mobile – especially in the B2B space, where your sales prospects are likely always on the go. You want to be thoughtful about how you connect with your leads who are working away from their offices. These leads might often be in a car, in meetings, or on frequent flights for work. It’s easier for prospects to read and
reply to texts than it is to get them to take phone calls or reply to emails. That’s why your sales teams will have a higher chance of getting a reply via text than any other medium. On aver- age, it takes 90 seconds to respond to a text – and 90 minutes to respond to an email! Again, it’s all about reach- ing your prospective customers where they are. Studies show that 90% of leads prefer to be texted rather than called. That makes texting a better choice for quick follow-ups through- out the sales process.
3. YOU CAN CREATE A SPECIFIC CALL TO ACTION Since texts are read and replied to more than calls or emails, your call to action (CTA) is more effective in a text message, too. Texts are shorter than most phone calls or emails, so it’s easier to ask a prospective customer to take a specific CTA without over- whelming them. For example, you can be more direct in a text message when requesting a prospective customer to schedule an appointment with you. You can also include links in your texts to direct your prospects toward particular actions online, like paying a bill. Links in texts have a clickthrough rate that’s eight times higher than other marketing channels.
4. TEXTING ALLOWS YOU TO BUILD PERSONAL RELATION- SHIPS QUICKLY We have direct conversations with our friends and family daily with texting. Texting for business is no different. With texting, you can keep tabs on your leads to stay on top of their needs and assess when they’re ready to make a purchase – or keep in touch with them for upsell oppor-
tunities once they become custom- ers. Or you can use texting to send quick and thoughtful messages, like a birthday wish or congratulations, which wouldn’t warrant a long phone conversation. Texting is as personal as a phone call and as scalable as an email – making it the ideal place to build a relation- ship with your prospective customers. Relationship building is crucial in sales since people are more likely to reply (or buy) if they’ve already established a relationship with you.
5. TEXTING IS SCALABLE FOR YOUR SALES TEAM Your salespeople can handle multiple leads simultaneously with texting, compared to phone calls, which can be time-consuming and yield no replies. Business texting software like Textline also makes texting acces- sible on a computer or mobile app, so all sales conversations are in one place. You can automate personal- ized messages on a business texting platform to get to your leads quicker – increasing your chances of getting a response sooner. While we’re obviously cheering
for texting, we understand that each medium serves a unique purpose. Sometimes a call or email is better than a quick text. We aren’t recom- mending opting out of phone calls and email entirely, but your sales teams can use text as a supplementary tool to increase the number of responses to your calls or emails. Texts have a 98% open rate; you can text someone to remind them of a phone call you have scheduled – or let them know you sent them an important email – to increase your chances of getting a reply. As we said before, everyone is
already texting, which means your sales teams are also texting outside of work. Because there isn’t a learning curve, your sales team is more likely to use texting in their workflows.
6. MANAGERS CAN EASILY ACCESS TEXTS FOR REAL-TIME FEEDBACK
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Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles. STEVE JOBS
Real-time feedback is a crucial tool to help your sales teams become more effective and value-driven. But listening to sales calls can be time- consuming, and most sales managers cannot provide constant feedback to their team members to course-correct any conversations gone awry. A centralized texting platform makes it easier for managers to jump in and read sales conversations to provide real-time feedback. Some platforms, like Textline, also allow managers and salespeople to send private messages to each other within customer conver- sations to ask clarifying questions or get immediate support.
THE BOTTOM LINE: TEXTING GETS RESPONSES Texting started as a popular platform for people to use in their personal lives. Now, it is growing as a go-to communication channel for business- es. Because people are overwhelmed by spammy calls and emails, texting stands out as a golden opportunity for sales teams to connect with their prospects in a meaningful way. When used correctly, business texting can increase your chance to speak with leads and actively help your sales teams close more deals. If you’re still on the fence with using business SMS for your sales teams, ask yourself: Would you rather get another phone call or a text mes- sage instead?
AJ Chan is COO of Textline, the most se- cure business text messaging platform for modern customer support and sales teams.
SELLING POWER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | 7 © 2021 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
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