Your sales and customer support teams clash over client priorities. How will you find common ground?

No way we can make the customer suffer due to such conflicts. To find the common ground we can schedule several meetings & understand everyone's perspective first with this facilitated Communication. Post knowing the common goals between the 2 such as client satisfaction & retention, business growth etc. align it with company's overall objective. Once we are clear there, we can bifurcate the roles so that there's no confusion/overlap later on. Build constructive SOPs and have a regular feedback sessions, internally & with the customers.

Conflicts often arise due to differing priorities; sales teams focus on acquiring new clients, while customer support emphasizes maintaining existing relationships and ensuring service quality. It is imperative to foster a culture of collaboration that aligns the objectives of both departments with the overarching goals of the organization. #One viable strategy is to implement regular interdepartmental meetings that encourage open communication. #By facilitating dialogue between sales and customer support personnel, organizations can cultivate mutual understanding and develop a shared sense of purpose in addressing client priorities. #Establishing joint performance metrics can further bridge the gap between these two critical functions.

To find common ground between the sales and customer support teams regarding client priorities, I would facilitate open communication through regular meetings, define clear roles and responsibilities, and establish shared goals. Developing standard operating procedures and implementing a feedback loop will ensure consistent approaches and continuous improvement. Utilizing technology for transparency, providing joint training sessions, and recognizing successful collaboration will further enhance teamwork and client satisfaction.

every department had their own goals and KPI to be achieved, often this will make an egoistic choice throughout the process, and at the end of the day the customer became the sacrifice. aligning goals must been done by the top management since the beginning

That is always the dilemma. Then you add marketing. Well, Sales have the quota so they will sell as hard as they can and at times overpromise. Hopefully, during the onboarding, sales tells CS what they offered and engineer it right for the customer. To quote Acapulco, "The customer gets what the customer wants". Now the real work starts. Customer Service now needs to deliver. If they don't, we all lose. Hint, Sales give your CS gifts if you overpromise and you better beware of what marketing will say if you go overboard on capabilities. Long story short, sell with the right expectations and make sure all members of your team are on the same page. Set an attainable timeline with expectations and we should all be good.

Be clear on your expectations, try and keep emotions to the side and focus on what is going to create the momentum needed for you to achieve the companies' goals. Irrelevant of how much you feel like you contribute to the 'revenue' goals, everyone has a part to play.

Be clear on your expectations, try and keep emotions to the side and focus on what is going to create the momentum needed for you to achieve the companies' goals. Irrelevant of how much you feel like you contribute to the 'revenue' goals, everyone has a part to play.

I find that setting the expectations early on with the customer eliminates problems. People want consistency and that builds trust and confidence.

Encouraging open dialogue between your sales and customer support teams is key to resolving conflicts over client priorities. Regular interdepartmental meetings can provide a platform for both teams to voice their concerns and perspectives. These discussions should foster an understanding of each team’s role in the customer lifecycle and their impact on the overall customer experience. Promoting empathy and appreciation for each other’s contributions helps team members collaborate effectively. For example, a tech company held weekly joint meetings, improving coordination and creating a shared knowledge base that led to quicker issue resolution and higher client satisfaction.

Foster Open Communication: - Hold regular inter-departmental meetings to discuss priorities, challenges, and successes. - Create channels for feedback and collaboration, ensuring both teams understand each other's perspectives and constraints. Implement Cross-Functional Training: - Provide training sessions where sales and customer service team members can learn about each other's roles and processes. - Encourage job shadowing to foster empathy and a better understanding of the customer journey from acquisition to support.

Common causes for this happening are either poor product fitment or poor expectations set with a customer. Either way this points to a full process review that has the customer experience and success as the primary objective. One example are implementation teams, whose leading KPI is the time to implement. That can motivate the implementation team to pass a client who is not ready to go live to customer success for the sake of meeting their targets. Make sure it’s set great expectations with your customers and that all of the teams involved in the sales process have KPI‘s geared towards the customer’s success.

It all starts with shared data and a clear understanding of how to interpret captured data, handover protocols, and data processing along the customer journey. This is not just an issue between sales and support. Every time roles along the customer lifecycle change you will have an issue. Make sure that all roles know what to expect and define standards for customer and data handoffs. Remember that data enrichment, enhancement, and quality is everyone's responsibility. Friction occurs when expectations are not aligned and people think in silos. In the end, we all want to serve the customer best, meet their expectations, and deliver a seamless and professional customer experience at every touchpoint..

Be clear on your expectations, try and keep emotions to the side and focus on what is going to create the momentum needed for you to achieve the companies' goals. Irrelevant of how much you feel like you contribute to the 'revenue' goals, everyone has a part to play.

I agree with this as often times teams need to discuss the goals for the day. A good huddle helps set the expectations for successful outcomes.

