Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

We have a client that is interested in a "virtual salesperson" for his
website. I have included a link below to an example of how it would work.
I would like to ask you to visit the link, allow the "salesperson" to load
(time will vary depending on your connection), and comment on whether
or not you see a benefit in using something like this or would you view it
as a negative? Do you think something like this would generate returns?
Or is there strictly a "cool" factor?

This is not technology that our company is currently promoting. This is
something that our client is interested in to increase sales on their
website (lotion company) We are trying to find out if it will be worth it to
their sales or not.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.



Virtual Salesperson

When I visited the site it required me to download Flash Player 9 which I declined to do.  Do all your virtual spokespersons require Flash 9 to play?  How badly will you message suffer without the video?  Can your video work if saved as an earlier version of flash?  How long will the customer typically have to wait till they get pitched.  If I`m on a site I really have to want to see something before I begin a "stream" of anykind and I`m reluctant to download anything unless its a trusted source.

One thing was very annoying; having the download window appear every time I changed pages on the site.  The program should know that I`ve already declined when i visit subsequent pages.

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Pokerman It`s not about what you can do... it`s about what you will do! Amateur Poker League Software - Drive Traffic - Add 100,000 Songs to your website - Music Catalog

Thanks for the response. They are all valid questions that I will need to
answer for our client.

I got the impression from your post that you may think this is technology
our company is promoting. Actually, our client found this company on their
own and approached us to create and implement the salesperson if it makes
sense. Which is what I am trying to find out.

I did not know it required Flash 9 player to be downloaded. I must already
have it.

I only recently purchase this laptop and it came bundled with software.  I can play swf files but not this particular version.   You never said what the clients product was... this would be important to know in evaluating the appropriatness of such a program on a site.

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Pokerman It`s not about what you can do... it`s about what you will do! Amateur Poker League Software - Drive Traffic - Add 100,000 Songs to your website - Music Catalog

The clients product is a lotion. They have 2 products, a Cracked Skin Cream
which is great for split fingers, cracks, etc. and a Heavy Duty lotion to
maintain the dry skin once the cracks are healed. They get great feedback
from everyone that tries it, but their biggest problem is getting people to try
it. They are thinking that maybe this virtual sales pitch is just what they need
to turn visitors into purchasers. However, we are not convinced that the
return will be worth the investment.

ThinkTank,

Glad to see that rich media is gain place in sales and marketing. I just responded to another posting where I suggested that we all gain information differently. Some like to read, others prefer to watch and so on. If the company is serious about getting people to try it, let them give it away. I would also suggest that they give a webcam to a few participants and ask them to send daily video or daily live broadcasts where other potential clients can log on and ask questions, get more information.

Should you need such as communication system, let me know.

Regards,

Copperman

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http://www.hellomyworld.com Your "Digital Live Made Simple"

I have version 9, someone sent me a link to that search engine with the girl who asks questions....whatever.

This is another example of how a "gimmick" is supposed to replace actual sales, interest, and useful information. For about 10 seconds I was interested in the new gimmick. I clicked on the girl because I wanted to get started.

First page, "Hi...welcome to our first page. Click me to get started."

Second page. "Hi...welcome to our getting started (yeah, I knew that!). Fill out some form, take two aspirin, and call me in the morning."

It`s a waste of technology, in my opinion, and turned me off from both the site and the company. I have no idea what they sell because I was immediately involved in the talking lady. But she never told me anything about anything, only asked me to fill in a form. I could`ve read that in about 2 seconds on the main page.

I kept waiting for her to walk over the underlying page. That`s what she said about the new technology....that "you can have someone walk onto your Web site." THAT would`ve been cool, if she`d walked from bottom right to top left, turned around, and said, "Here`s what we sell....!"

Sorry....but thumbs down on the use of the technology for nothing at all.

Thanks for all of the great feedback. This will be good information to
present to my client. Keep them coming.

I also tried this technology and loved it. I think it did exactly what it said it would do. Engage your audience. Direct them. Increase click through and possibly conversion rates. Technology is a tool and in the hands of people who know how to use it can be a a very valuable tool. As far as flash 9 goes, if you check out the Adobe site you will see that the flash player is integrated in almost 90% of all pc`s already. This is the easiest media format to deploy such a rich media. I personally feel and know for a fact that video is the next evolutionary step on the internet. Use it now or scramble to use it when it has already been widely accepted. It is also common knowledge that people retain more from what they see, hear & read as opposed to any of those individually. Another old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words... Then a video must be worth a thousand pictures" ...something like that. I have actually learned how to create and implement this technology and will use it extensively in the near future for my clients and I.