Many businesses are more than ever dependant on their online presence to help them through the current economic crisis. With 17% of all retail spending being done online in the UK, money is still being spent in the e-commerce sector by companies employing search engine optimisation and e-marketing specialists to boost their online presence.

If your organisation is not getting the most out of your online sales capability, then it’s time to combine your sales training course and soft skills training knowledge to put together a strong customer service offering for your website.

Many UK businesses managed to make good profit over the festive season online, and now must ensure they retain and develop their customer base. Some of the following options are tried and tested to improve your customer service online and boost your sales:

Online discounts
Consumers are more price sensitive than ever at the moment, and now is the time to utilise the cost savings of an online sales service to offer the best deals you can.

Free Deliveries
Many online companies are offering promotions whereby free shipping is offered on a certain day, a certain product line or for orders over a certain amount.

Functionality
Make sure your site’s ease of navigation and purchasing options are regularly tested and reported by people outside of your organisation. Many companies fall into the trap of not realising how awkward some transactions can be – minimum clicks, minimum time and minimum fuss should be the goal.

Customer Support
Ensure that you offer a variety of ways for clients to contact you with queries or have their questions answered. This can range from ‘frequently asked questions’ pages to online live chat from a customer service representative.

We’re all consumers and customers, and at some point we will have experienced the automated call systems that companies of all shapes and sizes have implemented to drive their telephonic customer service systems.

On the increase is speech analytics – a computer controlled system which analyses the speech of a caller which can be used to identify diverse things such as gender, identity, desired choices (as in a menu system) and even topics being discussed.

The growth in this technology is being hailed by some companies as the next generation in customer service and sales, who claim that it will bring cost savings to call centres, improve the customer’s experience, and boost revenue.

However, many argue that in a climate of high unemployment, and ever increasing dissatisfaction with automated call systems and overseas call centres, businesses would be wiser to invest in solid customer service and soft skills training for real human beings, who can answer the phone when a customer rings.

Effective customer service and sales is strongly reliant on understanding, empathising and offering a benefit driven personal service to the consumer. Whether or not technology can improve the non-linear aspects of sales and service is up for debate.

Everybody’s heard of the old adage ‘the customer is always right’. However, in the ever increasingly tough environment of business today, customer care and customer relationship management is more important than ever.

That’s why organisations are sending more and more of their customer service staff on soft skills training. But what are some of the key attributes that make for quality soft skills delivery with your clients? Let’s look at one of the big ones:

Top Tip: Active Listening

Active listening involves behaviour that indicates that there is mutual understanding between the customer service representative and the client.

In many situations, people tend to spend much time formulating their own thoughts and viewpoints when listening to someone else’s comments.

A good active listener will suspend their own inner monologue and instead listen attentively, making noises and popping words into the conversation to make it clear they are following the thread of thought.

An active listener will often repeat back key information to the message giver, to ensure that the salient points have been absorbed and understood. This doesn’t mean that they have to agree with customer on everything, it’s simply a way to make sure that everything has been understood correctly.

A customer service representative that actively listens will give the client a better experience, and is likely to meet the customer’s needs more efficiently and effectively.

Many organisations wisely spend their money on putting individuals on management training courses in order to enable them to maximise the potential of their teams and individuals. It’s good news for UK industry, as it solidifies its position as a world leader in the ‘knowledge industry’, which has talented and trained people at its core.

Many businesses want to publicise and champion their successes in staff development by embarking on the Investors in People initiative. This is a recognised benchmark which a company can proudly display on their letterhead, sending a clear message to their client base that they hold core values and principles that are essential to long term relationship development with their internal staff policies and procedures. This message can only enhance a company’s profile and competitive advantage as a potential business partner.

As stated on the Investors in People website, the standard “provides a framework that helps organisations to improve performance and realise objectives through the effective management and development of their people.”

Companies that have committed to the scheme have discovered that it’s much more than a badge to earn, you’ll need a management staff and leadership that is fully committed to designing and implement systems, which done well, will have a profound effect on their business.

Managers that have invested in their personal development through structured management training courses will certainly have an advantage when re-structuring their policies, procedures and actions to earn the valued accreditation.

Many organisations spend a great deal of time and money in attracting new clients to try and help boost their business, or in the case of the current economic climate, just to stay afloat.

What many wise company leaders realise is that investing effort into retaining their existing client base, and looking for opportunities to extend business with them, is much more cost effective.

In this time of recession, many companies are competing hard with exciting special offers and price cuts to generate much needed revenue. However, at the same time so much focus has been placed on this strategy that they are losing customers to poor service. The consumer is in a strong position to pick and choose where they spend their money, and will happily switch suppliers if they are not content.

A typical example of this is the mobile phone industry; all suppliers are scrambling over themselves to offer cheaper packages, whilst at the same time cutting back on internal resources. Some have found that in the process, the customers they spent valuable time and money on getting just 12 months ago are leaving them due to poor service.

Invest in the soft skills development of your workforce and ensure they understand how critical it is to keep a customer happy. This may also require managers and leaders alike to rethink their strategy, and make more fundamental improvements to the way their business operates.

If your business is good, and orders are coming in, it often feels like you might not have to the time to take a step back for a spot of analysing. Well, many very successful organisations are sending their management teams on management training courses to better their analytical skills. One such field worth looking at is your customer base.

Customer profiling is one example. This author knows of a Small to Medium Enterprise company that but profiling to great use. They provide Information Technology (IT) products and support services. They identified, by looking at the sales frequency, history and profitability of their client base, that their ideal customer would have less than 50 employees, a network of over 15 computers, be within a 35 mile radius, and employ two or less IT specific staff.

By taking this data and investing in some marketing studies to mine this information (they used an external telemarketing company) they were able to directly market to this sweet spot. Eventually, they turned away a business if it didn’t fit these criteria, because they had calculated the low return of this type of client in a cost-benefit analysis exercise.

No matter what the size of your company, chances are you’ll be able to pick out your best customer profile. Channel your sales and marketing people to target this profile, and consider cutting back time spent on the chaff.