Referrals + Relationships

5 Tips for Reps to Keep Selling During a Recession

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5 Tips for Reps to Keep Selling During a Recession

When the economy gets shaky and buyers get nervous, we see meetings fall off calendars, and deals go dark. It can feel scary for sure – especially when we see our new hire classmates cut from the team. 

Here are some tips to keep on keeping on selling during a recession.

Confirm and reconfirm all your meetings.

That includes getting cell phone numbers. Start with everything currently booked. Call and email them today to confirm and leave your cell number. Ask them to text and leave theirs. It’s OK to be honest. Try something like:

“Hey Ted, LB here. Looking forward to Tuesday and just want to confirm we’re still on. I’ve had a few folks literally disappear in the past month with this uncertain economy. VERY glad that’s not you. Listen, I’m going to leave my cell. Will you please be kind enough to return my call or pop over a text to confirm Tuesday at 11 Central? Thanks! It’s xxx-xxx-xxxx. One more time: xxx-xxx-xxxx. Talk soon.”

This move helps you keep the connects you have, shows concern, and gets you cell numbers. Winner! Do it for meetings you are setting up this week as well.

“OK, I’ll hit you back on Tuesday at 11. I’ll be ready to cover A, B, and especially C. Will you bring XYZ? I’m sending over a calendar invite to hold our place. It has a bridge, but I want you to have my mobile as well. My number is xxx-xxx-xxxx, can I grab yours?”

You won’t get it every time, but I’ll estimate 9 out of 10. Boom. No more going dark.

Reswizzle your value prop – in your messages, your posts, your pitches.

I stole this great tip from Doug Landis in our recent webinar, How To Build Pipeline And Keep Selling During A Recession. Nobody buys vitamins during a recession, they buy Advil. Truth is, my service of sales and leadership skills is definitely vitamins – the stuff that’s good for you we are supposed to take and tell our doctors we do…but isn’t usually prioritized. Yes, even though taking your vitamins helps you AVOID taking the hard stuff down the line, human nature is human nature. So if you’re normally plugging things like employee morale and retention, it’s time to restate. 

Advil helps us avoid pain. Pain we’re already in. What does your product solve that fixes a pain? Uncertain times lead to fear buying (one word ya’ll: hand sanitizer. Wait, here’s another: toilet paper.) These memories are fresh. People stop buying anything that isn’t essential, doesn’t pull them out of pain, or won’t protect them from horrible recession-related risks. Find the Advil in your solution and lead with that.

(Watch LB’s tips on changing your value prop during a recession below)

Sort & call intelligently.

What industries aren’t suffering right now? Automotive is strong (have you SEEN prices!?), healthcare and insurance are always winners, banks are flush, who else? Buy a new list or pull the bottom of yours out and go long.

Remove risk however you can.

Can you highlight a cancellation clause? Payment terms? Low-cost trial? Nobody wants to be the guy who spent too much and trapped the company in a big spend if this whole situation gets worse. Help them see this purchase will deliver them from pain and not get them in trouble.

Talk longer.

Now is the time to build deeper relationships. When someone says they can’t buy now, don’t hang up the phone! Get to know them, their company, their situation, their partner! Sometimes the best you can do is build pipeline, so build the strongest damn pipe your manager has ever seen. That means rock-solid projections of how many, how much, when they can buy, and every step it will take in the purchasing process. Get it one step short of a signature and be best friends with everyone along the way so they can’t wait to sign. 

We’re talking about asking more questions, building more rapport, showing more empathy, finding more contacts, going wide in the account. You should know every past competitor considered and why they failed, exactly how your solution will be used, the three purchases in line in front of you, the one guy who’s most doubtful. Getting the picture? About triple the info you normally have when you call it.

Remember…A recession or economic downturn is inevitable and also temporary. Do your future self a favor by staying positive and keeping momentum going so you’re ready to hit the ground running when things get back to “normal”!

WANT MORE RECESSION SELLING TIPS?

Join one of our upcoming Virtual Sales Training Masterclasses! We offer 4 different classes for BDRs, SDRs, ISRs, account executives, and account managers all focused on areas like prospecting, objection handling, running virtual sales demos, closing, and more!

