MarketStar Blog

Key Takeaways

• Brands must implement a seamless buying experience to make their customers come back, even during an economic crisis

• Repeat purchases are the ideal way to keep your business healthy and running during an economic downturn 

• Customers who are happy with your product/services tend to refer their friends to your brand

• Retaining your existing customers will help you grow your business amidst the challenges other companies are experiencing

Economic downturns or recessions can significantly impact customer behavior and your organization's approach to retaining customers.

As a CS leader, you must keep your team productive, motivated, and efficient during challenging economic times to retain your customers.

Customer success has never been more vital than it is right now, but instead of concentrating on KPIs and analytics, it’s crucial to pay attention to the customer.

By focusing on customer outcomes, an organization's current goal should be to make their customers’ lives easier while they use the product or service. Hopefully, the customer will benefit from this and continue doing business with you through challenging times.

This article will discuss why customer retention should become your number one focus and how to retain customers in an economic downturn.

The 5 Effective Strategies for Fostering a Loyal Customer Base

Even when things are going well with the global economy, retaining customers is difficult and building a loyal customer base is an ongoing effort. Making client retention marketing a priority requires hard work, even in the best times. 

However, when a recession occurs, things become even more difficult. 

People make fewer purchases, spend less, and forget some of their preferred brands to conserve money. You might think, “How can I hope to retain my customers in the current climate?” 

Fortunately, many strategies are still available to help create a solid consumer base, even during a downturn. A few of them are presented below. 

1. Put Customer Experience First

According to PWC, only 49% of consumers believe that businesses offer good customer service options, while 73% think customer service experience pre-purchase is a crucial determinant of their purchase decision. 

This indicates that you can quickly establish a loyal customer base if you can set yourself apart from your rivals in terms of customer service. 

Providing a positive and personalized customer experience, especially during a recession, is everything when it comes to running a successful business. 

You must ensure that you provide quality products and services, deliver them on time, and respond quickly to customer inquiries and complaints. By doing so, you will be able to keep your customers happy and coming back for more.  

To ensure that you are providing the best possible customer experience, it is essential to strive for improvement constantly. This means continually evaluating your procedures and removing inefficiencies where necessary. And removing inefficiencies that are affecting the CSAT score, NPS, or LTV.  

It is also important to listen to your customers and consider their feedback. By doing all of this, you can be sure that you are providing the best possible customer experience and running a successful business.

2. Be Flexible 

Be flexible with your customers.  

If they can’t pay their bill on time, offer them a payment plan. If they’re unhappy with a purchase, offer them a refund or exchange. 

Being flexible with your customers shows that you’re willing to work with them to ensure they’re satisfied. This can help build long-term loyalty, and trust and boost sales from existing customers. 

Customers feel appreciated when companies are ready to look out for them in times of need. Offer discounts and incentives when possible. When people spend less money on goods and services, they start looking for ways to save money elsewhere. 

Offering discounts or incentives may result in increased sales at times when your company cannot afford to lose money from sales volume alone. 

3. Have a Community-Oriented Perspective

During times of global disruption, people seek a community to belong to and connect with.  

Start developing meaningful connections with your existing customers to strengthen the relationship. Once you build a customer community, it will continue working for your business, even when you are not trying hard.  

Building trusting relationships with your customers will cost you nothing, and the payoff is immeasurable. Make direct contact with your clients and express gratitude, making them feel they are being seen and heard.   

Creating a community around your company, however, can be tricky.  

You can use community-building platforms and social media to build the community and offer loyalty programs or referral discounts to grow your business. 

4. Be Compassionate

In the same way that individuals seek out the community during a turbulent time, they also seek a little compassion and recognition. This can be accomplished through personalization – personalizing your approach for each customer can make them feel valued. 

When done well, personalized customer service may increase retention, foster customer loyalty and trust, reduce churn rates, and support the maintenance of a solid client base. 

According to HubSpot, personalized CTAs outperform non-personalized CTAs by more than 200%, and most customers are more likely to continue with a business that provides a personalized experience. 

Valuing your clients is a successful business strategy, especially when they are concerned about their expenses. You do not want your customers to stop doing business with you because they feel you don’t care about them. 

5. Add Value to Your Product/Service

The easiest way to retain customers is by bringing value to your customers. Be proactive with the value propositions the business has to offer. 

You can add value to your business with a single offer, but adding value as part of a series is much more effective. Here are some examples: 

1) Add a bonus product or service at the same price point and let customers know about it. This can be a free report, video or guide, or even an additional product at the same price.

It helps create loyalty by giving customers something extra for free, showing that you’re willing to go above and beyond for them. 

