Proactive sales support and customer assistance in a cross-channel environment is an incredible opportunity. To stay competitive you have to provide more responsivness and customer engagement over you web site to enhance customer expirience and increse sales.
Winter is almost over, hence my example might be a bit outdated but nevertheless, I hope the universality of my idea will come across. Over the past few months some of you might have bought new skiing equipment; i.e. skis, boots or clothing. My question is: ''Have you bought the latter in an online or a physical shop? As a consumer I am aware of the presence of salespeople in physical shops who are in charge of carrying out various services; from making sure the store is well stock at all times to consulting customers and hence increasing sales frequency. To return to my example - in highly specified departments with high diversity among different products (such as winter equipment) customers often lack sufficient information to be able to choose by themselves. They require professional assistance. For example: imagine walking into a sport shop with an intention of buying yourself a new pair of skis. As you make your way through the shop, you find the ski department where you are faced with a variety of products. I am not just talking about the different brands, but other points of differentiation as well; from the length to the simpler aspects such as colour. I admit, I would be completely lost if there weren't for professional staff who devote their time in getting to know each customer individually to see which product would best suit their needs. In short, I value the personalized customer service I receive in a physical store. Yet as a business man I find making the time to visit such a store relatively hard. I enjoy benefits and comforts offered by online shops, yet I still find myself missing the personal touch when purchasing items over my computer.
Lately I have been noticing customers preferring quality over quantity, especially when it comes to highly specialized purchases (e.g. skiing equipment). They seem to care less about discounts and more about whether or not the product will fit their own needs. As mentioned before, the role of a well-informed salesperson is the key in helping them find the product that does just that. It comes as no surprise then that in general customers prefer buying skiing equipment in physical than online shops. However, buying a pair of skis and having to carry them from the store to your front door can be highly inconvenient. To avoid the latter some may decide to order that pair of skis online, which may turn out as a failed purchase due to the lack of information they hold on that specific product. Therefore I propose the following: imagine we could somehow combine the comfort of online shopping with the personal touch one receives in a physical store.
In this day and age, with online software support, it is relatively easy to figure out what the customer is buying, which segment of the markets’ offers catches their interest, which products they might be comparing, how interested they are in making the purchase through the amount of time they spent on specific website, how their interest shifts between different products and the like. While in a physical store a seemingly confused or over-whelmed customer would quickly be approached by a salesperson who would offer their unique knowledge, experiences and expertise to assist the customer with their purchase, customers buying online are still mainly left to research the products' specifications by themselves.
While some customers long for that personal assistance, others don't seem to mind such a degree of independence when making a purchase. The latter might simply seek the lowest price and buy such a product quickly or might even already have all the information required and do not wish to spend their time being chatted up by ''an annoying'' salesperson before they buy the product they initially wanted to buy. Hence I propose the online salesperson to be an optional feature which may be used at the customer's own liking.
In other words, I believe an online salesperson would help boosting the sale by simply being there to help if the customer decides to seek advice. It would not interfere with her purchases unless she explicitly ask for help by simply clicking on the help button. If so desired it could add a personal touch, while not compromising on the comfort of the purchased goods being delivered to your doorstep without requiring you to drive for miles and devoting more time than needed to the purchase you wish to receive before your next ski trip.
I do not see the Web as a non-personal environment. Rather I see it as a medium, a communication channel that among other benefits, lowers the need to build or rent a space for your physical store. As an owner, one would have to employ salespeople when doing business online or in store, which is by all means an additional but a necessary expense. Hence why not reduce the costs of buying or renting a physical site to display your products by offering personal assistance with all the benefits (and more) of shopping in store and instead move your business online? An everyday example goes as follows: ''Which gas station is more profitable: automated, non-attendant service station or the one where the salesperson assists you in filling up your tank or washing your wind screen, offer you a membership for the loyalty program or offer a small candy which happens to be on offer that day to your child who happened to come into the shop with you? While I might refuse all of the latter services, the excellent customer service would still make me feel appreciated as a customer and I would be happy to return to that specific gas station.”
All in all I believe the benefits of hiring a salesperson outweigh the costs. A proper platform allowing communication with customers over Omni-channels in an online shop can boost the sales and increase the profitability of an organization.
The Web was made for us, why not take full advantage of it?
| Description | User Trainings | Advanced User Trainings | Developers Training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Training Duration: | Min 1 day | Min 1 day | Min 1 day |
| Location: | Customer premises | CDE premises | CDE premises |
| Participants – target group: |
COCOS system users:
|
Advanced users:
|
Technical personnel with a basic knowledge of programming:
|
| Training objectives: |
|
|
|
| Training topics: |
Presentation of COCOS portfolio - presentation and placement of COCOS products and solutions into customer business processes.
|
Presentation of COCOS portfolio - presentation and placement of COCOS products and solutions into customer business processes.
|
Presentation of COCOS portfolio.
|
| Training methods: |
|
|
|
| COCOS CC CERTIFICATE I: | Basic technical training for maintenance experts of COCOS software solutions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
|
3 days |
Advanced users:
|
|
| COCOS CC CERTIFICATE II: | Advanced technical training for maintenance experts of COCOS software solutions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
|
3 days |
Advanced users:
|
|
| COCOS IP PBX CERTIFICATE I: | Basic technical training for maintenance experts of COCOS IPPBX | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
| COCOS IP PBX | 2 days |
Telecommunication network administrators
|
|
| COCOS SALES CERTIFICATE: | COCOS sales training for sales reps | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
|
1-2 days | Sales network:
|
|
| COCOS CC CERTIFICATE I: | Basic technical training for maintenance experts of COCOS software solutions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
|
3 days |
Advanced users:
|
|
| COCOS CC CERTIFICATE II: | Advanced technical training for maintenance experts of COCOS software solutions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
|
3 days |
Advanced users:
|
|
| COCOS IP PBX CERTIFICATE I: | Basic technical training for maintenance experts of COCOS IPPBX | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
| COCOS IP PBX | 2 days |
Telecommunication network administrators
|
|
| COCOS SALES CERTIFICATE: | COCOS sales training for sales reps | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Training topics | Training duration | Participants – target group | Training objectives |
|
1-2 days | Sales network:
|
|
| Communication | Leadership | Working with Clients | Motivation and Stress |
|---|---|---|---|
First Voice of the Company
|
CC Organization & Management
|
Customer Care Management
|
I want –
|
Business is communication
|
Leadership of teams
|
Telephone sales techniques | |
|
Convince me with arguments
|
How to make your customer your friend |
| Description | User Trainings | Advanced User Trainings | Developers Training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Training Duration: | Min 1 day | Min 1 day | Min 1 day |
| Location: | Customer premises | CDE premises | CDE premises |
| Participants – target group: | COCOS system users:
|
Advanced users:
|
Technical personnel with a basic knowledge of programming:
|
| Training objectives: |
|
|
|
| Training topics: | Presentation of COCOS portfolio - presentation and placement of COCOS products and solutions into customer business processes.
|
Presentation of COCOS portfolio - presentation and placement of COCOS products and solutions into customer business processes.
|
Presentation of COCOS portfolio.
|
| Training methods: |
|
|
|