VIEW VIRTUAL SALES TRAINING MASTERCLASSES
New Account Executive Tips

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5 Critical Tips for New Account Executives

Congratulations on your promotion to AE! Transitioning from an appointment setter, qualifier or SDR/BDR to an Account Executive who carries a revenue quota and closes deals is a BFD. Here are five skills that can help you make goal faster! 

1. Slow WAY Down. As a BDR, the game was speed. A hundred calls, ten conversations, and one yes. The good calls were under 10 minutes and you were careful not to dive too deep. As an Account Executive, it’s a common mistake to try and also pack your calendar with cookie-cutter demos in the hopes 10% will close. Be better.

The Account Executive’s role is to add so much value to the prospect that they overcome their resistance to change and buy. That won’t happen in 10 minutes or 60 minutes, and it won’t happen the same way each time. So slow down and get to know the prospect. Why did they take the meeting? What’s happening in their world? Why is it a challenge? Why is it important to fix? What have they tried? What happens when it’s better?I could keep going here, but I hope you get the picture. Spend time instead discovering their situation AND their top priorities and values because these are their motivators to change. At Factor 8, we’ll give you a gold star if you don’t share your screen or your solution once in the first call. Truth: we don’t give out a lot of gold stars. 

2. Be SWIIFT. Heard of that before? It’s the opposite of WIIFM and it means, “So, What’s In It For Them?” We want you to take this to the extreme and make as many of your calls as possible about them instead of you. The average AE will ask 3-4 questions and then launch into their slides/demo/solution.

This hurts them in several ways:

    1. They come off like a typical self-centered salesperson
    2. They leave opportunity on the table by not digging out the whole need
    3. They haven’t found a personal connection or the prospect’s motivation 
    4. The prospect quits listening and goes dark

So, go deeper and seek to understand. Seek to help. Make it all about them for the entire first call and as much of the second and third as possible. Even during your demo, we teach you to only cover a specific and abbreviated number of items and to stop sharing at least 50% of the call (join our Deal Progression Masterclass for help running demos). Ditch the sales speak and value props and pitches and competitive data and do all you can to understand and add value.

3. Bridge Every Call! Unlike your old job, closing deals will take multiple calls. Always set up your next call before getting off this one. Like, always. It’s called a bridge. The best bridges have appointments booked in the calendar with invitations and agendas sent immediately. If we can’t get that, they at the very least agree on a day you will call back (and try to get them to block the time!). This simple skill takes 3 minutes to accomplish and will save 3 hours of time chasing down leads you thought were interested but who won’t return your emails. It’s sort of like never wake a sleeping baby – never hang up on a live prospect (without bridging to the next call).

4. Be a Calendar Ninja. Suddenly you need time in your day for more than just outbound appointment setting (but pretty please still do that too!) Get strategic and block times in your calendar for research, client meetings, follow-ups, emails, and outbound prospecting. You’ll also need time to build your custom proposals/demos/solutions for clients. It’s a lot more to juggle! You may even be used to a tool telling you who to call and when if you used a great sales cadence solution like Outreach. But now you need to be strategic about when you call, build, respond, and research. It’s easy to get buried in emails and snoozed CRM tasks, and NOT systematically and proactively reviewing your CRM for actions to take to keep your pipe full and leads warm. It’s a common mistake and it takes serious time management skills. 

5. Master the Meeting. It can be intimidating to move from a 10-minute 1:1 call to running a pitch to a prospect team. 60 minutes, 5 people, and LOTS of pressure (and doing it virtually to boot!) To run a killer sales meeting, always start with an agenda and introductions. Think of it like you’re hosting an open house. Thank people for coming, learn something about them, find out their goals, and put them at ease. Remember, these meetings are as much about YOU as your solution, because people buy from people they like, and nobody likes being instantly pitched! 

Try dressing up a level, add some professional flair to your background, use your rapport-building techniques and do everything you can to get cameras ON and screen sharing OFF (a Gong study showed that discovery meetings run with you sharing slides means you do most of the talking instead of the other way around). Share your agenda and ask if they have specific questions or items to add before diving into the meat of the meeting. And always be sure the meat starts with SWIIFT questions instead of your pitch! Practice kicking off meetings with a few colleagues until you sound and feel confident!

