How can you use your customer service experience to land a job in sales?

Experiential knowledge is the most valuable skill for anyone willing and vulnerable enough to work with the general population. When I am approached by people who want to improve their sales skills, I advise them to work for a big-box retailer for a couple of years. There is no better way to develop confidence, product awareness and sales skills than on-the-job training. If someone can tolerate the daily demands and flexibility of retail, then they will become a great candidate for a Sales commission opportunity.

People in Customer Service are seen as the "face" and the first line when it comes to a company. As such, there are many skills that are usually required to be successful in that field, and these skills, being related to interpersonal communication, are usually easily transferrable to many other fields. For example, a Customer Service Rep needs to have excellent communication skills (e.g. rejecting a customer), they are usually the most knowledgeable when it comes to the product/service (allowing them to easily find solutions to customers' needs and problems), and they tend to focus on customer satisfaction, which, combined with sales for example, can warrant long-term partnerships and revenue.

There are so many transferrable skills between Service and Sales. Having a background in both, I would recommend utilizing the specific ability to be solution driven, and investigative. To be successful in sales, you need to be able to as the right questions, just like in support when you are troubleshooting an issue. You also need to work towards a solution that will work the best for the customer. You can highlight these transferrable skills to showcase your ability to do discovery, as well as present solutions in a way that drive value.

Sales is a service driven role. If you meet the customer's needs AND they like you they will buy. Your skills from customer service that are transferable are identifying those needs, largely through the question and answer process that makes up most customer service transactions. In my current role as a librarian, I use both my sales and my customer service skillsets to meet customer's information needs.

Você precisa ter habilidade em construir relacionamento, excelente comunica??o oral e escrita, fazer perguntas inteligentes e resolver o problema do cliente, além de conhecer bem o produto/servi?o no qual Você irá vender. A partir destes, construa cases de sucesso, promova pesquisas de satisfa??o, construa isso em números. Você precisa apresentar dados reais para conseguir um emprego em vendas.

Some other highlights that can stand as proof of qualifications are: - The performance of your product/service (from customer's point of view) against the industry average or competitors. - Customer feedback on public platforms. - Non-confidential information about the key metrics from feedback received from customers. - Financial gains, sales targets, etc. and their direct correlation to the Customer Service Team's performance.

Unfortunately, most people do a poor job of researching the company they are interested in investing a majority of their time. Understanding the overall business and objective is so important. I typically find that people want to tell me what they think I want to hear. If I don't hear their "heart" or perceive the passion that they should have to work as a team member, I pass on them. Today it seems, many want to highlight achievements without communicating true passion. You are not plausible without passion.

One of the best ways to impress hiring team is to show that you care about the service/product that they deliver. It's usually impossible to have the in-depth knowledge that a full-time employee has of the product, but what matters is for you to do some research, understand the market advantage of said product/service, show appreciation and try to find the exact problem that the company is trying to resolve. The excitement and enthusiasm shown during an interview can go a long way. Just make sure it's not fake.

Este paso es de mucha importancia, ya que le demuestras al cliente que tan importante es para la empresa, y esto le genera un sentido de pertenencia y personalización, ya que la empresa se acuerda de sus clientes. Esto se debe hacer con mucho tacto, sin hacer sentir al cliente que lo estás acosando o insistiendo mucho, al contrario, debes hacerlo sentir cómodo y con ganas de comprar tu producto o servicio, e incluso volver o recomendarte con otras personas. Además, es adecuado hacerlo dos o tres días después, para que el cliente sienta que siempre tiene su espacio.

- Try to get some insights by cross-training in your current company, do internships, learn about the industry through online courses. - Research the market that the company is in, understand what peculiarities it has. - Read the job description, find the things that you're already good at, and things that you have to learn. Try to cover the areas that you don't have experience in. - Ask for feedback when rejected to understand areas of improvement. - Don't give up if you receive rejections. It's part of the journey.