I have considered it many times but never did it. My partners would say "I want to get them on the phone and not into a chatroom"

The typical internet consumer is a lot different than most people that walk into your office or pick up the telephone and call. They prefer anonymity until they are confident in their own knowledge before they are willing to pick up the telephone and call. A properly executed live chat on an RE site can help bridge that gap.

First off, chat rooms are a no-no. Instead, use a live chat version similar to online tech support. You can activate it or de-activate it whenever you want.

Frankly, no one expects a real estate live chat feature to be manned 24 hours a day. In fact, that would probably create suspicion ("Why the heck is the real estate agent be up and online at 2 in the morning?").

Whenever you have a few free moments at home or in the office, activate the system and let people know that you are online, turn your audio up so you can here notifications, then go about your normal paperwork or web surfing.

Folks, this is not a primary source of revenues - it's just another way to try and turn prospects into customers and develop incremental revenues. It's your chance to build the confidence of these internet consumers and get them to drop by your office, chat with them on the phone, or sign up for your newsletter. It is not a magic source of revenue or a means to close a sale - it's just another way to open the lines of communication.

If all goes well, you may generate one extra sale with this feature during the year. Does anyone out there want to turn down an additional sale?

Roger that. I look at the live chat option as an additional feature, more like online customer support - no chat-rooms though. I find it very helpful if its available on other sites - I used it all the time with my hosting provider (now they have two tech guys in Y!Messenger which much faster), yesterday I used it with office depot and was really disappointed when Microsoft didn't have one and I actually had to call them (btw the first thing they ask is your name and telephone# - should I hang up?). I used it last week at a real estate web site - some guys submitted his site to my directory and I was plesed chatting with him while checking out the site before approving. It is one of those little features that nice to have - you know it is much easier to ask then figure out on your own. I wouldn't care about person's email or phone number, just name he/she wants to be called during online conversation. You help the person quickly around your site - they will appreciate and might feel better asking you other questions.

Yes, I'm one of those that hiding behind the screan as Mike mentioned, I hate to sell my services, but they usually sell themselves to people that start trusting me through my work. I prefere to email first - later people feel like talking to me on the phone themselves, my life doesn't depend on sales, so I'm happy with it

I don't think live chat is good for most RE sites. That works for a type of business with thousands of uniques per day requiring service.

And as one poster noted, you're not likely to be able to provide interaction 24/7 and you stand the chance of losing credibility for anybody who tries to contact you via live chat but can't.

I've used live chat (Bold Chat) on our site for 8 months now. We have converted chatters into successful prospects just by asking for their contact info - which should be the goal of the chattee.

Of course it is not offered 24 hours, if someone needs to submit a question outside of biz hours they will email. The convenience of live chat during biz hours demonstrates a technical savvy site.

Plus, I can see what pages all of my visitors are on and watch them move from page to page. An aggresive approach will let me invite them to a chat with an animating image or actually launch a live chat session. And I can see the referring site of which they originated.

It's another feature that is going to be much more readily used in a year or two. Might as well be ready for it.

gemini, your directory looks great. I'd like to be included, sending you an email.

I worked for Network Solutions in 1999 as a chat only customer service rep. I would agree that the main function of chat is to get a name and phone number. It's a difficult medium to effectively communicate with.

Andy Gotto
www.andygotto.com

P.S. I'm using an alias, too. It's an old throwback to gaming and 90's internet days, and it's kind of fun to pick them.

barrylyndon, sorry for the late reply - I have a hard time following the forums where email notification system is not working right. Anyways, feel free to submit your web site to the directory.

You would likely discover that chat is the biggest time waster ever. From conception to removal. There's an inherent problem with animinity, it's not something you wan't to introduce into your business.

Live chat reminds people of how horrible customer service truly has become in the modern era of avoiding person to person contact. It is a wierd concept for a Real Estate agent to NOT want to speak with someone. Rapport is huge in this ballgame, wouldn't you agree? Having a livechat feature on a website makes me think of Dell and how big of a customer service nightmare they've become...

The largest problem that I found on my website was that you actutally had to have someone there 24/7 to chat with visitors

-Peter