Article • 3 min read
Why you need to connect sales and customer service right now
Creating memorable customer experiences is the buzzword on everyone’s mind. But what does that actually mean in practice? And why does it matter?
By Erin Hueffner, Staff Writer
Last updated May 5, 2022
The fact is, better customer experiences are better for business. Great C means your customers are happier, feel taken care of, and are more loyal – all of which leads to more profits.
It takes the right tools and data to fuel those experiences, and a lot of it is already at your fingertips. Your customer service team knows a lot about your customers: how they actually use your products, what’s working and what’s not, and what they want to do. That’s exactly the sort of thing your sales team needs to know to bring in new customers, so it doesn’t do you any good to keep that data in an isolated spreadsheet or siloed databases. When you connect your service and sales teams, you can open up a whole new world of possibilities.
There’s a tangible benefit to sharing customer data between teams
According to our ebook Breaking down the silos between sales and service, 92 percent of organisations that build a single source of truth for customer data see a significant impact on sales success. What’s more, 78 percent say it’s a game-changing impact.
On the flip side, there’s also a real risk to ignoring the need for integration. Our research found that siloing sales and service leads to a more disconnected customer journey and missed revenue opportunities. Why? When your sales team doesn’t know a customer’s purchase history, recent help tickets, or preferences, they can’t tailor the experience for them. Personalised service is now a differentiator when customers choose to buy from a brand, and it takes easy access to the right data to create those one-to-one relationships.
This can give you a competitive advantage. 89 percent of leaders surveyed agree they need more CX innovation to keep business from going to their customer-focused competitors. Now more than ever, customers are shopping with service in mind, so companies that deliver personalised experiences have a leg up.
When it comes to sales and service integration, more is better
Think of connected data like this: What could you do if all your customer information was under a single pane of glass and you could get to it without opening multiple apps? You’d have a clearer picture of your customer and what they need from you. That’s one reason why businesses that connect their sales and service teams can identify new opportunities and cross-sells. Our research found that businesses with deeply integrated teams are 6.7x more likely than their peers to report a significant increase in per-customer spending over the past six months.
Beyond that, it’s crucial to connect your service teams to the rest of your business – they’re the ones who talk to your customers the most. When your teams can share customer feedback, your business is better able to meet customer expectations and create new products that wow.
Now is the time to break down barriers between your teams
What businesses choose to do now can accelerate growth or stifle innovation. It’s what you choose to prioritise and the tools you equip your teams with that define how agile you can be. Customer expectations are clear: They want your teams to work together to deliver great service. We know that connecting service with sales is key to making that happen.
