ELAvate Service Skills are the B2B Salesperson’s Customer Loyalty Advantage during Covid

By Michael J Griffin

3 minute read

Sales strategy experts have determined during Covid the number one strategy to protect and grow revenue is to focus on keeping your existing customers loyal. The B2B salesperson does this by demonstrating excellent customer service skills with an attitude of servant leadership. Excellent customer service is the doorway to farm accounts to expand revenue.

A servant leadership attitude is the foundation of good customer service. Think back to a great customer service experience you had and think of a terrible one. You will probably identify the customer service person’s attitude as the factor between great service and terrible service. Servant leadership that helps and solves customer problems is the fuel of extraordinary customer service.

My 30 years of consulting and training global companies in customer service has found these skills crucial for all customer service interactions  that inspire customer loyalty. Let’s review the skills for world class face to face, telephone and virtual customer service.

The Beginning – Start well!

• Begin with an Attitude of Eagerness to Serve

• Give Immediate Attention

• Be Professional in Voice, Face and  Appearance

• Be Aware of the Customer Emotions and Yours

The Task Skills – Giving the Customer What they Need

• Seeking Information

  • Start with an Open Questions

  • Get all the Facts – Ask Open and Closed Questions

  • Confirm Your Understanding of the Facts

•  Supplying Information

  • Give Clear, Concise and Relevant Information

  • Check for Customer Understanding and Acceptance

• Extending Yourself – Go the Extra Kilometer!

  • Give Creative Alternatives

  • Provide Extra, Helpful Information

  •  Take Extra Action to Exceed Expectations

The Human Skills – Respecting and Caring for the Customer

• Demonstrate Empathy and Care

  • For the Customer Situation and Feelings

  • Practice the 4A’s of Empathy from Your Heart

  • If needed, Apologize

• Explain Service Steps

  • Explain What You will Do

  • Explain the Why of your Service Actions

• Highlight the Positive

  • Specify What the Customer or You did to Solve the Problem

  • And the Positive Impact or Benefit Collaboration
    

Concluding – End well!

• Review Commitments for You and the Customer

• Check for Acceptance

• Indicate Your Availability for Future Service

• Thank the Customer

In all customer service situations, a salesperson will need to synergize the Task and Human Skills to solve the customer problem and care for his/her emotions: solve the customer problem (task skills) and respect and care for their feelings (human skills).

These same skills may also have to be used in the “Hidden Dimension” of customer service when you have to manage, negotiate and deal behind the scenes with your own organization’s departments and policies to solve your customer’s issue.  

ELAvate has constructed a very interactive customer service workshop named “ELAvate Service Skills” (ESS). This program can be easily customized. It has performance measures across all four levels of the Kirkpatrick Model for evaluating training effectiveness. Our “ELAvate Service Coaching Skills” (ESCS) workshop is a must for integrating ESS into your sales and service culture.

Contact me for a no obligation discussion on how ELAvate can ensure your service and salespeople practice the attitudes and skills to exceed customer expectations and ensure long term customer loyalty.  michael.griffin@elavateglobal.com

Have a great 4th quarter by exceeding customer expectations to drive sales revenue.

Michael J Griffin
ELAvate Founder
Sales and Service Consultant
John Maxwell Team Founding Member