Your New Online Salesperson
A year or two ago, it looked like instant messaging and other forms of online chat had reached their full potential as a business tool. Millions of people were using IM to interact with corporate colleagues.
Live chat had also become a fixture on websites, giving customers a way to inquire about products and receive answers in real time.
But as it has since the Web’s earliest days, IM continues to evolve.
Now some savvy website operators are finding that, when used tactfully, it can be a powerful way to boost sales – not just as a passive customer-service tool but as a way to engage customers, in the manner of a showroom salesperson.
Erik Asarian, a real estate broker in Park City, Utah, installed a live chat box a year ago and credits it with adding $12 million in sales. “It’s become an amazing new profit center,” he says.
For all the advantages that come with selling on the Web, one disadvantage has constrained online merchants: They haven’t been able to approach customers as they’re shopping and pitch them on the spot. But live chat programs are beginning to change that.
To be a successful “closer,” a merchant first has to learn how to use live chat to create trust. Instead of pinging visitors with a standard greeting like “How may I help you?” – which many potential customers correctly interpret as nothing more than a sales come-on.
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Photo by Scyza.
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