Historically, the service and sales motions have been separate functions within the contact center: different locations and routing processes, different agents with distinct talent profiles, different management and metrics by which success is measured. One reason for this separation is that the skill sets and costs for staffing sales agents have been more intensive than those associated with care agents.
As customer activity funnels increasingly through contact center channels, these organizations often find that trying to connect the isolated motions by capturing leads from service interactions and then passing them on to another separate isolated group is challenging, complex, and incredibly inefficient.
These effects are felt by both the company and the customer – all of which leads to missed opportunities for growth. As businesses focus on turning contact centers into profit centers, a critical piece of this is building service skills and sales expertise to maximize the value of customer interactions.
Today, we’re previewing our new eBook – Unlocking revenue generation in the contact center: How to turn great customer service into sales opportunities with generative AI – that digs into service-to-sales and the incredible potential it has to impact the contact center and drive sustainable revenue.
Below, you’ll get a preview of what the service-to-sales motion is and how it works. To get even more insights on the benefits of a service-to-sales motion, potential challenges you’ll encounter and how to overcome them, and the role of generative AI in all of this – download your copy of the ebook now!
The service-to-sales motion: what is it and how does it work?
A strategic operational model aimed at not only enhancing revenue but also offsetting costs within contact centers (without compromising customer experience), the service-to-sales motion transforms customer interactions into revenue-building opportunities. By expanding customer care agents’ focus to encompass sales, businesses can deliver added value to customers through relevant product or service offers and recommendations, commonly known as upselling and cross-selling.
Maximizing customer lifetime value
Forward-thinking businesses recognize the immense potential in transitioning care interactions into revenue-generating sales support experiences. By leveraging personalized interactions that seamlessly integrate product or service recommendations, organizations can significantly enhance customer satisfaction levels while driving brand loyalty. This transition from a solely service-oriented approach to one that incorporates sales support not only boosts short-term revenue but also cultivates long-term customer relationships, thereby increasing customer lifetime value.
Leveraging the “Do You Want Fries with That?” strategy
Perhaps the best-known service-to-sales example is the renowned “Do you want fries with that?” strategy, famously employed by fast-food chains. This no-pressure inquiry regarding additional items is a prime illustration of proactive sales support. By suggesting complementary products or upgrades during a service interaction, businesses capitalize on the customer’s existing engagement to drive incremental revenue. And this strategy doesn’t only work in theory—cross-selling tactics, such as the seamless integration of sales initiatives within service interactions, can increase revenue by 39%.
In essence, the service-to-sales motion represents a paradigm shift in how organizations approach customer interactions within contact centers. By strategically integrating sales into service interactions, businesses not only unlock additional revenue streams but also foster deeper customer relationships, ultimately driving sustained business growth and profitability.
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To read the rest of our new eBook and learn how implementing the service-to-sales motion in your contact center will drive revenue growth and level up the skills of your team, download it now!
In case you missed it, we also recently hosted a webinar about powering revenue growth through the service-to-sales motion: Unlocking growth: The role of generative AI in enabling service-to-sales transformation in contact centers. Featuring Cresta’s Director of Customer Strategy, James Russell, and Metrigy CEO & Principal Analyst Robin Gareiss, the webinar dug into why the current state of the market particularly lends itself to implementing a service-to-sales motion and how exactly to bring that strategy to life.
