How do you boost sales—and keep them steady and growing in the long-term? That’s a pressing question for any business owner, and one with a deceptively simple answer: putting the customer first.
That’s the goal of a customer-centric sales process. This approach focuses on a few core principles:
- Cultivating relationships with customers through two-way dialogue
- Fostering customer empathy through curiosity and communication
- Identifying the problems you can help customers to solve
- Adapting your sales process to meet customers’ unique needs
Centering the customer in your sales process builds more long-term loyalty, leading to sustained sales growth and deeper, more meaningful customer relationships. Here are # reasons every business should adopt a customer first policy in their sales team.
1. You’ll convert more leads (and earn more revenue).
Research from Deloitte shows that companies that have a client-centric sales process are 60% more profitable than those who don’t. Similar research from McKinsey & Company shows companies that optimize the customer experience see revenue growth of 10-15% within 2-3 years.
When your team focuses mainly on making the sale, this can make the customers feel like they’re just a number—a means to the company’s ends of hitting their revenue target. Conversely, customer-centric sales make the customer feel like your organization understands their problems and is committed to helping solve them. This, in turn, builds trust and a feeling of reciprocity between the sales team and the customer, establishing a connection that will make people eager to give you their business.
2. You’ll get more new customers through referrals, reviews, and word of mouth marketing.
Forming a connection and relationship with customers doesn’t just make it more likely they’ll continue to give you their business. They’ll also be more likely to share that exceptional experience with their friends and colleagues and to leave positive reviews that can build trust in other people looking for similar services.
Word of mouth advertising is a very powerful way to attract customers to a brand, and not just because it’s a free, low-effort way to bring in new business. Consider some of these statistics on the value of referrals and recommendations for growing sales:
- Customers brought in through word of mouth marketing spend 200% more than the average consumer
- Word of mouth advertising produces $6 trillion in global sales annually, five times more than paid advertising
- In a survey published by Hubspot, 90% of people trust brand recommendations from friends, and 70% trust consumer reviews, but only 25% trust what they see in advertisements
- In a study by Google, TNS, and Ogilvy, a 10% increase in word of mouth referrals led to an average sales lift of up to 1.5%
- Word of mouth marketing drives 13% of all sales, and is particularly valuable for small businesses, with 85% of small businesses discovered because of recommendations and referrals
- In North America, 20% of customers who found a brand through word of mouth made a purchase instantly
3. You’ll find new opportunities to grow and improve.
Part of providing a customer-centric sales experience is increasing two-way communication between the organization and its consumers. This doesn’t just provide a more personal customer experience, but it also means they’re more likely to share their input and feedback.
There are multiple benefits to this. For one thing, you’ll be better able to identify the things you can do better. According to statistics from Zippia, only 4% of unhappy customers share that complaint with the company, but they’ll tell an average of 16 people about their negative interaction. Having a customer-centric process increases the odds they’ll provide their feedback to you rather than their friends.
More communication also gives you an insight into other problems you could help your customers solve that you may not otherwise be aware of. This increases the value you offer to both current and future customers.
4. You’ll build long-term relationships that drive loyalty and retention.
When you establish a meaningful connection with a customer, that pays off beyond the initial sales interaction. The next time they have a similar need or problem, you’ll be the first place they turn to for a solution.
Now, this doesn’t stop and end with the initial sales interaction. You need to bring the same attentive support throughout the customer journey by providing responsive customer service and post-sale follow-up, reinforcing your commitment to their end-to-end experience.
A customer-centric sales process is the first step in building this kind of relationship, though, and arguably the most important. It sets the tone for all of the interactions that follow. When the customer has confidence that you’re invested in their success, they’re not just more likely to seek your services in the future but also become a loyal advocate of your brand.
