Sales and customer service go hand-​in-​hand. However, a majority of salespeople tend to focus solely on sales hoping that their products and services alone will be enough to keep a client’s business. That’s one of the few mistakes salespeople tend to make that could cost them clients. Here are a few more common customer service-​based mistakes you may be guilty of based on Vince Jeffs’ article, “4 well-​intended Marketing Automation BAD HABITS to break.”

Many salespeople have the bad habit of ignoring a client’s individuality. Instead, salespeople focus on how they prefer to handle their client outreach. They’ll ignore a client’s discomfort with talking on the phone if it suits them better to use that medium. They won’t make an effort to ask personal questions so that they can get to know their client better. Their main communication method with their clients may even be purely adding them to a mass email burst since writing a personalized email takes up a bit of their time.

Each of your clients is an individual human being. You need to know which contact methods they’re comfortable with and you need to get to know them better if you ever want to have a strong business relationship with them.

Even once you get to that point, the person you interact with for each of your client companies is likely to change as life provides your previous contacts with promotions and new opportunities elsewhere. If your client contact changes, you can’t assume the new person will have the same personality as their predecessor. You need to stay on top of who your contacts are for each company and learn which customer service techniques each person prefers. Don’t put them in a company box.

Another problem getting in the way of great customer service is the focus we tend to have on our products and making sales. Yes, sales are a big part of what keeps your company alive, but remember that your clients are the backbone of your sales and they need to be kept happy in order to support you. If sales pitches are your main form of outreach to your clients, especially if the product isn’t relevant to their needs, they will likely stop opening your emails or accepting your calls. Make sure your clients are your number one priority. They’ll realize they’re important if your “checking in” emails and calls aren’t just sales attempts. Ask them how your customer service is working for them, for feedback on what’s working and what can be improved, and about how business is going. If you’ve kept up to date about your clients’ needs, and they see that you genuinely care about them, they’ll be more likely to respond to your targeted sales pitches.

How many of these mistakes have you been guilty of making? It’s time for a change.