Modern businesses face crucial challenges related to customer retention and business development. A shift in focus from primarily sales-driven organizations to more service-driven systems, has e businesses trying to improve revenues by engaging customers in better ways.
Research shows that customers become angry when businesses do not satisfy or provide proper customer support. By improving customer support functions, businesses can build brand loyalty and boost revenue in a short time.
Chatbots are the new-age tool for helping businesses improve customer satisfaction, thereby, improving sales. Chatbots are becoming an effective tool for lead capturing and are being integrated into websites to help businesses get prospects in efficient and cost-effective ways. They are more than simply a traditional live chat. They have assisted the start-up world with scaling operations, building customer bases and boosting revenues. Conventional businesses are leveraging the benefits offered by chatbots to sales improvement, customer satisfaction and increased revenues.
Brands are going the Chatbots way
Every Chatbot feature provides a number of benefits. Even the most popular brands have begun using them.
For example, publishing giant Harper Collins is using its own inhouse- developed set of Chatbots, Epic Reads and Book Genie. Both interact with Facebook Messenger users make recommendations for interesting books based on their particular preferences.
Another example is Starbucks’ AI-powered app Chatbot, My Starbucks Barista. It translates complex information like “double upside-down macchiato half decaf with room and a splash of cream in a grande cup” into contextual data for the business. As you can see, the bigger the brand, the more innovative the Chatbot! But this isn’t the only application for Chatbots. They are even better at expediting and making more effective the sales process.
This is how:
1. Lead Filtering and Identification:
If you run an ecommerce business or a sales website, you may be receiving significant traffic due to promotional expenditure, but does it convert into tangible sales? The answer is, highly unlikely. Even a sales funnel will only work if the user follows through with the content.
However, when you position a Chatbot, it prompts the user when looking for something specific. You feed the Chatbot with keywords and once the user responds, the Chatbot connects them with an actual salesperson.
You may be unsure about retaining a 24/7 sales representative because you don’t want to waste resources on casual ‘digital dwellers’ who have no intention to purchase. This is where the Chatbot can help you identify the lead at the right time, putting your sales team into action just when you need them.
2. Automated Response to Queries:
With time and experience, your sales team will be able to develop a set of general and frequently-asked questions, usually asked by prospective or new buyers. By leveraging a Chatbot, you can use this information to assist buyers without the need for a 24/7 customer representative. This saves you additional expenses and allows the Chatbot to redirect any non-standard questions to your customer representatives.
3. Information Gathering and Recording:
Data shows that people talk more freely when they know who they are interacting with, whether it be with Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google’s Home or Amazon’s Echo. This same principle applies to Chatbots. When posting casual comments, most users can provide vital information showing their importance to your business. The data voluntarily provided by consumers regarding recent purchases, hobbies, likenesses and residential areas can be leveraged by the sales team to reach out to specific buyers. While human sales personnel may miss these red flags, a preprogrammed Chatbot will not.
4. Offer Restatement
What happens when one customer, who has been interacting with one salesperson, is suddenly busy dealing with another customer? One of the prospective customers feels neglected and could decide to leave. This would never happen with a Chatbot because every consumer query directed to a Chatbot gets addressed timely.
Another amazing use of the Chatbot is what differentiates good from remarkable sales people While the good ones solve consumer queries, the remarkable ones solve them using the business’ products and offerings.
Most sales training programs state that an ideal salesperson should be able to solve customer queries. The reality is that they are supposed to make sales. If they are busy helping customers, then how can they help the business? This is where Chatbots provide valuable assistance. They are designed to solve customer queries so that when a lead or prospective customer is redirected towards a salesperson, the queries are already resolved so the salesperson can start talking about the product.
These are not just fancy features. They have great business utility which translates easily into tangible benefits for the business with respect to sales efficiency. This is done by:
a. Increasing response time. Despite the level of training and experience held by the sales team, if they are not available at the very moment a consumer needs them, they are worthless. A Chatbot guarantees that salespeople are available every time a prospective lead shows signs of interest in your products/services.
b. Decreasing conversion time. The sales team can now focus on leads having a higher possibility of conversion because they have been filtered using the criteria devised by you and your Chatbot. This results in decreased conversion time.
c. Increasing sales productivity. With the sales team focusing on hot leads, resources otherwise wasted on bringing cold leads into the sales funnel are saved.
The overall result of these Chatbot features is the absolute efficiency and effectiveness of your business, all at the same time.
Chatbots Are Pumping Up The Sales Process was originally published in Chatbots Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
from Chatbots Magazine – Medium https://chatbotsmagazine.com/chatbots-are-pumping-up-the-sales-process-72195dddba7e?source=rss—-d6dc2c824f17—4