Ever since black and white photographs and cars with V8 engines, sales people have struggled with the same problem: not enough leads. For decades, they have been grumbling about how management doesn’t do enough to bring traffic in the door, traffic that they can then convert into customers.
I’m not sure how they solved this problem in the old days probably by cutting prices or offering free hot dogs but modern technology has thankfully introduced a solution that works like a charm, but that many businesses still overlook. It looks like this:
By adding this button to your web site, your company can turn missed opportunities into new customers. I’m going to offer an example from my own experience with automobile and motorcycle dealers, but the concept works in numerous industries.
Buying a new vehicle is a major commitment, and consumers are notoriously reluctant to get in the grips of a professional salesperson until they know what they want. The average consumer shopping for a new car visits 18 web sites but only one or two dealerships. The implications of this are pretty simple: your sales team never gets a chance to interact with most of the “prospects” who visit your web site.
We add chat buttons to dealer web sites, and we provide the staff to interact with anyone who pushes the button. Chat is a low risk interaction for a cautious shopper; most people feel comfortable typing back and forth, perhaps because it is so easy to simply type “thanks” and leave anytime they wish.
But chat provides a bridge between “just looking” and “interested”. In using chat, consumers provide us with their name and email address, and this information creates a lead for your team.
The average chat session is about ten minutes, which means that we actually start to build a relationship. It’s social, fun, and low pressure. This means that when your sales team calls the customer back, they call back as a welcome guest.
With dealers, for example, we find that almost half the leads we generate come in while the dealer is closed and no one is otherwise available to help consumers. We also find that by adding a chat button, our dealers nearly double the volume of the leads they generate online.
Unlike the days of old, when consumers either walked into a dealership or walked by it, modern technology offers many different levels of interactions. Consumers can research from afar, or email requests for quotes. They can tweet or text. Chat provides a safe but highly effective way for customers to start a conversation, and that means it provides your business with a bridge between anonymous shoppers and actual customers.
Ken Shafer helps automotive, motorcycle & RV dealers grow their revenue.
To learn more email ken@gatewaysolutionsdirect.com
Image:Aldenjewell/Flickr
