Working collaboratively with our client, we designed and implemented a program to turn support-related inquiries into sales opportunities. The process looked like this. We:

• Coached our staff, broadening how they viewed their role to include cross-selling and upselling as part of great support
• Introduced training, tools and techniques to help our staff guide support interactions toward sales opportunities at the appropriate time
• Put in place a staff sales incentive program to motivate the new behavior we were trying to encourage
• Empowered agents to close straightforward sales of our clients’ products and services during chats 
• Collaborated with the client’s team to create an easy escalation path to generate leads by mapping high-value, long-sales-cycle products and services with specific customer inquiries 
• Held weekly meetings with our client’s team to fine-tune our approach in a continuous improvement process

One of the most important aspects of this process was the soft-sale approach our team took with our client’s cross-sell and upsell opportunities. We ALWAYS began chats by resolving customer inquiries and ensuring customer satisfaction. Then, within the context of each chat, our team would listen intently to customer concerns and suggest helpful products and services.