How are you at selling?

Everyone in every organization is now part of the sales force AND part of customer service, but there are no customers without sales. Sales and customer service go hand-in-hand, but sales always come first. No matter if you’re the newest administrative employee or the CEO, your job is sales and then customer service, and if you don’t think it is, your business’s health is probably just as questionable as the rest of the companies out there. A business cannot survive without both. Customer service is now as important to those hired to actually sell as it is to the members of the production team and the people who answer the phones.

The really good sales professionals I know sell other people’s products just as readily as the ones they earn money selling. Successful sales people don’t push a product; they listen for people’s needs. Develop the habit of listening first. Find people’s needs – even when you are not working. Really listen. Hear more than what is coming out of their mouths. Find the way to be helpful and the habit will continue to pay you forever.

Customer service begins with empathy but cannot be exceptional unless paired with action. Sometimes, empathy is all you can offer. Take a delivery delay – that is out of your control, but first deal with the situation with empathy – be personal with all your interactions, and respond from the other side of the fence.

Empathy plus action is what makes really great customer service. Practice this as often as possible, do it at home. See the situation from the other person’s point of view as often as possible. Look for potential ways to help. And remember, really listening makes someone feel heard which is just as important an action as any other.

When someone asks if you are in sales, are you reluctant to admit that? What feels comfortable? What seems to need work?