2) Improve customer service by walking them through processes that may not have been explained well before (or at all!) so that people know what’s expected of them when using your product or service.  

This can be done in person or via email – just ensure that customers know what’s happening behind the scenes! 

3) You should also improve the quality and performance of your products/services to help retain loyal customers who may not expect much from you but appreciate quality when delivered consistently. 

To Summarize

Driving customer loyalty in a challenging economic climate is key to increasing your business growth, and convenience is the key to gaining trust and loyalty from your customers in these times.

The above-mentioned strategies can help you achieve what you want and unlock huge benefits during a recession.

Outsourcing certain functions, such as sales pipeline management or customer support, can also help your organization take better care of your customers and become a boon for cost-conscious companies.

Using outsourcing as an intelligent business strategy can improve retention and position the organization to meet the challenges imposed by a recession favorably. 

Key Insights 

• In today’s competitive marketplace, companies give much importance to finding, targeting, and acquiring new customers 

• In the process of new customer acquisition, they often tend to overlook the significance of staying connected with existing customers 

• Organizations, across all sectors, should take care of existing customers. Such customers contribute massively to sales, if treated with care 

Acquiring new customers is expensive. Selling to existing customers is a more pocket-friendly approach. 

However, providing superior customer service is also not a guarantee for better sales with 54% of all consumers having higher expectations from brands, according to a Microsoft report. 

While companies tend to give much importance to finding, targeting, and acquiring new customers, they often overlook the significance of staying connected with existing customers. 

But it has never been as vital to sustaining your existing customers. In fact, they contribute massively to sales if treated with care. According to a report by Bain & Company, a 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit. 

Building relationships with your existing customers is a unique way to increase sales. 

We have listed 7 top-notch strategies for you. If you manage to improve every step of your sales process by even a little, your sale increases by a lot. 

7 Easy-to-Implement Hacks to Boost Sales with Existing Customers 

1. Research Your Market 

Open the door to new, untapped opportunities with market research and analytics. 

It is one of the best strategies to increase sales. By taking a deeper look into the market you serve, you can better understand who your customers are, what they want, and identify their pain points. 

You can collate feedback through surveys, listen to your customers through social media, read trade articles, and mine data from Google Analytics to understand the critical elements. 

2. Understand Customer Behavior 

Selling to existing customers will be impossible without understanding customer behavior, a vital element of your marketing campaign. 

Understand how your customers relate to your products or services. Try answering questions such as: 

• Do they rely on just a single feature or more? 

• Are they having issues with one of your product features? 

This will help you to determine whether you need to provide upgrades in certain areas or not. Another approach is to provide personalized services or training to customers. Using this method will help you to enrich or extend your relationship with your existing customers. 

3. Run Promotions 

An equally effective strategy to boost sales is by rewarding your existing customers.

Promotions that reward old customers will go a long way in improving their loyalty and increase sales numbers significantly.

The frequency of promotions can be weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. What matters is that it doesn’t stress your business. You must plan for promotions so that they don’t wear you out.

4. Update Your Offering 

As your business grows, your offerings will change. Turn to your existing customers when it comes to deciding what offerings to eliminate and where you can utilize opportunities.

An easy strategy to boost sales is to look at the items that your customer base ignores.

Low sales items also clutter your business. When you strip away such items, your customers can focus on the products and services that they want.

Another factor for you to avoid is offering a large variety of products in each product line.

Such an approach increases the cognitive load that may lead to inertia which interferes with decision-making. All of us have experienced some kind of cognitive overload when it comes to making a purchase decision by scrolling through page after page of offerings on Amazon or eBay. 

5. Upsell and Cross-Sell 

Selling to existing customers will be incomplete without upselling and cross-selling. In fact, cross-selling can increase sales by 20% and profits by 30%, according to McKinsey research.

Your biggest hurdle, which is the initial buy, is over now. You have established trust and your customer has formed a favorable opinion about your business. Now, it’s time to think of the next step.

An upsell takes place when you convince a customer to buy more than they originally planned. On the other hand, cross-selling happens when the customer buys a different product or service. 

6. Tell Your Story 

Visual mechanisms can be your companion to increase sales from existing customers. Visual aids and infographics can help you spur into action.

This type of approach makes messages actionable while subtly convincing existing customers to make more purchases. The idea is to show customers how you plan to solve their problems with your offering.

With visual mechanisms, it becomes easier to encourage a level of urgency in the customer to close up the sale. 

7. After-sales Service 

According to a study conducted by Shep Hyken’s CX consulting firm, 96% of customers will leave a business if they receive bad service.

When it comes to selling more to existing customers, you cannot ignore after-sales service. If you abandon your customers after the sale, they won’t come back in the future. 

