Many customer service and sales teams do a lot of things very well. But sometimes, they lack specific ideas or skills in certain areas to reach their full potential. Do some members of your sales team spend the majority of their time making sales calls and lack the energy or time to service current customers…
When it comes to the ABMs (always be marketing) and ABCs of sales (always be closing), we see many different angles on this thought. Like most things in business, there are different approaches to sales. What works best for one company won’t always be the same for the next. But there are also some universal…
How well (or not-so-well) your business handles a customer complaint can make or break your success, as well as your company’s reputation. The truth is, even if a customer is legitimately unsatisfied with your product or service, how you handle their complaint could make the difference in whether they continue to be your customer. Unsatisfied…
As the end of October approaches and the weather changes, businesses are gearing up for a strong finish to 2015 and may already be preparing plans for the coming year. How does your organization approach planning involving your sales and customer service teams? Do you have a strategy to approach important topics involving customer needs…
The first Thursday of each month features a “best of” X5 Management blog. The intent is to showcase and revisit some of our blogs from the past. We hope you enjoy them! I recently finished reading a book called Unique Ability that is based on a concept by Dan Sullivan. (Dan is the creator/founder of the…
Elvis Presley is still regarded as the “King of Rock and Roll” and through his concert career it became a standard line from his show announcers to say that Elvis, aka “The King” has left the building. (Meaning, the show is over – go home…..he wasn’t coming back for an encore). It is still used…
When you mention the idea of training or professional development to your team, how do they react to this? Does your team recognize that this is a necessary part of any successful sales or customer service program or are they concerned about taking time away from their work and current customer commitments?
Every business has a list of ideal customers and prospects that they would like to speak directly to, call upon and ultimately secure a deal with. Sales and customer service reps may also wish to build stronger relationships with current customers but not know how to best communicate with them. At X5, in many of our…
When was the last time that you had truly awesome service? Do you remember what it looked and felt like? Can you think back when the service you received, or didn’t receive was less than awesome, or poor? In our pursuit of remarkable customer service, are we increasing or lowering our expectations? In Alberta, finding…
I recently finished reading a book called “Unique Ability” that is based on a concept by Dan Sullivan. (Dan is the creator/founder of the Strategic Coach Program). Unique Ability explores the idea of leveraging and maximizing the potential that is distinctive to each of us. The principle behind this is that everyone possesses a combination of talents,…
