Do you "get it"?

I had a great meeting yesterday. Met with Nigel Edelshain, CEO of Sales 2.0, a company in Montvale, NJ that provides outbound telesales services for B2B clients.

Nigel and the folks at Sales 2.0 "get it." They see the huge ties that bind sales and customer service together. They encourage their clients to make sure they deliver great customer service. They know that it costs five times more to bring in a new customer than it does to sell additional services to a client you already have.

With figures like that, you'd think that more companies "got it." But you don't need to spend much time waiting on hold for "customer service" departments, or desperately searching "Contact Us" pages to find even one phone number, to realize that far too few companies get it at all.

And, sadly, there are more things that those companies probably just won't get. They won't get your business. Or my business. Or the business of others who like to be treated with respect and gratitude for the dollars they leave behind.

How about you? Operating a business or not-for-profit? Maybe "just" operating a family? Try smiling and saying thank-you with every interaction. Try listening hard to feedback, and correcting any things that bug people. Try "service with a smile" that actually does have a smile. You might be surprised at the smiles that pop up in return. And the rewards that come with them.

Don't think of it as customer service. Think of it as sales. Because that's exactly what it is.