How can you help your sales team get better results?

It might sound surprising, but the answer lies in your customer care processes.

Wait, what? Sales happens before the customer buys, and customer care comes after—how are the two connected?

Let’s break it down.

You built your business to solve problems for your customers, to give them new experiences, to scratch an itch they didn’t even know they had. And unless your business is one-and-done, you want them to come back or refer others.

Here’s the connection

If your customer care is inefficient or difficult to access, guess who the customer is going to call with their issues? That’s right—their salesperson. The person they already know and trust, whose job should be to sell, not troubleshoot.

Here are two ways poor customer care can hurt your sales performance:

1️⃣ Customer complaints steal sales time:

When customers can’t reach your support team, they’ll call their salesperson instead. Now, instead of closing new deals, your sales team is fielding complaints, leading to frustration and lost opportunities.

2️⃣ The post-sale experience determines loyalty:

The most fragile time in a customer relationship is right after the sale. If the attention they receive post-purchase doesn’t match the energy and care they experienced during the sale, they’ll feel abandoned. A well-handled issue can create a loyal customer, but a poor experience can turn them into a lifelong critic.

Bottom line?

A seamless customer care process frees up your sales team to focus on what they do best—selling. It also ensures that your customers feel valued throughout their entire journey with you.

Before introducing a sales team, review and optimize your customer care process. Clear bottlenecks, resolve any procedural confusion, and align your sales and support teams on the common goal: keeping the customer happy.

Make sure your sales team is aware of the most common customer problems and knows how to address them consistently.