There’s a lot to master in your new role, but these five skills will help you stay in front of the learning curve! If you’d like to dig into how to run killer sales meetings, do better discovery, build rapport, manage time, and rock your demos, check out our Deal Progression Masterclass created exclusively for Account Executives. 

 

Are you a new account executive that could use some tips and training?

Join one of our upcoming Virtual Sales Training Masterclasses! We offer 4 different classes for BDRs, SDRs, ISRs, account executives, and account managers all focused on areas like prospecting, objection handling, running virtual sales demos, closing, and more!

VIEW VIRTUAL SALES TRAINING MASTERCLASSES

10+ Tips to Build a Human Connection on Sales Calls [“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]

10+ Tips to Build a Human Connection on Sales Calls

[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]

Ready to start humanizing your sales calls?

Ready to bring the “human” back into sales calls? Join us for a special “Double Shot” featuring our friends at #GirlsClub and BombBomb. You’ll hear best practices and tactical tips on how to build a connection with your prospects and customers, from utilizing storytelling to incorporating videos in your outreach to letting your personality shine on sales calls.

Watch the video replay!

Ready to start humanizing your sales calls?

Ready to bring the “human” back into sales calls? Join us for a special “Double Shot” featuring our friends at #GirlsClub and BombBomb. You’ll hear best practices and tactical tips on how to build a connection with your prospects and customers, from utilizing storytelling to incorporating videos in your outreach to letting your personality shine on sales calls.

Watch the video replay!

Shout out to our event sponsors!

BombBomb
Chorus
#GirlsClub

How to Use Storytelling to Engage Prospects and Customers [“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]

How to Use Storytelling to Engage Prospects and Customers

[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]

Are You Using Storytelling on Sales Calls?

Using a story to prove a point can be up to 20x (yes, you read that right) more effective than just delivering facts. By crafting an engaging story about your experience, company, and solutions, you’ll have your prospects and customers leaning in and wanting to know more.

In this session, you’ll learn the components of a great story, plus actionable tips you can apply on your sales calls. We’ll go beyond building rapport to creating customer engagement on every call!

Bonus: You’ll also gain access to our cheat sheet that’ll help you become a better storyteller!

Watch the video replay!

Are You Using Storytelling on Sales Calls?

Using a story to prove a point can be up to 20x (yes, you read that right) more effective than just delivering facts. By crafting an engaging story about your experience, company, and solutions, you’ll have your prospects and customers leaning in and wanting to know more.

In this session, you’ll learn the components of a great story, plus actionable tips you can apply on your sales calls. We’ll go beyond building rapport to creating customer engagement on every call!

Bonus: You’ll also gain access to our cheat sheet that’ll help you become a better storyteller!

Watch the video replay!

How to Tell an Engaging Story on Sales Calls [Cheat Sheet]

How to Tell an Engaging Story on Sales Calls
[Cheat Sheet]

We’ve all heard a compelling story that’s taken us over the fence in our decision-making process. Stories really DO help us sell! In fact, using storytelling on sales calls with a prospect or customer can be up to 20x more effective! 

Download our cheat sheet on “How to Tell an Engaging Story on Sales Calls” to learn:

  • The 8 main components of a compelling story
  • Why you should always incorporate stories into your sales process
  • Examples of different types of stories to tell on sales calls

You’ll be armed with the skills you need to craft an engaging story to use on your next sales call.

DOWNLOAD CHEAT SHEET

We’ve all heard a compelling story that’s taken us over the fence in our decision-making process. Stories really DO help us sell! In fact, using storytelling on sales calls with a prospect or customer can be up to 20x more effective! 

Download our cheat sheet on “How to Tell an Engaging Story on Sales Calls” to learn:

  • The 8 main components of a compelling story
  • Why you should always incorporate stories into your sales process
  • Examples of different types of stories to tell on sales calls

You’ll be armed with the skills you need to craft an engaging story to use on your next sales call.