Wrapping Up 

It is critical to remember that you are building the customer and not the sale. When you succeed in this, your sales will increase.

Considering the intrinsic role of sales in business growth, you must find effective strategies to increase sales and implement those for boosting sales, increasing customer lifetime value, and better ROI. 

Key Takeaways

It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we do business, sparing no industry or sector. 

Key Takeaways

• Sales operations are a critical component of any top-performing sales organization, helping the business reach its revenue target 

• A sales ops team is well-poised to help sales teams close more deals while alleviating salespeople of non-selling sales activities 

• Despite its increasingly critical role, many sales leaders struggle with building a sales ops team 

• Certain practices can make the process easier and help organizations bring transparency and clarity to their processes

Like most sectors and departments across industries, sales operations were disrupted and reshaped by the pandemic.

Digital solutions are offering new paths to sales operation strategy where the key is building better connections, both with customers and the workforce.

The increasing importance of utilizing data to drive decision-making has made sales ops more important than ever.

According to the Trends in Sales Ops Report, 75% of the sales ops professionals now have new responsibilities with 64% expecting their role to change.

Despite its increasing scope, sales operations is also an area that many sales leaders struggle with. But done right, sales ops can help companies improve their sales performance and boost revenue growth.

This article attempts to answer this. Deep dive into why sales ops is such a critical piece of your sales puzzle and how to build a stellar sales ops team for success.

Let’s get started.

Why is Sales Ops So Important?

According to a survey, sales ops teams drive up to a 10% increase in sales productivity each year.

Simply put, your sales operations team is responsible for helping sales professionals sell better, hit goals faster, and lead smoother sales processes.

Senior leaders of organizations can leverage their sales operations department to synthesize data about the sales experience to make it more effective.

Here are four more ways how sales ops help organizations boost their performance. 

• Sales operations free up time and energy for organizations as they analyze and streamline internal processes so sales teams are not as distracted or bogged down. If any given task takes more time as it’s being done manually, the sales ops team will research ways to automate that task. The result is that your sales team is better poised to serve customers.

• There’s a clear gap between companies that scale and those that don’t. The answer is the absence of a clear and effective sales operations strategy which could have helped build a repeatable sales process that is codified across the sales team. Smart sales ops leaders help their companies to establish best practices across teams, making results predictable. 

• The sales operations team demystifies the sales process for other departments so data-driven decisions can be made which helps achieve revenue targets. Sales ops professionals make use of CRM data to paint a holistic picture of the customer journey which can help leaders gauge if the pipeline is healthy or not. 

• Your sales operations department will be in a better position to notice risks that heads of sales may miss as they are more focused on closing the deal. With the sales team busy executing the plan, sales ops leaders will dig into data and use those insights to design incentives and create a killer sales ops strategy. 

How Do You Structure Sales Operations for Success?

While sales operations continue to grow as a strategic imperative in a dynamic marketplace, the current structure and roles are not without limitations.

The State of Sales Operations Report by LinkedIn highlights that 36% of sales ops professionals struggle with balancing strategic and operational responsibilities.

The answer lies in having a well-planned sales operations structure in place.

Once established, you have more consistency and control over your sales process while your tasks managers and sales reps have better clarity to complete goals.

Here’s how you can structure your sales operations team. 

1. Determine Operational Scope

Your operational scope for sales ops corresponds to your plan for sales and strategy.

For instance, if online advertising and content marketing are part of your sales plan to generate leads, your sales ops structure will be different.

This is your operational scope. It defines your sales process, core metrics, supportive tasks, and roles.

It’s essentially a top-down approach where you start with a strategy, set up a sales ops structure that incorporates the strategy, and then, implement resources and practices to optimize the system.

2. Define KPIs for Sales Operations

Since sales ops encompasses both strategy and execution, it is important to evaluate how the team is performing relative to its goals. KPIs will help you with that. 

• Average Win Rate: Your sales ops team is working hard to ensure that your sales department closes more deals. You can measure the efficiency of your team by monitoring the average win rate. 

• Average deal size: This is the average dollar amount for every closed deal or contract. It’s an important metric to understand the financial health of the organization and its pipeline. 

• Average Sales Cycle Length: Your sales ops team is hard at work to slash the time it takes a prospect to close after entering your sales pipeline. Monitoring this cycle can make your team more efficient.

• Lead Response Time: Also known as speed to lead, this measures the amount of time it takes for you to follow up on clients after their first contact with your business. 

3. Establish a Sales Process

A sales process will include repeatable steps to get prospects from the awareness stage to the purchase stage. These include various activities such as cold calling, lead qualifications, and hosting a client meeting to present a pitch.

