{"id":3118,"date":"2016-05-06T14:55:03","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T18:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/?p=3118"},"modified":"2016-05-13T15:10:12","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T19:10:12","slug":"connect-with-esp-chat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/2016\/05\/06\/connect-with-esp-chat\/","title":{"rendered":"Connect With ESP Chat"},"content":{"rendered":"

A guest blog from ASI CTO Armughan Rafat:<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine the business value in obtaining instant access to 50,000 people who understand exactly what you do day in and day out \u2013 like-minded people who can answer questions, provide resources and even help you advance in your chosen field.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the potential of ASI\u2019s latest resource \u2013 ESP Chat, an online community a click away in ESP Web\u00ae<\/sup>. I\u2019m proud to say ASI is the first in the industry to offer supplier-hosted chat rooms.\"\"<\/p>\n

ESP Chat represents a terrific opportunity for distributors to get quick answers from suppliers and for suppliers to build stronger business relationships with customers. As an added bonus, it\u2019s also a place for anyone in the promotional products industry to get to know each other.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I urge you to learn from each other, share your experiences, suggest hot products and alert others to new industry trends. Spread the buzz throughout the community \u2013 the world-wide community. Like Facebook, ESP Chat is a powerful social networking tool.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a distributor searching for a product in ESP and have a question. Instead of stopping to make a phone call or shoot off an email, click on \u201cChat with supplier\u201d and go right into the supplier\u2019s chat room.<\/p>\n

I promise \u2013 it\u2019s easy. Distributors can click here to download<\/a> an overview of ESP Chat and here<\/a> for a growing list of major suppliers already hosting chat rooms.\"\"<\/p>\n

And suppliers can click here<\/a> to watch a short video overview of the benefits of hosting. Suppliers savvy enough to host their own chat room will have a leg up on the competition, as numerous studies show most customers prefer chat over email and phone.<\/p>\n

What I love most about ESP Chat is its direct integration into ESP. You enter with a single click and can reply, post an ESP product, pic or even an emoji. The first day ESP Chat was available, I scrolled through numerous conversations, watching live as distributors queried suppliers on product availability, color, size and deadline.<\/p>\n

But when you want a private chat, simply select that option.<\/p>\n

Think about the last time you called a company needing support or answers. How many times have you spent 15 minutes or more on hold only to get cut off? It\u2019s frustrating.<\/p>\n

With chat, you shoot off a question and either wait for an immediate response or check back later when you have time.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m in IT and generally wedded to my computer and device, but I find chatting on the phone more time consuming. With chat, I feel like I\u2019m in my element. Getting quick answers feeds my instant-gratification side.<\/p>\n

Right now, we have 24 distributor-only rooms available, plus a general ESP discussion room that\u2019s open to everyone.<\/p>\n

Like any online communication tool, there are limitations. Suppliers might not be online when a question is sent, but it\u2019s in their best interest to answer as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Chat is not the communication method of the future \u2013 it\u2019s the communication method of now<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A guest blog from ASI CTO Armughan Rafat: Imagine the business value in obtaining instant access to 50,000 people who understand exactly what you do day in and day out \u2013 like-minded people who can answer questions, provide resources and even help you advance in your chosen field. That\u2019s the potential of ASI\u2019s latest resource […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-guest-blog","category-members","category-news-about-asi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3118"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3125,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118\/revisions\/3125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}