Prospect: “John, would you mind sharing a new customer success story and the link to the podcast we discussed over the phone today.”
John(SDR): Why not? I’ll do it in a jiffy.
Prospect: Dude! That was quick. It’s sitting in my inbox before I can keep the phone. Thanks, John. Talk to you next week!
How do you feel about the conversation? Do you feel a sense of excitement and satisfaction in the prospect’s voice?
Also, a feeling of commitment to reach out next week to John.
That’s exactly what customer service does to your prospects. It makes them committed and involved in your business.
Customer service is highly likely an activity performed for customers. But with today’s virtual setup and competitive market, customer service should start at the bud stage- with prospects!
Small exercise. (answer in your head)
- Do you respond in a certain way to your prospect?
- What is the response time of your sales team?
- Is someone putting more effort into the presentation of the answer?
- What is the response time of your sales team?
- Is someone putting more effort into the presentation of the answer?
While treating prospects like customers may not close sales deals immediately, it builds credibility and trust for future opportunities.
Because according to Hubspot
80% of consumers say a poor experience has made them stop doing business with a company.
How to offer customer service to your prospects?
- Be very accessible and attentive
- Be Responsive
- Ask for feedback
- Make them participate in the Market survey
- Offer customer support during the free trial period
- Avoid chatbots
- Offer items free-of-cost or complementary
- Train them on a new concept or skill
- Give them access to internal news and tools
- Invite them to launch or other internal events
Essential sales tip- Customer service is a 2-way street.
Let’s understand this clearly.
Customer service is a 2-way street. By offering your service now, you may earn business immediately or in the future.
Microsoft states, “69 percent of U.S. consumers say customer service is vital when it comes to their loyalty to a brand.”
This means the psychology behind customer service is the same in the case of prospects.
An essential aspect of customer service is committing less initially and offering more afterward. When the buyer receives more than expected, this can boost the buying process.
Now that we are on the same page regarding the concept of customer service for prospects. The next step is to unveil the various free and effortless ways to offer customer service to your prospect.
10 sales tips for effortless and free customer service for your prospect
1. Be very accessible and attentive
The journey of turning a prospect into a customer starts with being accessible and attentive to the prospect.
- First and foremost, offer clear contact information to the prospect. Name, phone number, email address, and any other relevant information.
- Be aware of when your prospect is awake and active at work.
- Have a support team set up at different time zones.
- Always keep an eye on the prospect’s needs.
2. Be Responsive
If one customer sales tip that makes around the planet, then that’s definitely the art of being responsive. And trust us, speed is everything.
- Respond to prospect calls and emails within 24 hours.
- If you’re unable to answer or respond immediately, send them a mail saying I’ll get back to you soon.
- Just because your response was on time doesn’t mean you can make mistakes. For example, missing the email attachment, making grammatical errors, leaving the subject line blank, etc.
3. Ask for Feedback
If you want your prospect to feel valued and taste the customer’s service, this sales tip does wonder- request feedback on the product and sales engagements.
- The most subtle way to request feedback is by sending an email.
- Ask for feedback on a particular product feature or sales rep’s performance.
- Never push for feedback.
- If the feedback is implemented anyway, don’t forget to inform the prospect and thank them.
4. Make them participate in Market Survey
You can make your prospects feel important by making them participate in important market research activities within the organization. For example, a new product idea, a common challenge, and a new industrial trend, to name a few.
- Clearly mention the reason behind the market research survey.
- Offer an incentive if possible like a FREE Starbucks coffee, a discount, etc.
- Mention the duration of the survey response.
- Circulate the survey on multiple channels.
- Keep the questions as crisp and comprehensive as possible.
5. Customer support during the free trial period
While we agree this isn’t a very new sales tip and doesn’t need any introduction, our concern is the point where you fall slack. The prospect loses interest and shifts to a competitor product trial.
This pointer can be more of a reminder to be on top of customer support.
6. Avoid chatbots
AI chatbots are built to augment human skills and offer support for 1st level issues without the help of real agents.
However, you can avoid chatbots for prospects and have customer support teams or real agents interact with them.
Customer support teams or real agents can decipher the real issue and resolve it ASAP. But that’s not all.
These teams also help in influencing the prospect’s decision-making and add extra value and personalization to the prospect's experience.
Are you interested in learning more about sales tips during a pandemic? Here’s something for sales 2022.
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7. Offer items free-of-cost or complementary
Although the title and introduction talk about free customer service. Still, there’s no harm in adding a few Zero price items to lure the prospect.
The prospect may convert and compensate for the item immediately. Makes sense?
Don’t overdo anything but try to send a product item or merchandise(a branded coffee mug?) to the prospect.
Don’t let “out of sight out of mind” sip in.
8. Train them on a new concept or skill
This one may not seem to be a common practice but makes a lot of sense.
Getting invited to a training session or a new skill development session may seem unusual and make them a sticky prospect.
They may or may not attend, but they know they are part of a community now. Imagine the impact it leaves on the prospect's mind?
9. Give them access to internal news and tools
Haven’t you already been sending emails to your prospects? Aren’t they already aware of your organization's events?
Well, just take this a bit more seriously and go one step further.
- If you plan to launch a new tool or product, allow them to participate and request feedback.
- Help them with productivity tools(for a limited period!) to improve their tasks.
- Promptly help them with industry news and news related to their organization.
- Share statistics of a new customer without disclosing the names.
- Make them part of the collaboration and messaging tool as soon as they HIT the trial button.
10. Invite them to launch or other internal events
This one’s pretty straightforward.
You just need to send mail invites to your webinars and launch events.
If the buyer is a C-level executive or someone influential, you may want to pick up the phone and call them personally.
Also, don’t forget to share the names of high-profile attendees to make the event sound glamorous.
But before we sign off, one essential sales tip and something we as a company believe genuinely.
A sales conversation or communication is incomplete without the feeling of gratitude.
Bonus Tip: Say Thank You
That one Thank you may make your prospect feel loved and respected. And the next thing you know, they’ll like to stop by again. No matter what kind of business you have, “One of the easiest ways to establish a habit of good customer(prospect) service is to say thank you after every transaction and communication.”
And that’s all for prospect customer service.
If you implement these sales tips and gain even a 1 percent positive reaction, you must share them with other readers. And that’s on YOU!
Remember- Happy Prospects are Loyal Customers!
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