Why Customer Experience is Just as Important as Sales
Why Customer Experience is Just as Important as Sales
The two bodies indeed bear two different functions – sales force are busy attracting new customers while customer service representative are working hard to keep current customers – but this doesn’t necessary mean they can and should exist in two separate sides.
Imagine this situation: your sales force have just scored a new customer. One day, this customer tries to contact your customer service regarding an issue, yet they don’t get a good service, or even worse a proper reply. Puff! The customer won’t be back for sure, and your sales force’s hard work doesn’t really mean anything anymore. I know it depends on the company and even the person. Yet, overall, how would you rate the customer experience delivered by companies? Check out these statistics from research on what’s really happening. Then give a rating…
- 50% of service agents fail to answer customer questions appropriately.
- 66% of customers went to a competitor due to bad service.
- 70% of the buying experience is based on the way the customer feels they are being treated.
- 73% of customers cite incompetent and rude customer support.
- 75% of customers say it takes too long to reach a live person for help.
- 78% of customers ended a business relationship due to bad service.
- 80% of the daily one million customer service tweets are negative.
- 86% of customers will not buy from a company with negative online reviews.
- 87% of companies are at elementary levels related to the quality of their customer experience.
- 96% of customers don’t actually tell a company about their complaints, and 25% of all customers have some level of complaint at any one time.
In addition:
- 89% of customers who experience poor service will leave a brand.
- 90-95% of service problems are management related according to Deming, Juran and Crosby.
- 95% of unhappy customers tell others and will tell three times as many people as happy customers.
So what is your overall rating, now? Feel free to leave a note and the reason why in the comments below.
In this case, I’m quite sure that every happy customer can generate additional customers for you in the long run. It’s time then to use customer service for sales with the help of your top sales force – your loyal customers. They may be the one who contributes significant sales in the end.
