Monday, September 14, 2009

Using a Web Phone and Other Online Sales Tools

Internet business in general has a reputation for being
impersonal due to the very nature of the internet. Although when
you are in business on the internet, you can often get away with
automating your business and providing minimal personal contact
and attention to your customers, providing personalized service
and using traditional person-to-person sales techniques can truly
set you apart from the competition making your internet business
more appealing to your target audience.

The use of internet friendly technology and sales tools, such as
a web phone and other nifty devices can make a world of
difference in the effectiveness of your sales and service
processes and can save you money as well.

There are different types of web phone technology and some may be
beneficial to your internet business. The main advantage of using
a web phone rather than a traditional telephone to make and
receive calls for your business is that with most web phone
services, PC to PC calls made using your web phone are free from
long distance charges no matter where you call and phone calls
made from a web phone to a regular phone generally have much
lower long distance rates than traditional phone services and
with some services, they are even free.

Most web phone services also use wireless technology which makes
you accessible to customers even from a remote location when you
are away from your office. So, the advantages to using a web
phone is that you can stay in touch with your customers globally
without excessive phone charges and in most cases; you can do so
while you are mobile which eliminates the need for you to be in
the office.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology used for web
phone services. There are a number of web phone service providers
that provide web phone services using VoIP technology that
enables clear connections and quality digital voice capabilities.
Some web phone services have to have a broadband connection while
others are compatible with dial-up services.

Another technology that is similar to a web phone that can really
benefit your company in regard to your sales process is web
conferencing. Web conferencing can be used as a sales tool to
conduct seminars, to hold press conferences, to conduct training
sessions and meetings with sales representatives and affiliates,
and to make sales presentations to customers.

Web conferencing enables participants in the web conference to
share real time data over the internet. Web conferencing is
accomplished either through the use of a web conferencing service
or web conferencing software and the conference can generally be
accessed using either a computer with an internet connection, a
telephone or a web phone.

The use of a web phone and web conferencing technology enables
you to provide more personalized service to your customers and
they are great options to be used as sales tools. A web phone and
web conferencing can save you money on telephone expenses as well
as travel expenses since they enable two way communications
between individuals and groups without regard to geographic
locations.

While web phone services are not yet widely used, web phones are
up and coming technology that is sure to become more popular as
the technology improves and becomes even more affordable than it
is already. As with any newly introduced technology, it will take
some time for people to recognize the vast benefits of the
technology and to move toward the use of a web phone rather than
standard, traditional telecommunication devices and services.
However, web phone usage is sure to increase as businesses and
consumers alike begin to realize the benefits and the cost-saving
features associated with web phones.