DOWNLOAD CHEAT SHEET

sales referral 01

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How to Ask Existing Customers for a Sales Referral

Did you know that 83% of customers are willing to offer a referral after a positive experience? It’s true! So, why aren’t reps getting more sales referrals? Honestly, many are too afraid to ask. It’s time to change that!

 Let’s start out by covering the 3 key benefits of a referral:

  1. Safety: With an average of 6.8 people involved in each sale, getting additional referrals within a company should be smooth sailing. The number one benefit for the inside referral is safety. These additional contacts protect your account in the event your initial contact decides to leave. As an added bonus, they can also lead to new business from another department or division! 
  2. Win Rate: The stats don’t lie. Customers referred by a friend are 4X more likely to purchase AND have a 69% faster closer rate. So, by asking just one little question you could be closing more business in less than ½ the time!
  3. Value: Referral clients stay longer and churn less! Overall, referral clients have a 16% higher chance of becoming a lifetime customer. They also have an 18% lower churn rate. 

Okay, now that we understand WHY referrals are the golden goose of the sales world, let’s talk about how to prepare for the ask! There are 3 things we need to have ready before we ask for a referral…

  • The Win: Think back to the client’s original specific request. What are the details? How did you help them deliver on those elements? 
    • Which of the 6 SWIIFT values did we deliver on? 
      • Time
      • Money
      • Ease
      • Making them look good
      • Freeing them from risk
      • Giving them power or control
  •  The Timing: When is the right time? This is not a one-size-fits-all answer. Instead, this is specific to you, your product, and the customer implementation. Here are a few good questions to ask yourself:
    • Has the customer received the product and had time to use it? If the answer is no, then let’s wait a little while longer. 
    • Stay away from busy periods (end of the month, quarter, year, etc.). Would you call an accountant in April? No, so let’s be smart about when we reach out to our customers asking for favors.
      •  Think: Does your client operate on a Fiscal Year or a Calendar Year?
    • What is the customer’s feedback cycle? Are they able to review it upon receipt or is the product offered to a 3rd party after your client receives it?
    • What are the client’s usage rates? Is this something they will use often, or something they may use sparingly? 
  • The Ask: Before you make this call let’s understand who you are really looking for. Take the time to imagine the perfect client in your mind. Can you describe the job title, duties, or the situation the potential client might be in? We want to be specific and use descriptors to help your client think of possible referrals. 
    • Asking a client if they know of anyone else that is looking for training might leave you with an awkward silence. On the other hand, asking a client if there are any other SVPs in their company or network that might also be onboarding new team sales reps might provide one (or more) specific names. 

Next, now that we’ve discussed the benefits and we’ve prepared for the ask… it’s time to make the call. Let’s talk about the 4 steps to a foolproof referral! 

Step 1: Bring it Up

  • Did you speak with this client originally? If so, let’s use that as a jumping-off point, “I remember when we first spoke, you were looking for help with _________”
  • Were you not their original point of contact? Speak with their original point of contact and get all of the details. Use the client’s original specific reason for working with you to lead the conversation. 

Step 2: Get a Rave

      • Let’s find the thing that gets them talking. Check your CRM notes, check with their customer service rep, find the challenge that your company answered and use it. If we can get the conversation flowing, switching to the ask will be easy. 

Step 3: Repeat the SWIIFT Value

      • Don’t be afraid to talk about their original specific reason again if you aren’t getting some excitement. Sometimes it can help to gently remind them about the pain of their situation prior to stepping in and helping them get to the payoff. 

 Step 4: Ask for a Specific Referral

      • Be ready with the specific title, job description, or situation that you are looking for. Being a bit specific can help guide your client to thinking of a real live name! “Are there any other Directors of Sales in your company or network that are looking to increase their closing ratios?” 
        • Be careful not to be too specific though, creating too narrow of a window can also leave you empty-handed.
      • Pro Tip: Use the Rule of 3 to help them see
        • When forming your ask, bringing three options to the ask will make it easier for your client to think on their feet. “Maybe a customer care team, inbound demand generation, or a sales development team?”

One little bonus tip, if you ask for a name you will only get a name… so ask for more! 

Once your client has offered you a name, the final step is to confirm with your client what their level of comfortability is when referencing them to the referral.

