Navigating Sales
with Help from Hitch

Contributed by Kent Riggs, SnapEngage Sales

In this blog post I’m going to teach you how to be Will Smith. Ok, not actually Will Smith… but his character in the movie Hitch. If you happened to catch this 2005 flick you’ll remember Smith’s character is a tactful dating coach that facilitates manufactured serendipity. Much to the delight of his clients, he employs surefire tactics to woo the lady of their dreams no matter how many left feet they possess. Hitch crafts situations to paint his clients in a favorable light, and it works!

I’ll let you in on a little secret… sales is a bit like dating. It’s an old analogy that still holds true. It takes tact, attention to detail, and consistently staying ahead of the curve to win business in this crazy competitive environment. But if you go for the first kiss (or sale) too soon you’re going to get slapped! SnapEngage gives you amazing Hitch-like powers to make your customers feel like you are the only ones for them.

Courtesy of Sony Pictures

“Did it hurt?”
“…Did what hurt?”
“When you fell from Heaven?”

This cheesy interaction is a common occurrence for many ladies being approached by yet another random guy. The annoyance of anyone hearing the same thing a thousand times a day. Why would you approach your customers or a potential date with the same lackluster and repetitive word track they’ve heard everywhere else? You wouldn’t if you actually intend on sealing the deal. It’s important to be unique to wow your prospects because all of your competition is right there online too, vying for their finite attention.

With proactive chat targeting rules you have the ability to swoop in and wow prospects and clients with your ability to anticipate their needs and questions. We recently wrote an article about how to ease visitor frustration on 404 pages. Pretty neat concept, right? Someone is lost on your site, and therefore it probably makes sense to ask if they need a hand. Now you’re the hero by just being there doing what you’d normally do. This tactic is just one of many ways to create situations on your site which invite your customers to engage with you, giving you the chance to delight them.

Let’s take this one step further. Have you looked at your site traffic to understand your customer’s behavior? In our dating scenario, chances are that if you’re asking someone out on a date, you know a thing or two about them beforehand (unless you’re a fan of awkward blind dates). In the same vein, understanding the breakdown of your site traffic and customer behavior trends is crucial to a positive proactive engagement.

Do you have a popular blog post that pulls in big numbers for your site traffic? Why not display a proactive message invitation that thanks them for reading your blog and offers to talk in more detail? Wait, what? You paid attention to what I said AND made eye contact while we talked? Magic, I know. You’re well on your way to a second date at this point. Those subtle differences in recognizing the visitor came from your blog post and crafting an intentional, thoughtful proactive invitation (as opposed to offering up a generic “Hi, how may I help you?” greeting) is night and day. You’re going to initiate more chats using the former tactic – or dates!

Engaging your customers is oddly similar to dating, and proactive chat acts like Hitch, the serendipitous matchmaker. Listen to your customers (really listen!), take time to learn and understand their browsing habits, communicate with your marketing team, and create proactive rules that are unique to your content. By taking these extra steps to personalize interactions (both automated and otherwise) and make your visitors feel special, you’ll be well on your way to chat bliss and improved customer satisfaction.