By  Ben Pluznyk, ANZ Country Manager, Freshworks

Providing quality customer experience has become the cornerstone for customer retention and a key driver for improving profits. In fact, customers who have experienced effortless customer service interactions are said to be 94% more likely to repurchase the product or service.

With customer expectations evolving significantly, customer service can no longer be an afterthought. Businesses must provide consistent and quality customer service at every customer touchpoint to ensure that customers feel valued and supported whenever they engage with the brand. 

Customer experience can only happen if businesses know what their customers want. Having access to customer data and insights will be key for businesses to proactively address roadblocks in the customer's journey and identify ways to provide more personalised products and services that cater to their needs and wants. This reflects the growing importance of collaboration between sales teams and customer support (CS) which will enable businesses to have an overview of the entire customer journey, and better identify gaps and room for improvement in the customer’s journey.

Such partnership and information-sharing will only enable businesses to enhance their customer experience and provide customers with quality support.

The growing importance of collaboration between the sales and CS teams 

The fragmented approach towards sales and CS often stems from the misconception that they are independent entities, solving different issues. However, this disconnect overlooks the pivotal role these functions play in shaping the end-to-end customer journey. As businesses grapple with disconnected data, inconsistent communication, and disjointed customer touchpoints, the cost of such fragmentation becomes increasingly apparent.

The sales team serves as the centralised repository of customer data, encompassing a wealth of information about customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history, while on the other hand, the CS team are front-line representatives who interact directly with customers, address their concerns and resolve any issues that arise, will have a clear view of the feedback and concerns customers have on certain on products and offerings. 

By working together, the sales team can provide the CS team with invaluable information on the changing customer preferences and trends, which can help them to offer products or solutions that are tailored to current needs. On the other hand, the CS team can share the information they collect with the sales team which will be beneficial in informing the sales strategy and ensuring that customers’ feedback is actionable and taken into consideration. 

Collaboration between the sales and CS teams can enable businesses to form a 360-degree view of the life of the customer relationship and help facilitate the seamless flow of data and insights across departments. This is key in providing businesses with more reliable and accurate data on their customers to offer more personalised and tailored products and services catered to customers' needs. 

How a unified approach to sales and CS can boost your bottom lines

In particular, AI-assisted tools can enable customer support agents to become more productive, engaged and supported. For example, “agent assist” technology can monitor conversations in real-time and provide suggestions and the next best action to human agents when they’re in a conversation with a customer. Agent assist technology is also able to detect emotion levels in a conversation and proactively alert a supervisor if your agent or the customer is in distress. This can only be possible if sales and CS teams join hands to combine their expertise. Doing so will enable them to respond to more complex queries more quickly, while customers get the level of support they need faster. 

The partnership between sales and CS teams not only enhances operational efficiency but also empowers businesses to proactively address customer pain points and anticipate future needs. In the long run, this will enable businesses to strengthen customer relationships and foster long-term customer loyalty and advocacy.

The future of customer experience 

As businesses navigate the evolving landscape of customer expectations and technological advancements, the collaboration between sales and CS teams can only serve as a linchpin in fostering long-lasting and strong customer relationships which ultimately improves business growth.

The journey towards unparalleled customer satisfaction and sustainable business success hinges on the cohesive integration of sales and CS strategies. As businesses recalibrate their strategies and realign their priorities, the collaboration of sales and CS emerges not just as a requisite but as a catalyst for ushering in a new era of championing customer satisfaction.