Live chat and business-to-business (B2B) companies haven’t been friends as long as other sectors like business-to-consumer (B2C). At my last B2B company, we had our quote forms and email support. And we went on Twitter if we wanted to be *really* fast at responding!
Setting up times with busy customers and prospects can be a headache.
“Monday at 5 or Friday at noon?”
“No, how about next week, 3pm on Wednesday?”
You’re chatting with a potential customer and they’re a little confused about your policy.
“What do you mean?” they keep asking. Zoom (or Google Meet, or other platforms) could help you clear things up fast, but you don’t want to irritate them while you fiddle with links.
I love sending long, breezy emails to friends. But I’ve been busier than ever these days and find myself texting a lot, while emails sit untouched. I know I’m not alone. You’re probably saying, “Yeah, welcome to the 21st century!”
This move towards speed and low-friction communication is a huge trend, especially among my generation, Millennials (and Gen Z).
Live chat can mean the difference between a potential customer clicking “buy” and walking away from your store forever. Let me tell you a quick story...
Inspiring creativity in a remote team means bringing your whole self to work.
As a product manager and musician, I’ve seen that small moments of openness can cement your team’s—or band’s—ability to collaborate.
On the Thursday of our engineering retreat, I found my new calling as a professional wrestler fighting my way to the top of the Luxor Hotel, in a live streamed pay-per-view event. All this to claim the coveted contract and millions of dollars. My teammates were right there with me, each showing off their skills in their gambit for the top prize.
Only it was a virtual Luxor, and we were playing The World Wide Wrestling roleplaying game (RPG). It was as ridiculous as it sounds, and we had a blast!
Our game day was one segment of a re-imagined retreat, after COVID-19 put the brakes on our in-person gathering in Vegas.
We stand in solidarity with our Black community. We are committed to action that advances justice and racial equity. As individuals and an organization, we recognize our privilege and are committed using our position to further change in our society. For next steps, here is what we are doing:
Many years ago Olark put our donation matching program in place. This program was spearheaded by a member of our DevOps team back when we were a tiny company. Since its inception we've made it more streamlined, but still run it with a shoestring amount of effort.
I’ll never forget the second day of my first remote job. The first day was the usual — signing all the things, attending all the things, logging into all the things. But when the second day arrived, I had no idea what to do.