Sales Tips for Support Pros
A sales conference crowd and a support conference crowd usually sound very different. Different vibes, different volumes, different voices. More like Grease's nerds and greasers than West Side Story's Sharks and Jets. There's a reason you don't see "SupportForce Tower" buildings popping up in major cities.
And yet...
So much of online support work is sales-adjacent, using sales skills, for the same purposes. Support teams often have to help people figure out which product best suits their needs. We build confidence, act as advisors, create relationships. We ask good questions to help people identify and solve their own problems. How many times have you had to answer some version of "why should I use your product instead of Big Competitor A?" or "why should I pay more for your thing?"
If you're in support, then you're doing some sales, even if you'd rather not. In my experience, the sales teams who win in the long term are the ones who take a supportive approach to their work. They prioritize listening and thoughtful alignment over high pressure approaches.
Perhaps that is particularly true in SaaS businesses where the customer's lifetime value might be many times that of the initial sale. It may explain why some car sales people, who you might only have to deal with once a decade, are able to survive despite much more aggressive approaches.
So if we're going to be doing sales-like things, let's do them well:
What support can learn from sales
First, seek to understand
Before jumping in with a solution, ask clarifying questions to make sure you're solving the actual issue for your customer. Yes, great support pros do this already, but when you're under the pressure of response metrics it can be hard to sustain.
Identify a bad fit
Rather than struggling on with a sale that will never close, a good sales pro respects everyone's time and moves on. In support, honestly and directly telling an enquiring person when your product won't help them solve their issue is an act of kindness to everyone on the thread.
Tell a story
People connect more easily with stories than facts. Try adapting your explanations to use examples from the customer's own industry, so they can more easily fit it into their world. Do you know which customers you have case studies for, and can openly share about?
Practice handling objections
Sales people prepare to answer common objections with well-thought-through explanations. Support people, who often have to convince customers to take necessary actions, could apply the same process in their work.
Be confident and positive
A customer who is casting about for a way towards their goal can often benefit more from a direct, confident answer than from being given several possible options. Start with the path you suggest for them based on what you have learned, but let them know you have other options if they need them.
In avoiding "being salesy" we can sometimes end up creating worse customer experiences in support. When a customer is asking for direction and opinion, but they just get told to "set up a free trial" and left on their own, it can be disheartening.
The best kind of sales makes sure the customers save time and effort in making a good decision. That's what we want to deliver in support too.
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This article first appeared in The Supportive Weekly, Mat's email newsletter for anyone who wants to create better customer experiences. Subscribe now...it's not boring!
Mathew Patterson
After running a support team for years, Mat joined Help Scout, where he helps people deliver better online customer support. Subscribe to The Supportive Newsletter or find him on LinkedIn.
