Automation in Sales: A Case Study on Olark's Human-Centric Approach

Olark is a live chat client that is built on human interactions. They believe in the power of human-based sales, with a focus on humans talking to humans and relationship sales. They provide instant customer support and create sales opportunities from people browsing websites. For eCommerce stores, they offer the chance to connect with shoppers via live chat, similar to asking a customer browsing shelves if they need help. As a small team in a startup, they faced challenges in managing the vast amount of information generated from lead generation, follow-ups, and tracking metrics.

Olark, a live chat client, is built on human interactions and relationship sales. However, as a small team in a startup, they faced challenges in managing the vast amount of information generated from lead generation, follow-ups, and tracking metrics. For almost two years, a lot of this work was done manually. Every sales call required the entry of information into a spreadsheet, including details about the client, the meeting, and their expectations. This manual work was multiplied by the number of team members, leading to potential inaccuracies. Additionally, extracting data manually was a time-consuming process, with the team having to dig through their database to figure out which sales agent converted a lead and who had followed up.

To address these challenges, Olark turned to automation. They used ScheduleOnce for scheduling and integrated it with HubSpot through Zapier, an app automation tool. This allowed them to automate their manual tasks. Instead of manually entering the details of each lead, they built a questionnaire form in ScheduleOnce that the customer fills in. With every new lead, Zapier creates a HubSpot contact and populates it with the information from the ScheduleOnce form. This gives the team the details they need to complete the sale. Additionally, they automated the process of determining whether a lead is qualified or not. If a customer attends Olark's demo, Zapier updates the contact in HubSpot, changing the Lead Status field to 'Demo Attended' or 'Qualified'. If the customer doesn't attend, Zapier updates HubSpot automatically, marking the lead as unqualified.

• The automation of manual tasks has significantly improved Olark's operational efficiency. The team no longer has to spend time on data entry and can focus on their core task of human-based sales. The integration of ScheduleOnce with HubSpot through Zapier has streamlined their lead management process, making it more efficient and accurate. The automation of lead qualification has also saved time that would have been spent on unqualified leads. Furthermore, the automation has allowed the team to be more informed about the lead before a demo or call, improving their sales approach. Overall, the automation has not only improved their operational efficiency but also enhanced their human-centric approach to sales.

• Significant reduction in time spent on manual data entry tasks

• Efficient tracking of lead status, reducing time spent on unqualified leads

• Automated scheduling and lead management, increasing team productivity