Both sales funnel and sales pipeline can help strengthen this process.

Your funnel represents the lead’s buying journey with your business. The pipeline involves all internal activities you can take up to move the lead through the funnel.

4. Establish a Strong Leadership

Your sales operation structure should have a direct line to the executives. 

Make sure that your team is led by a vice president, director, or senior manager. These leaders should report to the president or a high-level sales leader. 

While sales ops and marketing work closely together, your sales team is the one that understands the overall sales strategy. This team should be part of sales rather than marketing.

5. Get More Team Members for Supportive Sales Tasks

According to the State of Sales Report by Salesforce, 75% of sales reps have taken on new responsibilities at work. Supportive tasks should not throw your sales ops team members off track. These are the administrative tasks that ensure sales process optimization.

For instance, recruitment, training, and onboarding of new members are all supportive tasks in sales as they don’t directly impact the sales process.

Similarly, invoicing and billing a customer to collect revenue, tracking sales commissions for the payroll team, and creating sales forecasts and sales contests are all supportive tasks for your sales operations team.

A proper pipeline on how these tasks are completed can help to strengthen your sales ops structure.

6. Make Use of Technology

78% of customers expect a consistent customer experience at every touchpoint and digital channel.

It’s essential that your team is not burdened with manual tasks that take their time and energy from critical activities. Use technology as much as possible to automate tasks.

CRM software, email automation software, lead prioritization engines, and sales software are just a few of the tools that you can make use of.

However, it will also be counter-productive if your sales ops team is toggling between 10+ tools. Figure out the role a new software will play in your sales process and only then implement it. 

7. Who to Hire

According to one report, 36% of sales ops professionals agree that it’s hard to recruit and retain good hires in sales ops.

Putting together any new team can be challenging, but more so in the case of your sales operations team because of the central role they play in your revenue growth.

Keeping in mind certain qualities can help you make the right choice. This includes the ability to analyze data. They should have excellent communication skills so they can help the larger team understand the significance of the data.

As the sales ops team is linked to almost all parts of the organization, they need to be able to build relationships.

Succeed with an Effective Sales Ops Team

Building a sales operations team is one of the most critical steps of your enterprise sales cycle. Done well, it can improve productivity and deliver a stellar customer experience. 

More than anything else, sales operations will help you create a robust system of selling where data, insights, and technology play an important role in driving performance and sustainable growth.

Key Takeaways

• Both AdTech and MarTech industries are all set to grow rapidly in the years to come

• By staying updated with the latest trends in AdTech and MarTech industries, you can ensure that your company stays on top of the game

• As it grows, artificial intelligence will become more widely used in the MarTech industry 

• The recent boom in new AdTech products/companies has led to a need for AdTech companies to differentiate themselves 

• The AdTech and MarTech industries are both booming right now. But with an upcoming recession, what does the future hold for these industries? 

The AdTech market was valued at $438 billion in 2021 and will grow at a CAGR of more than 9% from 2021-2030. 

The MarTech industry is also growing rapidly, and according to reports, the MarTech market in the UK and North America is worth $149.7 billion. The global market was estimated to be worth $344 billion in 2021. 

Given their consistent growth throughout the years, it is safe to say that both industries will continue to expand despite a recession.

The Current State of AdTech & MarTech Industries

AdTech

What is AdTech? 

“Advertising technology,” or “AdTech,” refers to a broad category of software and tools advertisers use to deliver and track their digital advertising campaigns and target audiences. 

AdTech software platforms assist agencies and brands in buying advertising space and enable publishers to set ad space’s price and sell it. 

AdTech is a rapidly growing industry that is constantly evolving.  

We have seen a boom in new AdTech companies and products in the past few years. This has led to a more competitive landscape and a need for AdTech companies to differentiate themselves. 

Despite the challenges, the AdTech industry is still growing strong. The continued rise of digital advertising and the growing popularity of programmatic advertising drive the expansion. 

With the AdTech industry constantly changing, it can take time to keep up with the latest trends. But by staying up-to-date on the latest news and developments along with focusing on customer obsession, you can ensure that your company stays ahead of the curve. 

MarTech

What is MarTech? 

MarTech refers to any software or tools marketers use to plan and execute their marketing activities offline and online.

Marketers use MarTech solutions for various marketing activities, including social media marketing, email marketing, marketing campaigns, marketing strategy, marketing automation, retargeting, and more.

The MarTech industry is currently in a state of flux.

For years, marketers have relied on various technologies to help them reach their target audiences. But with the ever-changing landscape of the digital world, it can take time to keep up with the latest trends and technologies.

