as possible after you’ve persuaded them to buy. This practice is the foundation of sales as a service, which grows profitability by encouraging recommendations and repeat business. Sales as a service encompasses a lot of different practices, including creating clear lines of communication to tracking the experience.
What actually is Sales as a Service?
Sales as a service is an approach that prioritizes delivering exceptional customer experiences by fostering long-term, trusted partnerships throughout the entire customer journey. It involves a commitment to deliver ongoing service or working closely with an after-sales team to ensure a smooth transition from lead to customer and beyond. While any company may benefit from it, sales as a service can be especially beneficial and effective for B2B sales teams with longer sales cycles and enterprise clients with complex needs.
3 benefits of uniting sales and customer service
By nurturing customer relationships and optimizing your after-sales service, your business can create a virtuous cycle where excellent customer service leads to increased sales, customer retention and loyalty.
Here are three of the main benefits of implementing sales as a service:
More Sales
Sales teams that strive to create an enjoyable customer experience (CX) encourage repeat business and recurring revenue. According to a Gladly report, 72% of shoppers are willing to spend more with brands that provide a great customer experience. Delivering that outstanding experience requires thoughtful sales tactics and behind-the-scenes collaboration.
For example, customer service representatives (CSRs) can access a vast pool of feedback and insights to make sales aware of which parts of the product or service customers find most helpful. With this knowledge, sales reps can more accurately pitch the product to different leads according to real-life experiences and uses.
Increased Customer Loyalty
According to a NICE report, 95% of consumers say customer service impacts brand loyalty. More specifically, they value ease of access to digital channels, self-service options and professional agents. You can ensure you control the quality of your service by being proactive with effective sales support, offering help before users request it.
A PwC survey found human interaction is crucial for loyalty for a third of respondents (rising to more than half for some business types). For many companies, however, human interaction stops when sales reps convert prospects and doesn’t begin again until there’s a problem that support reps need to solve. While sales teams typically only offer introductory deals and upgrades, they can continue to build long-lasting relationships alongside customer support teams and use these conversations to drive more revenue.
Better Objection Handling
Salespeople naturally come up against and have to overcome multiple objections when trying to entice new customers. For example, a prospect may say there’s not enough budget or requirement for your offering. In these situations, preparation is vital to convince customers they can trust you and that you’re the right choice – that’s where sales as a service comes in.
Using data analytics software, your CSRs can build up a collection of helpful insights about current customers that will help them address prospects’ apprehension, including:
- Features they find most valuable. Your prospect may not have considered certain use cases or benefits your product offers that meet their needs.
- Most common pain points. Finding out what customers dislike about your product or service can help you improve it so others won’t have the same issues.
- Why they fail to renew. Learning why customers churn can help you suggest better-fit plans and subscription tiers at the prospect stage.
Your sales and customer service teams possess unparalleled insights into your customer base, forming the backbone of your organization’s customer intelligence. By fostering closer collaboration between these traditionally siloed yet well-informed departments, you can streamline processes spanning lead generation, sales, and post-purchase support. Invest in a CRM tool that can automate many of these new tasks for you, bring your teams closer together and create a unified customer experience that drives more sales, loyalty and advocacy.
