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Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith Become an Author

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Does your business have one person to make the sale? This person meets and greets the potential qualified customers (a.k.a prospects), builds an authentic relationship, becomes the trusted advisor and delivers the sale to the organization.

Now many firms have a separate person whose role is customer service. This person manages the process of the sale from beginning to end.

Yet, who did the customer conduct the sale with, the salesperson or the customer service person? Sales today are really all about relationships. The customer has already established a relationship with the sales professional and not some customer service individual. Why would you want to lessen that relationship by handing it off to someone else?

The sales professional knows or should know the customers better than anyone else. They understand the nuances of within their customers from how they communicate to their expectations specific to the products or services. Again, the question to be asked is Why would anyone want to jeopardize this relationship by not meeting expectation?

Now some may say that their sales people do not have tine to meet. A survey of 29 leading North American Consumer goods makers conducted in 2005 by McKinsey in partnership with AC Nielsen and the Grocery Manufacturers Association revealed that top sales companies had over 50% less key accounts than those who were not as successful. This survey also suggested:

1. Winning sales companies had over 25% more dedicated sales resources
2. Almost 50% more meetings between top sales executives and top retailer executives
3. 66% more customized customer research
4. 33% more frequency in calls
5. 133% efforts in raising level of customer service

These facts demonstrate that your sales force is your customer service. In many cases customer service is really more about sales support than customer support. This is why some companies have an inside sales support staff who through their sales skills support the outside sales professionals and the external clients.

Another factor to having a separate customer service department is fear. Companies fear that their sales professionals may have too strong of a relationship and want to have some control over that relationship. Embracing this fear factor only weakens the overall relationships between the customers, the sales professional and the organization.

Sales Coaching Tip: Drop customer service as a separate entity and provide the resources for your sales professionals to continue to expand their relationships with their clients. Technology can help you to accomplish this goal. Remember the relationship is truly between your customer and that sales professional. Your goal is to keep that relationship strong.

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