This is where MarTech comes in.

MarTech is the term used to describe the intersection of marketing and technology. It is the process of using technology to solve marketing problems. 

With the help of MarTech, marketers can automate their tasks, personalize their messages, and better track their results.  

MarTech is constantly evolving, and it can take much work to keep up with the latest trends. But by staying informed, marketers can ensure they are always using the best tools to reach their audiences.

Are AdTech & MarTech Prepared for a Recession?

The global economy is showing signs of slowing down, and many experts predict a recession shortly.  

Advertisers and marketers are already feeling the pinch, with ad spend growth slowing down in recent months. So the big question is: are AdTech and MarTech prepared for a recession? 

There are a few things to consider in the AdTech industry. 

• AdTech is a highly competitive industry. During the last recession, ad spending increased as brands sought to cut costs and be more efficient with their advertising budgets.

• A recession could be good for AdTech. As brands look to cut costs, they’ll be looking for more efficient ways to reach their audiences, and AdTech can offer that. 

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the MarTech industry.  

With new tools and platforms being created daily, it takes time to keep up with the latest and greatest. However, with the global economy heading towards a recession, it’s important to ask: is MarTech prepared for an economic downturn? 

While it’s impossible to predict the future, there are a few things we can look at to see if the MarTech industry is prepared for a recession: 

• Most MarTech platforms are subscription-based, which can be easily scaled back or cancelled if necessary.

• Many MarTech companies offer pay-as-you-go pricing models, which can be helpful for cash-strapped companies. 

• Specific MarTech platforms offer free or low-cost trial periods, so companies can test them before committing.

The Future

AdTech

Advertising is evolving; consumer behavior and how we consume media is changing. Advertisers are now turning to AdTech to target and reach consumers in new and innovative ways. 

AdTech includes various technologies and platforms to deliver, measure, and optimize advertising. This includes programmatic advertising, ad exchanges, and even data management platforms.  

AdTech is constantly evolving, and it shows no signs of slowing down. As consumer behavior changes, so too must advertising. AdTech will play a pivotal role in the future of advertising, and it is poised to revolutionize the industry. 

Although we are heading towards a recession, the future of AdTech looks bright. And there are several reasons to be optimistic about the future of AdTech. Here are the top three positive aspects: 

• AdTech is becoming more efficient

• AdTech is becoming more automated

• AdTech is becoming more AI-oriented

These three trends suggest that companies that invest in the latest technologies will weather the storm and come out stronger on the other side of the recession.

MarTech

The MarTech industry is changing rapidly. New technologies are emerging and transforming the way businesses operate. Here’s a look at some of the latest trends in MarTech and what they mean for the industry’s future. 

One of the biggest trends in MarTech is the move towards artificial intelligence (AI).  

AI is already used in various applications, from customer service to marketing. And as AI technology develops, it will become even more widely used in MarTech. 

Another big trend is the increasing use of data.  

Businesses are collecting more data than ever before and using it to drive their marketing decisions. As data becomes more accessible and easy to use, companies will continue to use it to form their marketing strategies. 

MarTech is becoming more and more accessible to companies of all sizes, thanks to the rise of cloud-based solutions and pay-as-you-go pricing models.  

And as MarTech continues to evolve, we expect to see even more innovations to help businesses market more effectively and efficiently. So if you’re worried about the future of your MarTech, don’t be. The future of MarTech is bright, regardless of the current economic climate. 

To Wrap Things Up

The global economy is forecasted to enter a recession soon. This might impact various industries.

However, AdTech and MarTech are driven by data and technology, which are two areas still expanding even in times of recession. As long as companies are willing to invest in data and technology, AdTech and MarTech will continue to grow.

Key Takeaways

• Despite the apparent differences in job descriptions between sales and support teams, a collaborative effort shortens the sales cycle. 

• Collaboration between sales and support teams can help consider customer preferences and issues

• Aligning inter-departmental goals and prioritizing information sharing can strengthen the collaborative efforts

Introduction 

‘Success is best when it’s shared.’ 

One of the most outstanding indicators of business success is growing sustainable revenue. 

A business can achieve such growth by optimizing its asset utilization, debt ratios and customer success. However, experts believe that without internal collaboration between the various departments, sustaining such growth rates is impossible.  

Sales representatives who had engaged in collaborative efforts with other departments could achieve 82% of their sales quotas.  

Stop treating sales as an individual body; keep reading to understand how collaborative efforts can positively affect revenue generation. 

Why is Sales-Support Collaboration of Crucial Importance? 

Data suggest that companies undergo 250% growth when they share their best practices across different levels. But how are information sharing or collaboration between various channels related to revenue generation? 

