5 Ways Business As Usual Might Change in 2013

Want to remain competitive in 2013? Read these predictions for the coming year that could make or break your business if you don't plan accordingly.

1) Reverse outsourcing will increase
A key issue in the recent presidential elections was the unemployment rate. Well, businesses are taking notice as well as taking steps to alleviate this condition - jobs are coming back to the U.S. Even major companies such as Apple and SeaMicro have announced plans to manufacture at least some of their goods in America.

2) You need to take reputation management seriously
Social networks are a double-edged sword - they provide a wide network of communication that may be used to the advantage or the disadvantage of a business. One way to keep on top of your company's online reputation is to set up Google Alerts. These alerts are viewable via Google Reader, which is an organized feed reader of every alert you’re subscribed to. You can click between different alerts and star certain ones for bookmarking, as well as share specific alerts via Google+ or email.

 3) Adobe Flash will go the way of the Dodo bird
Flash content can bog down your site, making it difficult for those with a slow internet connection or who are using a mobile device. However, HTML5 can transmit rich content to devices without the compatibility issues that arise with Flash, which is why it will soon begin to replace Adobe Flash for animations, movies, and numerous other applications. Get in the know about HTML5, now!

4) Email is becoming obsolete
As businesses make the switch to more instantaneous communication methods with their customers - like LiveChat, which we've raved about in the past - email is slowly becoming too, well ... slow. And business-to-business dealings are more frequently being conducted through Instant Messaging, Skype calls, and Google hangouts. Adios, email!

5) R.I.P. fax machines, it's been a good run
The main reason that fax machines are still with us? We haven't figured out how to make digital signatures legit in legal and real estate transactions. That's where a brilliant solution like DocuSign comes into play - you can send, sign and save documents anywhere, on any device,  and DocuSigned documents are legally binding. Sorry fax machines, your day of reckoning has arrived.

Five Reasons Why We Love Live Chat

As of November 2012, we now have a Live Chat option on our website, www.ContractFurniture.com

These are the reasons that we love it:

1. There's no better way to make a customer feel attended to than to answer their questions on the spot. We can also provide links to products, guiding them through our site to the most appropriate furniture for their needs.

2. With our chat analytics it's easy to see the city, state, and country of every visitor to the site, as well as their landing page and even the search engine they used to find us.

3. A favorite tool of mine on the Live Chat operators' screen is the keyword information - whatever words/phrases the site visitor entered into a search engine to find us are shown, and can be used to better understand our clientele and their needs.

4. We can look at an individual's navigation through our website, allowing us to see what products they're interested in and what page they exited the site from. We also know if someone has visited our site before, which is handy for number five ...

5. Visitor's to our site can be invited to chat. There are a number of reasons why we'd want to do this: 

• They've visited before and have looked at the same products - therefore, maybe they have questions.
• A person has navigated through many of our site pages, and we want to help them narrow down their search, if needed.
• Someone we've chatted with before has returned and we want to offer a follow-up chat.

Moral of the story: Don't underestimate the power of the Live Chat feature - it's so versatile and such a rich source of information that it's well worth the investment.

Do you use Live Chat on your website? 

What do you love about it?

Holiday Shopping Trend 2012 - #trendalert

According to MarketPilgrim, this year's holiday shoppers will rely more than ever on both home computers and mobile devices to complete their shopping.

MarketPilgrim Infographics - October 2012

It seems like a good time to begin Pay-Per-Click ads, invest in SEO, and try to utilize social media for word of mouth sales. Another great tool is to have a Live Chat feature available for potential customers. Have your staff readily available to answer customer questions, guide their purchases, and provide any information they might need.

Contract Furniture Company has begun utilizing a Live Chat feature that's powered by Comm100. We liked that they gave us a 15-day Free Trial without requiring a credit card number.