3 Ways to Use Live Chat for Sales

Modern sales processes revolve around the buyer. That means communicating with them when and how they want to be communicated with. The “when” part has always been tricky to nail down, though. Contact a lead too early, and they’re not ready to buy. Contact them too late, and they’ve already made up their minds.

Live chat allows potential buyers to raise their hand when they have questions, alerting your sales team that the “when” is right now.

As for the “how” part, many consumers are shying away from traditional forms of communication in favor of newer channels like live chat, social media, and text messaging.

While 41.2% of sales reps say that the phone is their most effective sales tool, 59% of consumers would rather go through additional channels than use their voice to communicate. Using live chat for sales can bridge that gap and connect your sales team to your potential buyers.

Here are the top three ways to use live chat for sales: 

1) Use HubSpot Live Chat to Book Meetings

While many consumers prefer using live chat over other forms of communication, there is still great value in booking sales calls and meetings. One way to use live chat for sales is to nurture the user toward booking a follow-up conversation.

Did you know that asking ‘How are you?’ increases your likelihood of booking a meeting by 3.4 times?

Live chat allows you to build rapport with your prospects by communicating in a friendly and personalized way. You can even arm your sales team with chat scripts to save time, maintain brand voice and consistency, and still provide an excellent customer experience.

Once you’ve answered their initial questions and established a sense of trust, you can segue the conversation into booking a meeting. Here are some example scripts to help you steer the conversation in that direction:

• “Thank you for chatting with me today. I’d love to continue our conversation more in-depth to help address your specific needs. When are you free for a 15 minute follow up call?”
• “I’m glad I could help answer your questions! I’ll give you a quick follow up call in a few days to answer any other questions that come up. What day works best for you?”

However you choose to phrase it, a meeting invitation via live chat should:

• Flow naturally with the conversation
• Use an open-ended question
• Only be offered after their current issue is resolved

In rare cases, the user’s initial inquiry into the live chat may be too complicated to solve, and you’ll want to offer a meeting or call to address it. For the most part, however, your sales team should do their best to resolve the initial question within the chat itself.