Collaboration stimulates creativity and increases productivity, yet it remains one of the most underutilized tools.  

More than 75% of employers believe that synergy between sales and support teams can boost productivity. 

Let us look at why collaboration is an important requisite for business success. 

1. Boosting Brand Loyalty

Sales and support collaboration can significantly boost brand loyalty by providing customers with a seamless and positive experience throughout the customer journey.  

When sales and support teams work together, they can share valuable information about the customer’s needs, preferences, and history, which can help ensure that each interaction with the brand is consistent and relevant.  

This type of collaboration can also help resolve any issues or concerns that the customer may have quickly and effectively, fostering a sense of trust and loyalty.  

Additionally, when sales and support teams share common goals and work towards a unified purpose, they can create a strong, cohesive brand experience that resonates with customers and builds lasting relationships.

2. Reduction in Sales Cycles

Shorter sales cycles imply that sales teams must close a deal faster and move quickly through the sales process.

Sales and customer support collaboration can significantly reduce sales cycles by streamlining the process for potential customers.

When sales and customer support teams work together, they can quickly address any questions or concerns that customers may have, allowing them to make informed purchasing decisions more quickly.

This can lead to shorter sales cycles, as customers are less likely to delay or reconsider their decision.

In addition, the combination of sales and customer support expertise can also help identify and resolve any technical or logistical barriers that might be holding up the sales process. 

3. Better Customer Experience (CX)

Collaboration between sales and customer support teams can result in a better customer experience in several ways.  

First, by sharing information about customer interactions and feedback, both teams can better understand each customer and their needs. This allows them to provide more personalized and relevant support, resulting in a better customer experience.  

Secondly, by working together, sales and customer support teams can provide a seamless transition from the sales process to ongoing support, reducing customer frustration and improving the overall experience. 

Finally, a culture of collaboration between sales and customer support teams promotes a customer-centric approach, where both teams focus on providing the best possible experience for the customer rather than just achieving their own departmental goals.

This results in a positive, memorable experience for the customer

4. New Avenues for Upselling & Cross Selling

Cooperation between sales and support teams helps businesses understand customer demands and address pain points.

The support team, for example, may have observed that an advanced version of the product/service can resolve a particular customer issue. The sales team can then apply this information with a potential upsell opportunity.

Upselling and cross-selling opportunities can also arrive when sales teams are informed about precise customer demands from support teams. 

The 5 Key Strategies for Sales & Support Collaboration

Flexibility, adaptability and a customer-centric approach are three crucial factors on which your profitability primarily depends.

Misalignment between the various departments of an organization can eventually damage your financial performance.

Here are some customized strategies that can help establish clear communication between sales and support teams to ensure a more harmonious working relationship.

1. Symmetry in Communication

Experts believe that symmetry in information between the various departments can help avoid a moral hazard.

When communication is symmetrical, sales and support teams can easily exchange information, ideas and feedback, leading to improved collaboration and problem-solving.

In a symmetrical communication approach, both sales and customer support teams actively listen to and engage with each other and share information about customer interactions transparently and equitably.

This helps build trust and fosters collaboration between both teams, allowing them to work together more effectively to meet customer needs.

Symmetrical communication also helps eliminate misunderstandings and ensures that both teams are aligned in their approach to serving customers.

Regular check-ins, team meetings, collaboration tools such as shared calendars, project management software, and unrestricted access to information databases help facilitate communication and ensure everyone works together. 

2. Synergy in Objectives

When sales and support teams have aligned objectives, they can work together more effectively towards a common goal.

Research shows that 82% of employees from sales or support teams agree that transparency in understanding mutual goals boost productivity. It helps break down inter-departmental silos and helps build better team morale.

Synergy in objectives can be achieved by establishing clear, mutually agreed upon goals and regularly reviewing progress towards those goals. This can help both teams stay aligned and focused on what’s important and ensure that they are working together to provide the best possible customer experience.

By fostering a culture of collaboration and teamwork, both sales and customer support teams can work together more effectively to achieve their shared objectives, which can result in increased customer satisfaction, sales, and long-term success for the company. 

3. Sharing Customer Information

For any business, harnessing and analyzing customer data provides valuable insights. However, data is not meant only for product development or sales teams alone.

Sharing customer data and insights between sales and support teams can help the business make relevant changes in product development, marketing and sales strategies.

Inter-departmental information sharing helps either team to provide a more consistent and personalized customer experience.

The support team can use the information provided by the sales team to understand the customer’s purchase history allowing them to provide more relevant support.

Similarly, by sharing information such as customer preferences, previous interactions, and pain points, the sales team can better understand the customer’s needs and tailor their approach accordingly.

