ACTIVE DECISIONS ANNOUNCES ACTIVE ADVISOR FOR HANDHELD GENERAL AVAILABILITY TO RETAILERS
Assisted Selling Technology Now Available on Symbol Handheld Devices Empowering Sales Associates to Provide Better Customer Service at the Point of Interaction
San Mateo, CA– January 25, 2005 - Active Decisions®, the leading provider of Guided Selling solutions for business-to-consumer companies, today announced the general availability to retailers of Active Advisor™ for Handheld, a handheld solution used to help sales associates better engage their customers and close sales. Dealing with a multitude of complex products, rapidly changing product lines and employee turnover surpassing 60% per year, it is difficult for stores to maintain a productive, proficient sales force that knowledgeably assists customers. With Active Advisor in hand, sales associates will have the knowledge and confidence to engage their customers, assess their needs and ably advise them on the most appropriate purchase.
Active Advisor for Handheld is being tested by OfficeMax® to assist retail sales associates in assessing the needs of their customers, making better recommendations, and advising customers on the accessories and services that make the most of their purchase. In addition, new OfficeMax associates will get up-to-speed more quickly, ensuring a much higher level of service throughout the store. Consumers will now have the power to make informed and intelligent purchase decisions based on detailed, unbiased product information. As a result, customers will be more satisfied with both the shopping experience and products they buy.
Equipped with the Active Advisor solution, the associate is prompted to ask the customer a short series of questions about the customer’s specific needs and intended uses. Utilizing Active’s underlying Decisions Engine, the solution then recommends a series of products that best fit that customer’s needs. In addition, the associate can, at any tim e, scan the bar codes of products of potential interest to the customer to create instant comparisons between the products and help narrow down their choices.
“The Active Handheld concept complements our relentless focus on customer service,” said Ryan Vero, executive vice president of merchandising for OfficeMax. ”Bringing specific, relevant product information to customers can help both our customer’s in-store experience and our operational goals.”
“We are pleased that OfficeMax is taking advantage of Active Advisor for Handheld to assist its valued customers in making better and more savvy buying decisions”, said Jeff Dunn, CEO at Active Decisions. “OfficeMax is a valued retail partner of ours and we have worked closely with them to find a solution that enables them to be most effective at their delivering an exceptional customer experience.”
About OfficeMax
OfficeMax is a leader in both business-to-business office product solutions and retail office products. OfficeMax delivers an unparalleled customer experience – in service, in product, in tim e-savings, and in value – through a relentless focus on its customers. The company provides office supplies and paper, technology products and solutions, and furniture to large, medium and small businesses and consumers. OfficeMax customers are served by more than 40,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, Internet and nearly 1,000 superstores. Having joined with Boise Office Solutions, the company had pro forma revenues of $8.3 billion in 2003. OfficeMax is a division of Boise Cascade Corporation.
About Active Decisions
Active Decisions provides software solutions that increase revenue for leading business-to-consumer companies by op tim izing the consumer buying experience and improving sales associate training. Active Decisions’ clients include Staples, Radio Shack, Motorola, Target, Cablevision, HP, US Bank and Bank of America. With an on-demand delivery platform that ensures fast tim e to market, Active Decisions’ Guided Selling solutions simulate the actions of a friendly, all-knowing sales assistant, helping consumers find exactly what they are seeking. The result is higher sales, greater opportunity to up-sell and cross-sell and improved customer loyalty. Active Decisions is headquartered in San Mateo , CA . For m ore information, please visit www.activedecisions.com or call (650) 342-0500.
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