Thursday, October 13, 2011

Humanizing Online Commerce

By LIEF LARSON, October, 13, 2011, SMM.

For the last decade and a half, the focus of online business has been to take people out of the sales process. While this model works well for many types of low-involvement and frequently purchased items (books, consumer gadgets, toys, printer toner, shoes), it fails for complex, online-to-offline transactions in which product and sales professionals are still essential to the sales process.
Social networks and online chat tools inject people into the sales process – but generally in the wrong manner and at the wrong time. What’s needed is a blending of existing technology and slightly modified marketing and sales processes that enable companies to put their best people forward, in a comfortable and interactive fashion, whenever and wherever buyers are looking for information. Companies that embrace this change will be rewarded with higher customer satisfaction, more leads and shorter sales cycles..... Read more.