Information sharing also gets rid of duplicated effort and eases the sales process. 

4. Joint Training

Joint training can also help to ensure that all team members have a consistent and comprehensive understanding of the company’s products, services, and policies.

As of 2022, US-based companies have spent around $70 billion on sales and support training.

When sales and customer support teams are trained together, they learn about the products and services in the same context, leading to a better understanding of the company’s offerings.

This can result in a more efficient and effective sales process, as sales reps can answer customer questions with more confidence and accuracy, and customer support teams can provide a higher level of service.

Additionally, joint training allows both teams to understand and map the customer journey, including pain points and challenges. This knowledge helps the teams work together to identify and solve customer issues quickly, leading to better customer satisfaction and retention.

By collaborating in training, sales and customer support teams can also build stronger relationships, leading to better communication and a more collaborative working environment. This can result in increased productivity, better goal alignment, and a higher level of teamwork. 

5. Celebrate Success Together

Celebrating the success of the sales and support teams can help build a strong sense of team spirit and reinforce the importance of collaboration.

It can help build trust and respect between sales and support teams, as they acknowledge and appreciate each other’s contributions to the organization’s success.

This can improve communication and collaboration, leading to more effective and efficient operations.

Activities that foster collaborative efforts include team-building activities, recognition programs, and the regular celebration of milestones and achievements. 

Bottom Line 

The departmental goals of the sales and support teams in a business are technically dissimilar.

Striking relationships with customers is the principal goal of sales teams while support teams are more concerned with resolving issues.

Despite the fundamental difference between the two departments, effective communication can mend the gaps in customer experience.

A conscious collaboration between sales and support teams implies capturing better sales opportunities and delivering on promises.

Key Insights

Customers expect a good experience when they pay for a product or service. This makes customer onboarding the most important stage of the customer lifecycle. When you get new users started with your product on the right foot, it sets the tone for their relationship with your company. 

Key Insights

• The fashion industry is under enormous pressure to provide better shopping experiences, requiring a thorough evaluation of strategies and models to improve customer journeys efficiently and cost-effectively

• Data and immersive technologies can pave the way for more interactive experiences and help brands pivot their business strategies

• Closing the customer experience gap is an ongoing process, one which every business must consider for long-term success

The consumer psyche is changing rapidly.

When it comes to improving customer experience, tech companies have taken the lead, raised customer expectations of speed and convenience and streamlined the customer decision journey. 

But retail customer experience lags. Across industry, the process is far more fragmented. 

Customers often struggle to shop based on their ideas, desire, or inspirations. 

A survey by Qualtrics highlights that while 75% of consumers have high expectations for digital shopping experiences, only 63% believe that brands are delivering on them. 

Solving the many CX challenges requires brands to digitize and reassess how it would foster better customer relationships.

What is Digitization in Fashion?

Many experts feel digitization is primarily a social phenomenon, offering domains through which we can restructure our digital communications. 

Others take a more business-centric approach where digitization comes with the potential of changing the business model and providing new revenue and value-producing opportunities. 

In the case of retail customer experience, both these analogies are applicable. 

Digitization has opened new ways for consumers to interact and engage with their favorite brands. It has also enabled brands to change their ways of retail execution to adapt to the new realities as well as new restrictions.

What are the Challenges in the Retail Fashion Market?

The global fashion industry continues to be the largest industry in the B2C e-commerce market with an estimated global size of just over $750 billion (as of 2020). 

To succeed, it is incumbent for fashion retailers to close the customer experience gap by anticipating and delivering on customer preferences at every touchpoint. 

From addressing changing consumer preferences to mergers and acquisitions, there’s a lot in store for companies in the fashion and apparel industry to tackle as they move forward. 

Below, we have highlighted the top 5 CX challenges for the fashion and retail segment. 

1. Rise of D2C E-commerce

It is likely that consumers will continue shopping online in 2022 even with pandemic restrictions being eased and marketplaces reopening to normal capacity. 

For many fashion brands that have traditionally relied on their department store channel to reach out to customers, it means a change in strategy and a move towards a direct-to-consumer model. 

While e-commerce provided brands a pathway to better understand their customers’ preferences and uncover pain points, they would need to re-evaluate their sales channels and recalibrate their relationships with legacy brick-and-mortar stores.

2. Bringing in Social Values

A study by Euromonitor International highlights that more and more consumers expect brands to be purpose-driven. In simple terms, brands should support the “triple bottom line”- people, planet, and profits. 

Leading a fashion company and providing a stellar retail customer experience in a post-pandemic world requires a broader mindset to create strategies that drive environmental, charitable, and other social causes. 

