Hi there all,

I see companies hiring sales agents/representatives over the net. So I am wondering, does it really work for all hosting companies?

If so, what about ROI & other returns?

Faith

If you have lots of visitors to your websites but a low ROI, maybe all the questions customers have aren't being answered. By having an agent/rep there to answer questions, the customer can at any time click on the live help button and ask their questions.

I think if the customers are new to running a website it will help. Sometimes people like to hear things or type to a live person instead of just reading. It gives them confidence or reassurance.

If it's a person that's been running a website for a while I doubt they'll need sales or live help. Only time I'd use that is to complain.

Personally, I don't think they are necessary if you have a good website. The live sales reps that I've talked to in the past usually don't have a good understanding of all the technical stuff, and they weren't able to answer all my questions.

If you have them and they are trained well, they could be an advantage, but otherwise, I wouldn't waste the money.

I agree with 93.3's points. No matter what business you're in, SALES is of utmost importance. But your sales reps have to know what they're selling. In the case of hosting, it's good to have reps that really know what they're talking about.

At the same time, your web site IS YOUR SALES TOOL. If you've done an amazing job on making it detailed and customer friendly, your hosting service should sell itself.

But keep in mind that you should have a team of sales/customer service reps for prospects who want to interact or communicate with someone from your company. Having a rep answer questions and form relationships with your customers adds a professional touch to your business.


JP

I've never seen them as necessary, and I would hardly ever choose to speak to one of them

A sales agents/representatives does not necessarily mean they are only selling online. You can hire people in various locations to sell your product in there local market. So for example if you provide exchange server hosting for business's then that would be something that a local sales person in a large city could sell to the local businesses. They make commission and your company grows.

The difficulty is having the right product and incentive plan for a sales agents/representatives to sell. If your hoping for them to sell $4-9 a month packages then you will not retain any talent at all.

MH-Gray, my topic mainly dedicated to the kind of sales representatives you mentioned. I am planning to expand the business hence I want to know the success/fail stories.

Could anyone share me? :)

The only instance I would seriously see this taking off would be with higher end business solutions. As mentioned, using 'sales agents' to cater to accounts less than $10 monthly hardly seems cost effective.

Companies that make their living by licensing their software and services rely on the personal link that sales agents can provide. They can provide a physical link to the client, especially when license renewal rolls around ;)

Originally posted by johnder
At the same time, your web site IS YOUR SALES TOOL. If you've done an amazing job on making it detailed and customer friendly, your hosting service should sell itself.


I couldn't agree more. Why have a sales rep repeat the same info that could easily be found on the website...as clear as black and white.

If you get all the info a customer may ask in the initial research proccess somwhere on the site, FAQs/General Package Features, Having the above would make the Live Chat Reps obsolete.

Just my opinion though.

I think by hiring competent and result oriented sales people you can boost up your sales, but you've to handle them properly and monitor their individual performance on regular basis. However retaining part of sales people seems quite difficult.

Depends on the business model...

Look at it from a typical sale rep's view -- WIIFM? How much commission can a sales rep make on a $10/mo or even $100/mo hosting account? What about a $1000/mo account? Where would you rather spend your time?

Also, the connection between a rep's attention to an account is generally due to the rep's perception of the long term value of the account. See who they are spending time with -- either that account is someone you need to know or they are cutting someone a deal. Maybe both!

Our company has a model that seems to work well -- it its a small account, we use hosting as a tool to go for more areas of business. If it's a larger account, then we look to use hosting as a strategic advantage to the client's overall business plan.

Good luck when hiring -- excellent people are very hard to find.

Let's remember that some people simply just like to talk to someone before their product. A website is a website but a real person is something entirely more.