Your customer service representatives are efficient, thorough and solve problems with a smile — but they could be doing even more to help develop business.

According to Tampa, Florida-based management consulting company Omnia Group, the ideal customer service representative personality is:

• Cautious, helpful and risk-averse.
• Analytical, factual and practical.
• Patient, persistent and methodical.
• Compliant, accurate and a perfectionist.

The ideal sales personality is practically the opposite: competitive, assertive, decisive and impatient. You've seen the type — he or she is nearly impervious to criticism and loves to win. We call it the “classic” (assertive) sales personality.

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A cursory review of the data would lead you to believe that your best customer service reps and your best salespeople are as different as night and day, and one could never do the work of the other.

There's undeniable truth to the sentiment, of course, but there's more to it than that. In fact, your top customer service representatives can be coached to sell, but it all depends on how you sell them on the idea.

Your customer service representatives are most likely scared at the thought of having to sell anything. They enjoy their roles as behind-the-scene advisors and intensely dislike the idea of “pushing” product. One “no” is all it takes for them to consider the deal dead.

Traditional sales incentives, such as monetary bonuses, probably won't help to change their mindset, either, at least not for the long haul. Ultimately, assertive selling simply doesn't suit their personality.

However, that doesn't mean all is lost. There's potential here. If the opportunities afforded through your customer service representatives' daily interactions with customers are just too good to shrug off, consider that while top customer service representatives probably don't have the temperament to sell in the traditional sense, they genuinely enjoy helping customers. When incentivizing your service team to add sales to the job description, first emphasize the helpful, consultative nature of the role.

Here are several ways to encourage your customer service representatives to sell:

1. Provide plenty of opportunity for continuing education

Your best customer service representatives are subject matter experts who feel good when they can impart their considerable product knowledge to customers with ears to hear. Therefore, give them all the support they need to learn as much as they can about your goods and services.

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2. Recognize their need for safety and security

Because customer service representatives are naturally risk-averse, a steady paycheck that provides enough to meet their basic wants and needs is a must. Don't even think about restructuring their compensation so that more of their pay is dependent on the ability to close a sale. You'll only increase their anxiety and deprive your company of gifted employees when they decide the job is no longer for them.

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(Photo: Shutterstock) 

3. Prepare to provide emotional support

Unlike classic sales personalities, top customer service representatives are not made of Teflon. Criticism and rejection sticks. As veteran sales managers know, rejection is an inevitable part of the job. Be prepared to give them support and encouragement when repeated “No's” begin to wear them down.

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