Level 1: Permission to use the contact’s name as a lever

Level 2: Would they be willing to e-introduce you, copying both you and the new contact?

Level 3: Would they be willing to call the new contact personally and tell them about you, prior to your reach out?

Level 4: An in-person meeting or live joint introductory call! 

Okay, I know this is a lot of information. But once you put these rules into practice, I PROMISE you will see amazing results. Now let’s go out there and start raking in those referrals! 

Want more sales referrals?

Join one of our upcoming Virtual Sales Training Masterclasses! We offer 4 different classes for BDRs, SDRs, ISRs, account executives, and account managers all focused on areas like prospecting, objection handling, gaining referrals, running virtual sales demos, closing, and more!

VIEW VIRTUAL SALES TRAINING MASTERCLASSES

How to Get More Sales Referrals [“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]

How to Get More Sales Referrals

[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]

Learn How to Get More Sales Referrals!

Have history in your accounts? Maybe even relationships? We’ll teach you how to leverage past success straight into your next win—an order, a partnership, or a referral.

Referral business closes faster, stays longer, and spends more. This workshop will give you the framework and the confidence to get more!

Watch the video replay!

Learn more about the sponsor of this event!

Outreach

Need help adapting to the new remote selling world? Request a demo of Outreach, the #1 sales engagement platform that closes more deals faster — so your reps can achieve revenue goals from anywhere. Companies that choose Outreach can expect a 387% return on the investment over three years and an 11% increase in sales productivity (valued at $6.9M). See what the #1 sales engagement platform can do for your business today.

How to Gain Sales Referrals by Leveraging the Rave [Cheat Sheet]

How to Gain Sales Referrals by Leveraging the Rave
[Cheat Sheet]

Have history in your accounts? Maybe even relationships? Learn how to leverage past success straight into your next win—an order, a partnership, or a referral.

Download our cheat sheet on “How to Gain Sales Referrals by Leveraging the Rave” to learn:

  • Why you NEED to ask for referrals
  • How to plan your rave
  • How to ask for the referral

Referral business closes faster, stays longer, and spends more. This cheat sheet will give you the framework and the confidence to get more!

 

DOWNLOAD CHEAT SHEET

Have history in your accounts? Maybe even relationships? Learn how to leverage past success straight into your next win—an order, a partnership, or a referral.

Download our cheat sheet on “How to Gain Sales Referrals by Leveraging the Rave” to learn:

  • Why you NEED to ask for referrals
  • How to plan your rave
  • How to ask for the referral

Referral business closes faster, stays longer, and spends more. This cheat sheet will give you the framework and the confidence to get more!

 

DOWNLOAD CHEAT SHEET

Why Your Customer Care Agents Should Be Upselling

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Why Your Customer Care Agents Should Be Upselling

Sometimes an upsell is obvious. The kid at the movie theater register (MAN, I miss the movies) has obviously been scripted to say, “How about some Red Vines or nachos with that?”

That’s NOT what you want your customer care agent doing. To keep the analogy going, a great customer care agent might instead ask, “What are you seeing today?” and engage the moviegoer in good conversation while the kids are picking out candy or while the (always slow) popcorn machine is working.

This may lead to a conversation about whether or not they’ve seen a similar movie now playing, an upcoming special throw-back feature, or a kids’ summer movie pass. All great cross-sell upsell opportunities. She may ask the kids about their favorite type of candy and share hers – uncovering an unstated need for chocolate and now we have an add-on opportunity. You get it.

From a sales perspective, your care agent has nearly unfettered access to your buyers, your users, your influencers. They have unguarded conversations about the user experience, the chance to solve problems, the chance to CARE. If a sales rep called into the moviegoers with these questions after the movie, the buyer is wondering why the theater is calling them and they’re preparing their defenses for the pitch. 

