When you see an unknown number calling in, what do you do?

• Let it go to voicemail and check it later
• Let it go to voicemail and check it never
• Keep your voicemail box maxed out so no one can ever leave a message

Not on the list:  eagerly answering the phone. So if you aren’t answering your calls, why do you think your leads/potential customers will? If you want to have any chance of reaching your leads, you’re going to have to put texting in the mix.

Texting gives you a fighting chance

Will texting your leads mean that they will reply back to you?  Of course not. But at least there’s a real possibility that they will. And it’s much more likely they will read the one text message you sent than listen to any of the seven voicemails you left. You know this. And yet– you still haven’t embraced texting. Perhaps it’s due to one (or more) of the reasons below.

Excuses for not texting your leads/customers

• We’ve always called and it’s working fine.  We’re not saying stop completely. But even the majority of Boomers preferred to be contacted by text and the percentage is much higher for the younger groups.
• Our customer service reps don’t have smartphones to text. There are several services that offer simple ways to text via computer. (more below)
• Our CRM (customer relationship management) software can’t track texting. If you have a custom-designed CRM created before texting was big, this means either getting a new system or having the developers put some digital duct tape over the old one. Not gonna lie, this one’s tough– like an infected tooth. You know you’re going to have to deal with this painful situation sooner or later. And the longer you wait, the more financially painful it’s going to be.
• Some of our customers only have landlines.  There’s going to be fewer by the time you finish reading this. For those folks, the new texting software can figure that out too.

We understand all of this will initially cost some time and money. But our advice is the same for the client that came to us several years ago and said their site was working great so why did they need to get a mobile-friendly one. We explained that mobile is only going to get bigger so they would have to upgrade. We told them we couldn’t do any search campaigns for them unless they made their site mobile friendly. Their business ended up doing fabulously well and they credited our search campaigns (which helped a lot) but we know going mobile was also a big factor. 

Other bonuses of texting your leads/customers 

• You can text in bulk. Need to remind people that the webinar is starting in an hour? That the open house is canceled due to snow?  You can’t only rely on email. With text software, you can get the message out with a click.
• You can send automated texts to new leads. Once leads are in the system you can create texting campaigns that are responsive to the customers’ requests/needs.
• Your reps can see previous texts sent. It’s all in the cloud so anyone can follow up on previous texts.

You spend a lot of money getting quality leads/potential customers’ contact information. Contact them the way you would prefer to be contacted– with a short, helpful text.