Companies that will win in the near future won’t separate sales from service.
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If a business were treated like a sports team, some might say that sales is offense and customer support is defense. Traditionally, sales has been responsible for winning revenue. Customer support deals with complaints and problems, and it’s natural to go into playing defense to solve the problem and save a customer.
Yet, what if your organization realizes that both sales and support functions play a critical role in driving higher revenue, reducing churn, and fostering increased customer loyalty?
This is exactly the insight shared by Filip Jaskólski, the chief product officer at Text, a company that believes great service is a powerful sales tool, in his recent interview on Amazing Business Radio.
Customer Service Is a Revenue Generator
I have discussed this extensively in my Forbes articles, and Jaskólski and I are in complete agreement that customer service must not be viewed as a cost center. Jaskólski emphasizes that “great service sells,” arguing that we have fundamentally bet on service as a revenue leverage, turning chats, tickets, and messaging into actual revenue, sales, or leads.
The total cost of service and support must yield a positive ROI. When executed correctly, whether through a digital experience or live support, it should reduce churn. This means customers return, and research indicates that repeat customers spend more per interaction than one-off customers. Revenue retention is just as crucial as sales.
Every Interaction Sends a Signal
Every customer interaction—whether it involves a complaint, a question, or a compliment—sends a valuable signal about the customer’s true wants, needs, and feelings. Companies that are attuned to these signals can identify opportunities to enhance the experience, address issues, or close a sale. Thanks to modern technology, we can now track not only what customers say but also what they do, such as browsing certain pages, hesitating during a purchase, and more. Recognizing and interpreting these signals leads to a superior customer experience and higher sales.
The Best Experience Combines AI and Humans
Jaskólski notes that the ideal combination of human and AI is the most effective. AI optimizes, enables scaling, and streamlines processes, cutting down response times. Humans, on the other hand, bring empathy and understanding to the entire communication process. The ideal experience leverages AI to answer basic questions and suggest products quickly, while humans excel at understanding emotions and applying intuition and judgment when a situation becomes complex. There are times that require the human touch, especially when the customer is frustrated, and there are moments when a customer simply needs to feel heard by a person. Although AI can demonstrate empathy, the customer will recognize it as AI, making it feel inauthentic. My annual research shows that nearly seven out of ten customers (68%) prefer to speak to a human when they have a problem. An AI-first strategy backed by human support is a proven and effective approach.
Measure What Drives Real Growth
Jaskólski cautions against optimizing for the wrong metrics. While Text naturally delivers on the fundamental goal of customer service—meeting customer needs and maintaining high satisfaction through quick response times—speed and automation are not the metrics that directly drive business growth. Efficiency metrics tied to speed and automation are easy to focus on, but the metrics that actually prove higher customer satisfaction and increased sales after a support interaction may be far more important. While an experience with minimal friction is always desirable, do not let these efficiency metrics mislead you into a false sense of success. The metrics that truly indicate success are those that measure satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue.
The Path to Future Success
The companies that will win in the near future will not separate sales from service. They will recognize that they work together and that every interaction presents an opportunity to build trust, strengthen relationships, and create future revenue. Sales may secure the initial purchase, but great service and support are what give customers a compelling reason to stay and return. Stop viewing customer service merely as a department that fixes problems. Instead, embrace it as one of the most powerful growth and retention strategies in your business. Great service is not playing defense; it is playing offense—and it pays off.