“I love getting calls!” said no one ever.
The telemarketing epidemic in the U.S. has killed any prospect of people picking up a phone call if they do not know who is calling them.
According to statistics from Robokiller, robocalls accounted for 5.42 billion calls made in February 2019, a new record. This equates to 21 calls per person.
As a result most small businesses struggle to connect with their customers because no one picks up their phone. You call people and they don’t pick up. You leave a voicemail and it’s never heard.
And plenty of apps exist to block calls for you too.
But what cannot be ignored… is a text message.
For a small business owner, it’s the most powerful engagement tool there is.
Why and How to Text Customers
In this article, we’ll go over: the reasons why you should start using two-way business text messaging to connect with your customers and how to use text messaging with some real templates and examples.
1. You’re Being Ignored
Most businesses struggle to connect with their customers because these days no one picks up their phone anymore.
In fact, 84% of calls and voicemails will never be heard, so you’re wasting valuable time, money and effort to “try” and connect with your leads and customers.
But send a text and almost instantly get a response. What better way to connect with your leads and customers is there? Not many.
2. Your Customers Want to Text You
Have you ever had a conversation with someone only to waste 15 or 30 minutes to find out that all of this could have been done over a quick text?
If you said yes to this, then this is exactly what your customers are saying too.
Texting helps you and your customers save time.
“Hey Jim, I need that TPS report. Can you email it over to me?” sent over SMS is immediate and instant.
Calling to relay that message ain’t gonna cut it.
So give your team a way to connect, engage, and get things done faster with your leads, clients, and customers with texting. You’ll wonder why you haven’t done it sooner.
3. Instant Engagement
The old way of doing business is playing phone tag and waiting for response to your emails.
The new way is to get an instant response with 2-way business text messaging. It’s a much more effective medium to get things done. Text messaging gets a 98% open rate and within 15 minutes, 85% of people will read and open your message.
You already know the results texting gets, so why not incorporate texting into your business?
4. There’s Nothing New To Learn (You’re Already a Pro!)
The great news is that there’s nothing new to learn, so you start out as an instant professional texter. You don’t need to write a headline, create a compelling introduction, or format anything like you would an email. With texting, you simply text the way you would with your friend.
What’s the best way to get a response?
Ask a simple question! And like magic, you’ll get a flood of responses back.
Don’t write a text like you would an email. It looks spammy and comes across as so impersonal it’s embarrassing. Keep it simple and you’ll start to see amazing results.
If you’re not sure what to say, check out this resource for 21 business texting templates to see what works best for you.
5. Convert Leads and Increase Sales… Faster!
One of the fastest ways to create engagement to qualify your leads faster than ever before is to send an immediate text after they fill out your lead form.
Over SMS, you can ask questions, learn more about their business and see if it’s a potential fit or not. One of the biggest mistakes I see businesses make is that they waste a lot of time playing phone tag to then find out that the lead isn’t a fit for their product or service.
Which Tools to Use To Text With Customers
There are, of course, a number of tools you can use to send a text messages to your customers without using your own cell phone. Here are a few which are the best fit for small businesses:
- Google Voice – allows you to send free texts but is mainly built for consumers not businesses.
- Nextiva – allows unlimited calls or texts with their customers.
- Salesmsg – allows a small business to use two-way texting, i.e. business sends and receives texts
Conclusion
If you’re still thinking of whether you should be using text messages to engage with your leads and customers, then look at your own phone and see where you spend your most time communicating.
If you’re like most people, it’s on some messaging or texting app.
You are your own customer.
So lean into it and look at integrating texting into your business. I think you’ll find it to be an amazing channel to truly connect with your leads, customers and clients.
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