Live chat as part of a rich communication suite has more than proven its effectiveness in the customer service sector, receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from both customers and the businesses that use it. Now there are more and more businesses across many industries realizing live chat’s potential for sales applications and beginning to take measures to employ it, although others are skeptical or unsure how to go about it.
What some don’t realize is that live chat is actually quite simple to implement into sales operations, as there is no need for any additional infrastructure and training is quite simple. There are several techniques that are tried-and-true by pioneers in their industries.
The first step is to build confidence in representatives regarding the viability of live chat in this new application. Most chat reps are familiar with support, not sales, and thus are often uncomfortable in what they regard as a completely different situation. However, if a business convinces a few employees from the sales division – or even a few adventurous chat reps – to begin using live chat, others may follow their lead and recognize how easy and rewarding the transition is. Studies have shown that customers are quite receptive to sales techniques in this context, so it is ideal for employees with tried-and-true communication and support skills to take part in those efforts.
Another smart move for businesses hoping to branch out is somewhat obvious: provide sales-focused training. For this situation it appears that an instructor-led model has proven more effective than a self-paced one, at least to start with, and the overall focus should never be shifted away from a support context. In addition, the training has been shown to be most effective when delivered by an outside consultant who has no ties to the organization that would get in the way of anything.
Although any live chat infrastructure will do the job it always helps to have a few extra features added on, especially if they are particularly sales-oriented. For example, proactive chat allows the rep to send invitations to new site visitors, immediately establishing contact in an unobtrusive way. With co-browsing the rep can browse through the site alongside the visitor while maintaining the chat window, which keeps the visitor happy by making everything quite easy and simultaneously provides opportunities for the rep to upsell them. Push URL is a simple feature that allows the rep to embed links to other places on the site directly in the chat window and speed up the whole process while again giving the rep many chances to suggest additional products.
Promotions and incentives are one of the core aspects of successful sales operations, and with live chat it is no different. Chat reps should be aware that they can offer simple discounts, such as free shipping, in a casual way that makes a successful sale more likely.
In a world where two-way communication is becoming much more common among businesses and consumers, it is essential that these businesses be acutely aware of how to employ it in way that makes customers happy and contributes to the bottom line. Combining the skills of sales and support teams has been shown to be one of the most effective ways of accomplishing these goals.
Edited by Alisen Downey