Benefit or Expectation?

Do you find yourself doing this? Often when discussing the benefits of doing business with their company,  a salesperson  brings up "great customer service" as a particular benefit... and although a concern, it's not the be-all to close the sale. There's no real strong reaction from their prospect. The salesperson will scratch their head and wonder why. Isn't service important?

Here's the problem: to your customer, great customer service is not seen as a benefit. It's an expectation. People EXPECT to receive great service. It's what you're supposed to be doing. Anything less is seen as not getting what they paid for when they purchased your product.

You may be using less than effective benefit statements when you use "great service" as your main benefit. I always like to use what I call the "so what" factor when developing advantages and benefit statements. If a customer could say "so what" about my benefit, than it isn't one. Customer service as a benefit falls into this category. As a benefit, it's a weak one.

I've heard numerous sales people selling a common product or service harp on what great customer service or support they have and come away with less than their desired results. You must develop other reasons for people to do business with you. Find out what's really important to the customer and sell that.

There are some products that do require a lot of support, and in those cases service may indeed of the utmost importance. However, this is still an expectation, but one that may require reassurance on your part. Use it as a benefit but align your it with your customer's concerns.

Now, that's not to say you shouldn't bring up customer service. Let people know it's important to you and your organization but it should be matter of fact because it is expected. "We've got great service... what we can also give you is...."