In the swirl of mergers, acquisitions and employee swapping that has characterized the banking industry for the past several years, there’s been a lot of chatter about organizational focus. Some groups claim to be focused on customer service; others believe a focus on sales is the key to survival. Still others say focus needs to be fluid, to respond to the needs of the day.

In my organization, we’ve talked consistently about both sales and service. The phrase “sales and service” is heard company-wide; it is as if the three words have morphed into a single word. Our CEO consistently stresses that success will be determined by the ability to listen to customers, solve their problems and seize opportunities to deepen our business relationship with them. Those words echo across the organization.

Easier Said Than Done

Still, while most managers agree that successful team members are “committed” to delivering both outstanding sales and service, it is easier said than done. The two components are too often separated in practice.

On closer analysis, in many organizations, commitment seems to tip to one side or the other, depending upon the functional role. Sales managers generally emphasize and intensively train the sales component and defer the service side to the “service experts” – highly specialized customer service centers. Similarly, customer service managers focus on and build training for the service side of customer relationships – “Let’s fix those problems friendly and fast!” – and leave the sales work to the “sales professionals.” Performance evaluations for each group highlight quantitative measures that relate to each component separately – number and dollar value of sales, and number and efficiency of service calls handled. Employee development plans tend to reflect either an emphasis on sales skills or on customer service skills. The employees respond accordingly: their behaviors target either sales or service - not both.

Restoring the Balance

As leaders and performance-improvement professionals who recognize that regardless of the words on the posters or the skills we build and sustain, people tend to focus on one area or the other, a critical role for us is to continually restore balance between a sales and a service focus. (Let me emphasize the word “continually.”) A great way to restore balance and increase stability and profitability is to invest resources in the development of cross-selling skills. Cross selling is the exciting intersection of these two business fundamentals.

Most customer service training programs emphasize interpersonal communication skills to handle difficult customer situations. In better customer service programs, team members also learn that everyday customer interactions can be transformed into extraordinary ones by listening well and projecting a friendly and caring attitude. (Not exactly rocket science, but, again, easier said than done.) The ultimate goal is to create powerful and positive impressions in the customers’ minds – building goodwill for the future.

Once we have built those positive impressions in the customers’ minds, we have a choice - we can stop at thanking the customer for their current business and move on to the next service call; or we can engage our customers by really listening to identify genuine additional needs, and then respond to those business needs. Notice, I didn’t say push other products on them. Instead, service-based selling is a response to identified genuine additional needs.

When employees and leaders recognize that cross selling is simply an extension of customer service, they are better able to maintain a productive balance between a focus on sales and a focus on service. And everyone - the customers, the employees, and the organization - wins as a result.

Here are a few guidelines for launching and sustaining successful cross-selling initiatives:

·            Build a solid foundation of customer service: Remember, everyone talks about the importance of customer service Make sure the commitment is more than words and extends farther than headquarters and clever posters. Review performance expectations, reward and recognition programs, and promotion processes. Use your behavioral interviewing skills with front line employees and leaders to determine if they are truly committed to customer service.

·            Train your employees to look and listen for opportunities: Opportunities can be problems the customer needs to have solved or simply customer dreams and wishes (wants).

·            Ensure your employees know and understand what your organization has to offer: Employees need to know what to look and listen for. In other words, they need to understand your products and services and how those benefit the customer. It’s not enough to give employees product sheets. They need a more robust understanding of the product. Let them hear stories of how the product has been used and made a difference for customers. If possible, let them experience the product or service, so they can share their stories with customers.

·            Reward proactive behaviors: When you ask employees to balance sales and service through cross selling, you are asking them to transition during an interaction from a reactive or responsive mode to a proactive mode. In some organizations, employees are punished when they step out of the box and behave in proactive ways. This type of culture is a tremendous barrier to building cross-selling capability. Give attention to the entirety of your culture, ensuring that a proactive attitude is allowed to thrive.