Take sales online
By Brooke Bates
You already know how to make your website more effective, if you ask Linda Rigano. You’re already doing it offline.
“A good Web strategy starts with … creating a Web experience that replicates the company’s sales process,” says the executive director of strategic services at Thomas Industrial Network, which connects buyers and sellers through offerings like the sourcing site
ThomasNet.com and a Web solutions group that improves website performance.
ThomasNet’s VSET strategy breaks that down:
• Verify. “The first step in the process is that a buyer wants to verify that you make what they (want),” Rigano says. “(If) I’m looking for a container and I see a big picture of the facility, I see a mission statement, but I don’t see a lot about containers, am I going to spend time there? No.”
• Search and evaluate. “That might be questions they’re asking that customer service person on the phone; it’ll be questions that customer service person is asking back: How many, what’s the material, what’s the size, what’s the quantity?”
• Take action. “This is what you want to do when you get off of the phone with somebody. Is customer service preparing a quotation? Are they sending more information? Are they taking an order? … It’s all about making it easier for that buyer to do business with you.”
How to reach: Thomas Industrial Network, (866) 585-1191 or www.thomasnet.com
