Remember the classic scene in the Wizard of Oz when Toto pulled back the curtain to reveal the “real” wizard? In the movie, the wizard turned out to be an ordinary person with an amazing machine that made munchkins, scarecrows and lions shake in their boots.
In the real world of online sales and marketing, the opposite is true. Ultimately, converting online leads into sales is not about technology (although it is very important to have a solid Web site as your foundation); it’s about the extraordinary people behind the technology.
Many industries, including homebuilding, have found that a dedicated Online Sales Counselor (OSC) is the BEST way to respond quickly, follow-up and manage Internet leads. In short, the Online Sales Counselor’s job is to build a virtual relationship with each and every Internet lead, one email, phone call or live chat at a time. The OSC’s magnetic personality, disciplined follow-up and killer communication skills engage and delight the dot com customer resulting in new sales.
Online Sales Counselors are a growing community of sales professionals and many are among the best salespeople in our industry. Well honed online sales and marketing programs often produce as much as 30% of total sales each and every month. Because of the nature of OSC’s behind the scenes work, there hasn’t been a lot written about the position or the people involved. The purpose of this article is to “pull back the curtain” on four of the best Online Sales Counselor’s in our industry and answer one central question – What makes an Online Sales Counselor WOW?
Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting the “High Tech, High Touch” webinar version of our LIVE session at the 50+ Housing Symposium in Philadelphia, PA with Janis Ehlers of The Ehlers Group and Josh Shron of Stampless Marketing. We spoke on how to balance high tech and high touch marketing to active adult homebuyers. The webinar was fantastic and we received great feedback:
“Great webinar! I got some great tips but also learned that we are heading in the right direction. Thanks again to all of you!” Sarah Dulong
Ron Clark Construction & Design
“Thanks Meredith. I appreciated the opportunity to attend today’s webinar. My wife is a residential Realtor who is working the waterfront area of Fort Lauderdale, FL. A great baby boomer 2nd home opportunity. I believe that we will be able to integrate some of the ideas into her website and into mine! Thanks again for sharing all that you did.” Cliff Steffen
It’s like high school all over again! Doesn’t social media feel that way somtimes! Good news Facebook fans; even if you weren’t popular in high school, if you are on Facebook, you are in the most popular online “club” in the online universe.
eMarketer.com reported today that Facebook has overtaken MySpace as the most popular social networking site on the Web. According to comScore, Facebook totaled 70,278,000 unique visitors, up 97% from May 2008 to May 2009. MySpace hits shrank 5% over the same timeframe, fading to 70,255,000 unique visitors. Which is one is better for marketers? Read the full article and you be the judge!
I had a cool Internet marketing experience this morning! I was working on the next edition of our eNewsletter when our Live Chat account dinged to let me know someone was visiting our Web site. I checked the Live Chat operator control panel and was able to see the visitor’s IP address, what pages had been viewed and the Google search terms used to find our Web site. This is one of the huge benefits to Live Chat; you can see everyone who is on your site in real time!
Live Chat Operator Control Panel
The Google search term this person used was “meredith oliver seminar.” I clicked on the link in the Live Chat operator control panel and it took me to Google where I was able to see what the Web visitor searched! Cool!
I am speaking tomorrow in Atlanta, GA at the Southern Building Show and look what I found in the Orlando airport! Best Buy has a kiosk selling every type of technology you can imagine.
Technology kiosks are nothing new in the airport but I hadn’t seen any of the bix box stores venture out with a branded, interactive kiosk before.
This is a WOW! It took me forever to get a photo and be able to film my video because people kept coming up to the kiosk and playing with the interactive touch screen. No one bought anything while I was standing there but I am sure they do. After all it was VERY early in the morning and most of us hadn’t had our caffeine yet.
If you are as busy as I am, you don’t have time for technology to make your personal and professional life more complicated! In fact, great technology is supposed to do just the opposite, make life simpler and smoother.
In this post, I am going to give you my top 10 technology tips and tools; thingsI use on a daily basis to save time and money. I don’t represent any of these tools or receive any kind or commission or referral fee. I just love them and hope you will too. I use technology to help me multi-task so I have time for the most important things in life namely my friends, faith and family.
In the part 1 of Blogging for Builders, I talked about the basics of blogging such as why blog, what is a blog and how to set up a blog. Today I am teaching part 2 of the webinar and wanted to post some of the ideas here. If you are interested in the webinar, it is part of a series, Insight into On-Site & On-Line in 2009.
Now that you’ve got your blog going, it is time to think about marketing your blog. First, you need to establish a baseline of how much traffic your blog is currently getting. Within your blog account you should have a tool called “blog stats.” If you are using WordPress.com, click on Dashboard/Blog Stats. The blog stats in WordPress.com are powered by Google Analytics so everything you need is built right in. If you are using WordPress.org you can download a number of plug-ins to track your blog traffic or you can use the free Blog Stats powered by Google Analytics that is built in.
For this week’s blog, I am including a podcast of a seminar I taught recently for a group of homebuilders in Washington DC. The recording is a live version so you may hear some questions and comments from the audience. It is only a portion of the seminar but it is a meaty segment packed with tips I thought you might enjoy.
If you are really interested in the topic of Web site design, I highly recommend Steve Krug’s book “Don’t Make Me Think.” I read the first edition several years ago and it became my bible for good Web site layout and design. I recently re-read the second edition and recommitted our team to developing sites that never ever make visitors “think”!
I spoke yesterday at the National Association of Homebuilder’s 50+ Housing Symposium in Philadelphia, PA. I was honored to speak with Janis Ehlers of The Ehlers Group and Josh Shron of Stampless Marketing. We spoke on how to balance high tech and high touch marketing to active adult homebuyers. After the presentation, I had the opportunity to walk the exhibit floor and filmed a quick video with some tips that might help you market to boomers more effectively.
Remember “save the cheerleader, save the world”…a phrase made popular during the first season of the television show Heroes?
In this post, I am going to teach you how to save yourself repetitive clicks and maximize your time. Okay so saving clicks may not save the world, but you just might find yourself less frazzled and more productive!
If you are like most sales and marketing professionals, you are short on both money and time these days. You are working harder and longer than ever before and making less money doing it. Sound familiar?
My name is Meredith Oliver and I love Web marketing! I am a professional speaker, consultant and founder of Meredith Communications and the Internet Marketing Hotline.
What Makes an Online Sales Counselor WOW?
My name is Meredith Oliver and I love Web marketing! I am a professional speaker, consultant and founder of Meredith Communications and the Internet Marketing Hotline.