There are four major ways to add revenue to an install base:

  1. More buyers buying the same/similar product 
  2. Add-on sales to the existing buyer
  3. Cross-sales to the existing buyer
  4. New buyers buying different products

Not all of us have all four opportunities in our install base, but most of us have at least one. Our job as leaders is to:

  1. Identify the top opportunities
  2. Detail how these opportunities may relate to the caller (“I buy that”, “I know someone who does”, “I have information about how we use that”, etc.) 
  3. Create some pre-set questions and conversation starters that may uncover this relationship
  4. Train reps to execute the questions, follow-up questions, and identify potential opportunities and then bridge this call to your sales team or close themselves depending on the scope and skill of your team. (here is the big lift)

It might go like this in a technical care opportunity:

The customer is calling in with an issue with their internet outages/bandwidth now that they are homeschooling (this MIGHT be fresh in my mind). The customer care agent identifies they are using an outdated modem and begins to troubleshoot.

  1. The opportunity here may be a new modem, new wireless router, router booster pods, increased bandwidth, higher package (e.g. a business package), or even bundling better internet service with phone, cable, etc.
  2. The caller in this B2C model is likely a user and a buyer for their home and may be in need personally for better service as well as know the frustration of their kids glitching during video calls.
  3. Care agent asks questions like:
    1. “Tell me about how your household is using the bandwidth. Has this increased lately?”
    2. “How important is uninterrupted service and bandwidth? Do you see this need and priority continuing?”
    3. “Are there certain rooms in your home that are better or worse than others?”
  4. Care agent introduces a value-add service like this:
    1. “We are going to get your modem fixed today, but you might also benefit from some additional bandwidth and even our new router pods. Are you familiar with these?” 
  5. Care agent begins to educate and sell or passes to sales like this:
    1. “Well, your current bandwidth is great for occasional work at home, but I see you now have 10 devices hitting your service, and I think you just need more juice. This should dramatically improve everyone’s experience. And the network pods help keep service in those dead corners in your home. At mine, it’s the kitchen. It’s simply too far away with too many walls between it and the router in the office.”

OR

    1. “For many of my customers this makes all the difference. May I suggest that we bring my team member on the line to walk you through these options before we fix your modem? You may not need or want the fix at that stage.”

Seems simple right? Be clear, I still don’t understand why my son just lost connectivity during virtual band (VIRTUAL BAND!?!), but I did buy more bandwidth, a new modem and router and these pod deals in the past month, and I was infinitely grateful that my care agent suggested them.

Does this seem like a big lift for your care agents? Try the workaround where you stop at #2 and the care agent enters a potential opportunity for sales to call back. CRM says:

“Customer has frequent outages, modem fixed, may need more bandwidth or pods.”

Now our job as sales leaders is to work with the sales team. At this stage, a call to an internet customer who just spent an hour with tech support could go either way, right? See which scenario you’d appreciate as a home internet user:

  1. Salesperson: “I understand you are in the market for increased bandwidth services, our premiere package is an additional $50 / month.”

 

  1. Salesperson: “I’m calling to make sure the service you got last week on your modem has fixed the problem. Any more call drops? Dead areas? Now they start back at #3.

This is how you maximize every touch. Remember, making suggestions to clients is true selling. It’s how we become that trusted adviser and consultative seller. Unfortunately, our sellers have less and less opportunity to be in front of customers to identify opportunities to do so. Read more about customer touches in my blog on the 3 questions customer care agents should be asking to help generate revenue. 

Not all your care agents will get it, excel at it, or even like it. Part of the training we like to provide here is a mindset shift. Solving problems is their job, your products and services solve their problems. The “Did you know we also?” conversation goes a long way and in our experience, they’ll get a few bites a day.

How many care agents do you have that could be funneling a few leads/day to your sales team?

Bonus: The agents that DO get it are a great hiring pool for your next sales position!

Ready to train your customer service agents to sell? We’ve got you covered.

Fill out the form below to learn more.





Sales leaders should train customer service agents to sell and consider them extensions of the sales team.

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3 Questions Customer Service Agents Should Be Asking to Generate Revenue

In the past few years, the number of touches required to make a sale has more than doubled. In 2017 the number was under 4, and in 2020 we talk about 8+ touches. This is hardly a surprise to any sales, marketing, or customer success team. It’s also why top executives strive to maximize every customer touch.

What do we mean by maximizing a touch? Simply put, it means getting as much valuable information and opportunity from the customer every time we talk AND adding as much value as possible at the same time. What if every person that interacted with your customer could help mine more information, plant seeds for more opportunity, or even (allow a girl to dream) identify sales opportunities and seamlessly pass them or (gasp!) work them to a certain level? In short, the dream is that all sales leaders could consider their customer care and customer success teams as extensions of the sales team.

