The thing about customer service is that you always need to have the best game face on. As a customer facing agent or individual, you need to show the client that you not only know the product, but that you also know about the product enough to command the respect of the client. There is a certain confidence that comes with you knowing about your product. This confidence tends to seep slowly into your clients and help you close sales and in some cases even build rapports and repeat sales. The customer begins to believe in what you are doing and what you are selling, they become attached to the product and the personality selling it to the extent that they want to be associated with the front facing staff.

When marketing policies and plans are made, they look at the bigger picture. They are often intent on pushing a product or service to a certain segment of the market. These plans if implemented well are often successful and can result to huge increases in sales. However, if your front sales team cannot help you in pushing your product, then there is a break in the chain. This means that while your marketing strategy may not be broken, your front facing team may be failing you. When I talk about the front facing team, I am not just talking about the front line staff who talk to the client and direct them accordingly, depending on the type of business, your front line may include your website if that is how your clients contact you. While your marketing may not be broken parse’ your sales may not be as much since there is a break in the chain.

So what do you need to do?

When reviewing why your marketing strategy is not being as effective as it should be you need to yank the whole chain and find out at what point you are losing out. Often you will find that you may need to tweak your website a little more, you may need to take your front facing team through a rigorous training so that by the time they are getting to the client, they have the confidence and the knowledge to deal with whatever issue they meet. Once you have sorted this part of the chain and built it properly, then you will begin to notice the difference. You will begin to see the effects of your marketing roll out in terms of increased visibility and sales.

In doing this, you will need to think about co-opting other departments in helping you push your marketing strategy. You will need to understand that in their different roles, and this especially applies to the customer facing teams, that they can help in pushing your agenda. In doing this, they need to be well equipped not only with information but with the proper training to handle the client’s needs in the different situations that they will face.