One notable evangelist is IBM’s Sandy Carter who has embraced social media and brought IBM along for the ride.

About live chat she says:

“…IBM uses pre-determined “qualifications” to popup an online chat. In just the first 3 months of operation, IBM has seen over2,845 chats with new customers, resulting in 182 validated leads and is nowextending the online chat to Germany, China and Japan”

The “pre-determined qualifications” she mentions are what we refer to as business rules: setting dynamic messaging based on the context of the user’s visit. Look for an upcoming post about how to use business rules and automation to maximize chat lead capture results. Other well-known companies using chat for business leads are Dell, Cisco, Orvis, Golfsmith and Rackspace.

In fact, Joel Granoff, our CEO was an advisor to a recent MarketingProfs study which indicated 22% of all BtoB marketers are considering live chat for lead generation; another 15% already use chat to engage site visitors. Have you considered chat for your business yet?