Management, Human Resources, and Life in a Customer Focused World

There is a topic that is always a challenge at a so called “customer service center”.  These call centers or service centers perceive themselves as answering customer questions and giving the customer information about their account.  They perceive themselves as separate from the revenue, separate from the sales, and separate from the success or failure of the company in many cases.  Their focal point is whether the customer is happy and whether the customer safisfaction scores that they are rated on are high. Although there is nothing theoretically wrong with this, this viewpoint fails in today’s market and opportunity.  To me, it even fails in today’s perception of customer service.  The topic that is a great challenge is that of “sales” (cover mouth, gasp slightly).  Oh no. The word sales!  I’m not an expert in sales, but I know how to convert service people into basic sales people. Going past that, you’ll need to talk to people like Rick (I haven’t used his services, but some day hope to be in a position that I’ll need to).

Reactions that I’ve had in organizations where I’ve helped implement sales environments into a customer service center range the entire length of the spectrum from “Cool! I can now work towards commissions or helping the company” to “I was hired on to do customer service and will never ever sell something.  You can’t make me.”  Really?

Imagine the following summarized conversation between Service Center (SC) and Customer X (X):

X: Hey, I’m calling in because my product isn’t working. It’s serial number 1234.

SC: Great! Let me find you a local repair center. That serial number is definitely under warranty and will be for a while longer.

X: Thanks for your help.

3 months later

X: Hey, about 3 months ago, my product failed and I had to have it repaired. It looks like it is doing it again. My serial number is 1234.

SC: I’m sorry, sir. Your product is no longer under warranty.

X: What?! That sucks. I wish you had an extended warranty.

SC: We do, sir, but you would have had to purchase this before your product was out of warranty.

X: ….

The Service Center has now failed in their charter to offer the customer the best service that they can.  Most self-coined “customer service agents”, however, don’t realize that.  They perceive talking to the customer about anything that could be a sale to be a negative because it is “sales” related.

The same conversation should have gone more along the lines of:

X: Hey, I’m calling in because my product isn’t working. It’s serial number 1234.

SC: Great! Let me find you a local repair center. That serial number is definitely under warranty, but it appears that it won’t be much longer. Did you know about our extended warranty coverage?  We would then be able to ensure that you didn’t have a lapse in your product support.

X: Thanks for your help.  I’m glad you mentioned that! Can you give me more information?

The fact of the matter is that all too often, customer service organizations completely ignore the major opportunities that they have to be able to generate revenue for their overall company.  Service centers shouldn’t need to be a 100% cost center.   Some, such as the one I am currently consulting for, would have a very hard time breaking even through revenue due to corporate or divisional policies, but there’s no reason that there can’t be some sales or some revenue being generated!

Some examples of service-oriented-sales opportunities include:

• Extended or UltraValue Warranties
• Accessories to physical products
• Product upgrades (with, or without, a trade in policy)
• Software updates
• Software or hardware enhancements
• Webinar training

Every business has their own opportunity, their own area that they could offer extra service to the customer and make the customer really happy by mentioning (selling) something.  It’s just a question of figuring out what that something is.

Is your group a customer service center refusing to sell? Remember, there are a lot of situations where NOT selling is more damaging to your customer service (even though the customer may not realize it).