For businesses today, after-sales is becoming an ever more important aspect of the customer journey. By giving your customers a great experience after the sale has been completed you’ll show that your business isn’t just after their money! It will immediately set your business apart and leave a lasting impression.
After sales can generally be thought of as the part of the customer-business interaction that occurs after the sale has been completed. It can involve actions for both the customer and the business.
Good after sales service from the point of view of a business involves making sure the customer is satisfied with the product or service it provided. This can involve surveys, follow-up emails, a phone call, or any other form of communication.
For a business this is vital for building a reputation as a top-class organisation. But it’s also an important step for learning and improving. Negative feedback is equally, if not more, important than positive feedback to understand what your business can do to perform even better.
The after sales process also involves action from the customer. This can be referrals, reviews, and repeat sales.
This highlights the importance of after sales services for businesses. To get referrals, positive reviews and customers who come back time and time again you’ll want to look after them every step of the way!
For businesses that operate in a local area like Edinburgh, getting feedback from customers can be a really important step to growing your business. Positive reviews and referrals travel fast, and you can quickly find your services are in demand in Edinburgh and beyond!
You should be utilising content in your post-sales processes. This can be used to really enhance your customers’ experience and give them a lasting, positive impression of your business.
A “thank you” message, a helpful video on what to expect next, or maybe a tutorial can go a long way towards building a more positive image of your business. It can be a good idea to make this content personal and involve someone from the team they already know. By showing them a face they recognise they’ll immediately feel that connection with your business.
A follow up phone call or email is a pretty obvious, but hugely important, step in a good after sales process. Ask how they are finding the product/service and if there is anything they need help with.
Communication goes two ways, though. It’s vital to respond to any communication you might receive from your clients. Failure to do so can irreparably damage the relationship you built so carefully throughout the sales process. You need to prove that you genuinely care about your clients, so communication and customer service is a must!
A good business should have a way of dealing with complaints. Whether that’s a complaint about your product, customer service or any other aspect of your business, you need to be able to handle it in a professional manner.
A good process is key to this. Whether you have a system within your team or a a complaints section on your website, customers should be able to voice their grievances in a clear way. This also makes it easier for you to understand the needs of your customers and improvements you can make.
Look, nobody likes criticism (well most people, anyway). But the ability to listen to negative feedback is important to know how to improve your business in future. If you genuinely listen and empathise with a client, and take their comments on board, there’s a good chance they will be far less angry and critical than if you dismiss their concerns! Take ownership of mistakes you’ve made and you’ll find that the relationship you’ve built with the customer won’t be badly damaged and you won’t have lost them for good.
As well as negative feedback, positive feedback is useful too. Maybe you’ll find out you’ve been doing something well which you hadn’t considered, and this can help guide your future sales.
For many customers, they’ll always suspect you’re just trying to close the sale, no matter how many times you ask “how are the kids doing?” But by showing you care in post-sale you’ll put these suspicions to bed!
Here are some of the benefits of a great after sales service:
So once you’ve wowed your customers with your sales process, building trust and giving them a great experience, you will truly seal the deal and turn them into raving fans by giving them care and attention in the after-sale stage. This takes a bit more effort, but it can be a priceless investment!
