Sales Advocate Newsletter
Where the Rep Meets the Web: New Technology Merges Direct and Online Sales
February 2001
Since the very first online sale, e-commerce vendors have searched for ways to make their sites more effective. The goal has always been higher conversion rates for prospects on this inherently passive medium. In recent years, new software solutions have promised to "turn browsers into buyers" and dramatically improve site stickiness. For instance, Web personalization solutions use complex behavioral modeling algorithms to observe the activities of online visitors and serve personalized content to them.
Still, only 2.7%* of browsers to the typical e-commerce site actually buy anything, and a mere 15%* of those buyers ever return to buy again. That's only four return customers out of a thousand prospects. It's clear that even the most technologically advanced Web sites pale in comparison to a well-trained sales representative.
Try comparing your Web site to your best telebusiness rep. Your site can't read buying signals and offer sales assistance at just the right time. It can't tailor its sales pitch to the nuances of a prospect's preferences. It can't schmooze an online visitor. Web sites take weeks of HTML coding to reflect new product benefits. And, for the most part, they are ineffective at communicating customer needs back to the product marketing team. A good telebusiness rep does all those things.
This raises the question: what would e-commerce look like if a salesperson could be inserted into the process? Consider the following wish list:
- Sales professionals could engage in real-time dialogues with online prospects.
- These e-sales representatives could address the prospects' questions, cater to their individual needs, overcome their obstacles, and guide them down the path to the online (or offline) sale immediately, before the prospects leave for a competitor's site.
- Because it would be cost-prohibitive to staff enough e-sales representatives to chat with every online visitor, the Web site would qualify browsers based on business rules specific to the e-commerce company.
- Site visitors would have a convenient and productive online experience.
- Conversion rates would rise, sales cycles would shorten, and online sales would skyrocket.
Is such a scenario possible? Here's an example of a company that has effectively bridged the gap between online and inside sales.
Manitoba Telecom Services
Manitoba Telecom Services, Inc. (MTS) is the leading, full-service telecommunications company in Manitoba, Canada. With the goal of increasing online conversion rates, MTS implemented an innovative e-sales solution on its Web site www.mts.mb.ca. With this system, a qualifying engine identifies high-potential customers. Audio and visual alerts then notify MTS e-business sales consultants, who invite these qualified prospects to participate in real-time, interactive sales discussions. A single sales consultant can interact with as many as four online visitors at once. The results have been tremendous. The MTS e-business sales team now produces THREE TIMES the monthly sales of their colleagues who sell face-to-face.
Phone Works has established a strategic partnership with the company responsible for MTS' e-sales solution. NewChannel, Inc. has developed a solution that integrates e-sales representatives into the e-commerce process. NewChannel's solution performs real-time analysis of visitor behavior on corporate Web sites, selects those visitors who behave as the most likely customers, alerts the inside sales team, and enables the sales reps to engage the visitors in online consultations.
For more information on NewChannel, visit www.newchannel.com or call 800.331.0987.
* Data provided by Forrester Research, Inc.
You can reach Phone Works at 510.749.9073.
