Partners

Stop sell: five tips for a great customer experience

Zen Jun 14 2021

When it comes to your customers’ experience, doing the right thing is key. Providing them with the technology and service they need is crucial to keeping them happy and making sure they keep coming back.

But it means giving consideration to your customers, sometimes prioritising them over what might be good for your own business in the short term. And never has that been truer than now. As stop sell begins to take effect, are you ready to provide a great customer experience?

Here are five tips to help you get started.

1. Stop selling ADSL

That old copper broadband is very quickly going to become a legacy product. And that means a limited lifespan, end of support, suboptimal performance and ultimately a necessity to upgrade.

Providing a great customer experience means looking at your customer base to identify who you’re able to migrate across to full fibre now (if you’re a Zen Partner, that’s definitely something we can help you with).

Reaching out to your customers today, encouraging them to make the shift, and selling the benefits of full fibre to them (see our previous blog) means happier customers now, and far less hassle down the line.

If you can get your customers upgraded early, you’ll make life easier for them in the long term and, crucially, you’ll be stealing a march on your competition – when they’re all offering end of life products, you’ll be providing next generation connections.

2. Do they need Ethernet?

With the new types of broadband now available, it’s questionable whether Ethernet is still the right choice for many small businesses.

Sure, it’s reliable and consistent with guaranteed performance, but it’s also around six times more expensive to buy, and many of the same benefits apply to full fibre connections – which are available for a fraction of the price.

Where full fibre isn’t available, why not sell your customers on the benefits of SOGEA? It’s basically an FTTC connection without the phone line (which means greater reliability). It’s fast, and it can be installed much more easily and quickly than a leased line.

It’s tempting to want to keep selling Ethernet exclusively – after all, it can be more lucrative. But if you’re not selling customers the best tech for their budget, you’re storing up difficulties for yourself in the future, especially if your competitors start offering them full fibre and SOGEA connections before you do.

3. Think about your installed base

Aside from attracting new customers with better connectivity, it’s also a great idea to revisit your existing customers too.

Future proofing your current end users on reliable connectivity means building loyalty in the long term. As does educating them and helping them to really understand the technologies available.

Why do they need a full fibre connection? Well, aside from the great performance and reliability, it’s a really solid platform for cloud communications, hybrid working and cloud services. When they understand all the benefits, can conceptualise how it will improve things for them, and can trust you as their provider, you’re onto a winner!

So make sure that you review your account base, understand the opportunities and limitations, and help them make the most of those opportunities and overcome the limitations with the best advice.

We’ve provided lots more on how you can do that in our ‘selling yourself’ video series, available here.

4. Don’t forget your prospects

Going all in with full fibre and SOGEA connectivity means you’ll be an attractive proposition to potential customers, and you should make the most of that.

You’re a technology expert in your area, but do they know that? With your local expertise and friendly approach, you’ll be able to provide that much needed peace of mind that you are the right choice.

So make yourself approachable, even if it means answering questions from and providing ‘support’ to people who aren’t currently your customers. Use social media, blogs, marketing material, recommendations, reviews or word of mouth to make sure that potential customers recognise you as a trusted, reliable, expert provider.

When they’re ready to make the switch, they’ll think of you, especially if you’re already offering the future-proof connections they need.

5. Partner with the right provider

We’re experts in connectivity and great service, and we’re here to help.

From data and insight to marketing support and our long expertise in selling these technologies, we’ll be there to underpin your own customer offerings, and we’ll always be there to provide the support you need.