Seems logical and simple in theory, until you consider that these orgs often roll up to owners outside of sales, may have different systems, leaders, goals and KPIs. They also have widely varying hiring profiles. An inbound customer care agent performs well with a reactive personality, a high ability to multitask, patience, and a core need to help. Now let’s weave in the customer experience on top of this. A customer care or customer success team is goaled with solving customer problems, answering questions, and ensuring they are engaged and thrilled with their experience with our products, people, and services. And here-in lies the rub.

In fact, I’ve spoken with many Customer Success Leaders who adamantly refuse to include any type of sales objectives or goals for their teams in fear it would negatively impact the customer experience.

I hear you. I just don’t agree. When we have a live body from our customer pool engaged on a call with us, we just saved 8 calls. Let’s maximize it. Let’s also remember the incredible value of referral business. It closes faster, has higher annual spend, and retains longer. 

Fun fact: Referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value & an 18% lower churn rate.  

What if our customer care teams could help us leverage into additional referred sales?

Think I’m dreaming again? Perhaps. So let’s focus on an easy place to start:

Three questions every customer service, customer care, or customer success agent should ask on calls to help them become an extension of your sales team.

 1. Tell me about how you’re using the product / service?

This question uncovers opportunities. It’s the question we all wish our actual sales account managers asked more often. When we know the problem our solution solves for the customer, we can identify what other solutions, add-ons, services, etc., can also help. The goal is to find the use-case AND any gaps. Want to take it to the next level? Conduct internal product training for customer care agents and map common answers to potential solution fits. For example: A customer uses your service to bridge a gap between two departments. We know that our new software offering does the same for different departments. You’ve just uncovered an opportunity. The final dot on the “i” includes a few follow-up questions for your agents. In this example we’d ask, what departments had the gap? How did it come to happen? What other departments experience this? Is it 100% solved? Great sales-focused product training helps map our products and services to the customer situation that needs them and then maps questions to uncover those situations. The Factor 8 course, “Mapping Solutions To Customer Needs” is an uber-popular custom course we’ve built for companies in many industries to help build these bridges.

2. Talk to me about growth or other strategic plans for this group?

Again, adding licenses and services is a common goal for any customer success agent. We won’t know about opportunities if we aren’t asking about changes in the business – especially growth. Rather than letting your rep make 8 calls to ask a sales-focused question (a “me” question”), why not get the information from your customer care or customer success team. Much easier to weave this into a conversation about product-fit and satisfaction while we already have them on the phone!

 3. What is your favorite part of working with ABC company / service?

Not only does this rake in great testimonials and candidates for case studies, it leads to conversations about how we can make the experience even better. A smart question for the care goals, and even better for sales and product teams. At Factor 8, we use this information to help us build our curriculum development roadmap (I wish you had a class on “Having Difficult Conversations” helped us prioritize this webinar and e-learning content development). Learning that clients wanted to keep the “buzz” we created alive longer helped us add more consulting services and tools to help managers get more involved in coaching. This is the true “voice of the customer” for product and sales teams and when customer care agents know about add-on services and sales, at least 1 out of 10 conversations will uncover an actual opportunity nugget for something you already do.

Great feedback on clients’ favorite parts of their experience with you is also the fuel you need to “Leverage the Rave” to ask for referrals. Even if your customer care agents aren’t prepared to execute this skill yet, a great nugget is a perfect reason for an account executive to call, learn more, and ask for a referral to another internal or external buyer. 

Want to learn more about training your agents to ask for referrals? We have a class for that in the Sales Bar. Just ask us about it here. 

Not sure how to execute from here? A simple answer is a monthly touch point between sales and customer care where they bring answers and trends to these top 3 questions to help us pass the lead, queue up referral calls, and even brainstorm add-on products and services.

BONUS: It’s also a great way to find superstars in these organizations you’ll want to earmark for future sales openings.

Ready to train your customer service agents to sell? We’ve got you covered.

Fill out the form below to learn more.

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