Develop Joint Strategies: - Create integrated customer engagement strategies that involve both sales and customer service teams. - Develop processes for seamless handoffs between teams to ensure a smooth customer experience.

Finding common ground between sales and customer support teams is essential for maintaining a cohesive approach to client priorities. We leverage our CRM system to bridge this gap effectively. Here's how we would approach the situation: Centralized Information Sharing Unified Communication Channels Defined Roles and Responsibilities Regular Sync Meetings Performance Metrics and Feedback By utilizing our CRM in these ways, we can ensure that both sales and customer support teams collaborate effectively, prioritize client needs appropriately, and work towards a unified objective.

Cross training is always a benefit! It provides additional perspectives to help users from different groups see the bigger picture.

Each of these parties has a different goal. Sales wants more revenue and customer service wants to achieve faster onboarding, shorter case durations, and better customer satisfaction. To achieve this, training each team and even creating a cross functional role to support the shared mission could help. Another idea is to alter the incentives for each team. Maybe sales could bear some of the brunt for client satisfaction and customer service could be incentivized to drive revenue. These shared goals with an aligned reward program structure could put them in sync.

é no Pós-Vendas e no Suporte que você tem a oportunidade de encantar ou decepcionar muito o seu cliente. S?o os seus processos que ir?o fazer essa diferen?a. A pior decep??o para um cliente é a n?o entrega da promessa de vendas. E isso tem a ver com prazos, com organiza??o, com metodologia. Vendas precisa passar o máximo de informa??es sobre o cliente para o processo seguir adiante. Os departamentos devem ser integrados. Insira métricas de reten??o de clientes, me?a o NPS dos seus clientes a cada ano, e no fim de um processo de implementa??o. Pe?a feedbacks. é ouvindo seus clientes que você tem a oportunidade de melhorar. Encare as críticas como uma ben??o para você aperfei?oar o que precisa ser melhorado.

Fostering this sort of behaviour is challenging but rewarding long-term. 'Intra'preneur mentality is something to look out for during hiring and, with regular learning and education, you can create the space for your team to solve problems on their own and preempt risks and opportunities.

As grandes empresas destacam-se pelo seu desempenho exemplar no atendimento ao cliente. Veja o caso da Amazon. Mais que produtos, ela entrega conveniência e respeito pelos seus clientes. Você já enfrentou algum problema com compra errada na Amazon? Como foi tratado? Eu me surpreendi com o tratamento para meu problema específico. As empresas e organiza??es precisam entender que às vezes uma pequena perda representa muitas novas vendas futuras. Entender o que quer seu cliente e genuinamente trabalhar para satisfazê-lo é o grande segredo. Sempre há espa?o para aperfei?oamento.

Sales and Customer Success teams can butt heads. To find common ground (and distribute power), know at what stage your business is at. Look at your customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), average ticket size, and customer churn to decide where the money is coming and leaving. For businesses with a smaller portfolio, Sales takes the lead. The focus is on landing new clients to grow the customer base and diversify revenue streams - it's the best way to reduce financial risk. Once you’ve got a good number of clients, shifting focus to keeping them happy makes you more money. Successful customers repeat purchases (spare acquisition efforts) and cost less to serve over time. Better yet, their referrals speed sales growth.

Predominantly, conflicts will arise when goals and objectives are not aligned. Sales will frequently be driven by numbers secured whilst customer service will be focussed on service outputs. Establishing the route cause of any conflict is essential. Develop cross departmental training and understanding. Introduce job swapping or shadowing activities, so that staff have a broader exposure to the work flow environment. Initiate discussions across the team to seek their contributions and ideas for conflict resolutions and prevention strategies. This not only introduces fresh ideas and varying perspectives, but drives a level of ownership.

Align Incentives: - Design incentive structures that reward collaboration and the achievement of shared goals. - For example, link a portion of sales bonuses to customer satisfaction metrics, and vice versa. Leadership Alignment: - Ensure that leaders from both teams regularly communicate and align on strategic priorities. - Leadership should model collaborative behavior and encourage a culture of mutual respect and cooperation. By clearly defining roles, establishing shared goals, fostering communication, and aligning incentives, sales and customer service teams can work together more effectively, leading to improved customer experiences and better business outcomes.

In addition to the strategies mentioned, consider implementing regular joint team-building activities to foster better relationships and mutual respect between sales and support teams. For example, organizing workshops where team members collaboratively solve hypothetical client issues can build camaraderie and improve problem-solving skills. Insights from successful companies show that when sales and support teams collaborate closely, customer satisfaction and loyalty significantly increase, as seen in companies like Zappos, where a strong customer-centric culture bridges the gap between these teams. Prioritizing a culture of collaboration and mutual respect can transform friction into productive synergy.