Recent discussions I’ve had with members about selling in the contact center often prompt me to remember conversations I have with my 5-year old daughter. She has a knack for trying to slip in a request for a cookie into conversations that have nothing to do with food.
“Daddy, I had a great day at school so… can I have a cookie?”, or “Daddy, it’s a beautiful day outside so… can I have a cookie?”
And while I applaud her perseverance, I’m not going to give her a cookie just because it’s nice outside – no matter how many times she asks me. Unfortunately, this example parallels what I’ve heard members articulate as their typical approach to selling.
It seems like for many organizations the selling approach is best described as “always-on” or “try-on-every-call”. I think companies have this “always-on” mentality with the thought that it’s easier to teach CSRs how to sell if you give them lots of chances to do it. And, given some guidance in the industry, there’s good reason to think that this may be the approach to adopt.
But I think this style of selling in the contact center, as opposed to selective selling, may leave your customers with a bad taste in their mouths, thinking that every service call is going to turn into a sales pitch, whether it’s relevant to me, or not. And, I’m not sure that “always-on” selling is necessarily more successful. Think back to my conversation with my daughter – I can assume that customers will similarly not just accept a cross- or up-sell offer just because we ask them to.
Instead, I think companies should follow this guidance when selling through the service center:
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1. There’s a better way to sell …
- Recognize the importance of identifying the right opportunities to sell, knowing that relevant offers greatly increase the likelihood that a customer will increase spend;
- You have to actively teach & coach CSRs how to recognize opportunities to sell, and teach & coach what the selling process looks like, too;
- And, once you’ve identified the CSRs that do this well, solicit their best practices to teach & coach this to the rest of the staff.
2. Don’t harm the customer experience in an effort to make a sale …
- Reps should identify selling as an opportunity to improve the customer experience, not jeopardize it;
- Since you’re a service center first, and a sales center second, make sure to resolve the customer issue first … then try for the sale. And if you can’t resolve the issue … you’d better not try to sell!
As the number of service-to-sales organizations has increased significantly the past few years it’s become increasingly important for members to fine-tune their approach to selling. Teaching and coaching CSRs to identify the right opportunities to sell, instead of presenting customers with offers on every call, will help lead to more successful & positive interactions for the company, the customer and the rep.
And that’s an approach that definitely deserves a cookie.
CCC members: See quantitatively why relevant offers are a key to selling success, & learn the most important drivers of rep performance in order to be more effective at selling in the contact center. You can also learn Wells Fargo’s approach to teaching and coaching reps on selling techniques.
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