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Customer service is the link between your customers and your products. Without good customer service, you will have a difficult time promoting your products and services. Plus, direct contact with customers often provides an opportunity to sell a customer on an idea or product. Take advantage of your customer service department by providing proper marketing training, and you'll soon see the rewards. Here are some tips on using customer service to improve your marketing efforts.
Step 1:

Take advantage of incoming calls. Although your business may not promote out-going calls (or cold calling), you can still use customer service as a marketing tool by focusing on incoming calls from customers. You'll have the undivided attention of your customer when he calls in, so it's a great opportunity to discuss a new product or service over the phone. Focus on products that specific customer would find useful to increase your chances of making a sale through this type of marketing. (A less personal approach would be to make the customer listen to a pre-recorded message about a product or service you're marketing before being linked to a live customer service representative. Just beware that this delay might further anger some already-infuriated clients.)

Step 2:

Train your customer service reps to be informative sellers. You can improve your marketing efforts through your customer service reps by teaching them how to sell products. Rather than simply running a cash register or answering a telephone, customer service reps should be utilized to market products. They are in the unique position of working directly with customers, so ensure that your customer service reps are trained on the benefits each product and service offers. When a customer shows interest in a particular product or service, your customer service rep should know right away to begin marketing the product by talking about the product with the client. Once they've mastered this, teach your customer service reps to ‘up sell.' That is, have customer service reps suggest a better (more expensive) product that would work better for the customer. This type of direct marketing is guaranteed to increase profits, as long as it is done professionally and with little pressure.

Step 3:

Make sure your customer service staff is friendly.  Leave a good impression with all clients by ensuring customer service treats every customer with respect. Your customer service staff needs to be friendly, patient and flexible. Work with the customer to solve problems so that the customer remains happy. Then, one happy customer will tell 10 others about a positive experience dealing with your company. That's the best kind of marketing you can get! Ensure you're using customer service to improve your marketing efforts by training them properly on the right attitudes and approaches to dealing with customers.

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