Closing the customer experience gap would be incomplete without organizations capitalizing on the transparency of their socially conscious, environmentally friendly, and ethical sourcing practices.

3. Leveraging Immersive Tech

The pandemic pushed brands to engage and experiment with immersive technologies to provide customers with a physical experience they used to enjoy at stores, and in the process, close the CX gap. 

Virtual clothing, digital catwalks, and online showrooms came into play. 

Going forward, brands must maximize such opportunities. Digital technologies offer a quick route for apparel companies to create a collection and present it. 

The digital fashion campaign by Selfridges (a UK-based chain of high-end department stores) is a prime example of how immersive tech can be employed to rethink the future of fashion and retail radically. 

The campaign explores the domain through the medium of digital art, created by 3D digital fashion designer, Cat Taylor. 

4. Boosting the Buying Experience

It’s a hypercompetitive market for any sector. 

Fashion companies will need to be creative in the way they offer their goods. With the D2C model becoming more dominant, it is incumbent for this industry to develop online shopping capabilities and use AR and VR in more ways. 

Additionally, brands must look at leveraging digital transformation solutions for processes such as delivery and returns for better speed and accuracy. 

Adding to their arsenal will be social media. 

Brands that don’t capitalize on it would be left behind in striking long-lasting customer relationships and building brand loyalty. 

5. Overcoming the After Sales Barrier

A macro-challenge for fashion companies to address to enhance retail customer experience is the after-sales process. 

Organizations need to facilitate smooth exchange and return processes as well as institute open communication policies if they want to build better relationships with customers. 

This is where conversational commerce comes into play. While born with the primary objective of stimulating sales, it is not restricted to that role. 

How Do You Improve Customer Experience (CX) in Fashion and Retail?

While the pandemic disrupted the industry, forcing sales to drop to zero in months, there is a positive side to look forward to. 

The challenging period has also offered a learning curve to the sector to understand how to employ technology and maximize benefits from the minimum. 

We have listed five strategic steps that the industry should take to close the customer experience gap. 

Step #1. Make Way for a Stronger Foundation

It is time to simplify processes and consolidate your core systems to improve customer experience and achieve success in today’s digital competitive marketplace. 

Your first step is to eliminate data fragmentation and duplication to create efficiency and deliver real-time information. 

Take a one-system approach by putting your back-end Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and order & inventory systems into one platform. 

Step #2. Build Your Digital Platform

Now that your foundation is in place, you can seamlessly connect more modern channels with any part of your business. Unified with your back-end systems, an e-commerce platform will serve as the base for your digital platform. 

With instant access to inventory, you will provide accurate inventory levels to shoppers while delivering relevant cross-sell and upsell merchandising offers. 

Step #3. Make Use of Data-Driven Insights 

You cannot manage if you don’t measure it. 

Fashion and retail companies that have integrated data into their planning, merchandising, and supply chain processes are not only witnessing tangible results but are also closing the customer experience gap. 

In fact, data-driven strategies for stock and sales optimization led to a 10% increase in sales, according to McKinsey research. The same study highlights how data-centric models have streamlined inventory management, improved returns forecasting, and optimized transport networks. 

Step #4. Extend Your Digital Capabilities to the Store and Beyond 

Your e-commerce platform, which is now tied to your back-end systems, will also unify your online and offline channels by supporting a modern Point of Sale (POS) system. 

This essentially means that your customer journeys can easily transition between online and offline platforms. Sales associates can quickly leverage inventory and product data for an enhanced in-store experience. 

Other channels, such as pop-up stores, catalogs, and call centers, will also seamlessly connect with your back-end systems, allowing your shoppers to truly buy from any touchpoint. 

Step #5. Personalize It

A survey by Twilio Segment highlights that only 60% of consumers find their retail shopping experience to be personalized. 

While e-commerce does offer a way ahead for brands to customize their customer journeys, such strategies usually focus on improving the shopper’s current visit. 

But technological innovation is giving a whole new dimension to personalization. Retailers can utilize a customer’s current shopping behavior to generate profiles, complete with their brand affinities, to point towards their future purchasing habits. 

Putting Customers at the Center

Customer behavior and preferences keep evolving, but the pandemic has created a revolutionary change in their purchasing habits.

Convenience takes the top spot on the list. In fact, 73% of customers are ready to spend a premium on convenience, according to Deloitte’s Global State of Consumer Tracker.

While the tide of digital innovation does not mean the permanent closure of in-store experiences, it does require brands to focus on building customer-centric strategies for a more immersive omnichannel approach. 

B2B businesses should have instant access to the data of every customer and transaction. It’s necessary to find out who is buying what and the drivers for such decisions.