Dana Rene Bowler / Star staff Lillian Murry, training manager, helps Chandler Jones, left, and Adjo Patterson at inQ headquarters in Agoura Hills. The company uses live chat to handle Web shoppers' needs.

It's like a call center — without the calls.

At inQ in Agoura Hills, the ringing phones and chatter associated with call centers for customer service and sales are replaced by the clicking of keys and muted conversations between colleagues at adjacent desks. The company specializes in an up-and-coming approach to helping online customers get the information they need and move toward a purchase: Live Web chat.

Software picks up on cues to determine if customers are advancing toward a purchase or if they're confusedly bouncing back and forth between pages, staring at a certain page or otherwise indicating they are in need of assistance.

Those at the company liken it to friendly salespeople waiting behind the counter until they see a customer's forehead wrinkle.

"We've all reeled away from the salesperson who harpoons you when you walk in," said Christophe Cremault, senior vice president of marketing for inQ. The company's agents don't go for the hard sell, but step in to offer help.

InQ provides services to about 20 clients, who are starting to use the service in other divisions within their companies. It also is adding seven new clients in the next couple months.

The company, which already has been growing at breakneck speed, plans to double the number of sales agents to more than 300 by the end of the year. InQ started the year with about 45 sales agents.

Agents are the company's most valuable asset, said Rick Hoefert, general manager and executive vice president of operations and client services.

"I don't think anything replaces human interaction," he said.

The approach offers one-on-one assistance, though often an agent may have a couple of chats going at once. It all comes down to what someone wants. Interested in buying, but want to see how it works? The agent can show a demonstration. Want to know if you qualify? The agent can help figure that out and perhaps pull up the product or offer that best suits you.

Heather Mandry was able to apply the skills she developed as a nanny to her job at inQ. The Simi Valley resident has worked at inQ for nearly two years.

"We quell fears. We're that little hand-holder," she said.

She walks customers though whatever they need and answers their questions.

"Some of them have the simplest questions," she said. For example, some wonder if they hit the "Order Now!" button it will automatically charge them for the item.

She said she helps customers continue online so they don't log off and head to a store instead.

That's the point of chat assistance, to help someone get past the confusion and move toward a purchase.

People will abandon a transaction if they have too much difficulty with the Web site, according to the Incoming Calls Management Institute. That's one reason Web chat is a growing approach to customer contact.

At inQ, Web chat also is used to target customers who may be nearing the end of a contract period or are eligible for a certain offer.

Confidentiality agreements prevent inQ from sharing the names of its clients, but it serves Fortune 500 companies in the automotive, telecommunications, mortgage, travel and hospitality and e-commerce fields.

At the office, agents are grouped into teams that handle communication for a particular company. Training includes learning about the product, the customer experience and the software.

Some companies come to inQ because they're new to live Web chat, while others turn to the company because they tried live Web chat on their own and had lackluster results.

Those at inQ said the company's approach to using chat to drive business has measurable results. Forrester Consulting, the consulting arm of market research firm Forrester Research, studied one of inQ's clients and found that when it used the live Web chat, business increased by 20 percent in three months.

Looking at the client's costs, which included planning and implementation, managed services fees, administration and acquisition costs, Forrester Consulting estimated three-year costs of $8.1 million with total benefits of $23.7 million, a 192 percent return on investment.

Hoefert said the cost for clients comes out to about one-third the cost of getting a sale through a typical phone center.

Besides increasing purchases, the chats can be used to figure out how a Web site or sales program could be improved.

It becomes an ongoing focus group of ideas and information that companies can react to immediately, Hoefert said.

The company started in 1999. Since 2005, inQ has attracted venture capital that it has used to fuel its growth and develop its Web chat technology.

The company is close to becoming profitable and continues to invest in its technology, sales and marketing, Hoefert said.

While the company has tripled in size this year, it expects to double in size next year and the year after.

As the company continues to grow, it is planning a second and possibly a third site that would give the company an international presence and take advantage of different time zones in providing 24-hour service.

The company is also is branching out in languages — using the proper spelling for its support of companies in England and Spanish-language support for companies with Spanish-language Web sites.

On the Net:

www.inq.com