The text message is sometimes unfairly regarded as a disposable form of communication. To its detractors, the SMS is useful for superficial lines of personal communication and little more. But savvy salespeople know that the humble text is so much more than that.
It just needs to be appropriately used and consensually. If you effectively incorporate SMS into your sales process, it will prove a powerful additional tool in your overall sales arsenal. In conjunction with calls and emails, it’s a versatile touchpoint for following up, sending alerts, reminding prospects of upcoming appointments, and even one-on-one chatting. Just make sure that you put a policy in place to get prospect consent, via an opt-in process.
Do you “pass the text”? If not, here are a few reasons to consider incorporating SMS in your sales process. Along with each reason, you’ll also find a quick tip for incorporating SMS.
Add a Personal Touch
Talking directly to prospects over SMS establishes an instant, easy line of communication. A prospect may not always be at their desk phone, nor will they have their email up – but you can rest assured they have their phone in their pocket (82% of respondents in this survey say they open every text sent to them).SMS allows you to reach a prospect quickly, wherever they are.
And if they have questions or objections, they can quickly shoot you a text back –no need to open an email or dial a number. To streamline this process for sales reps, look into lead management software by VanillaSoft that includes SMS and email marketing software to optimize prospect communication.
Diversify Your Touchpoints
Especially nowadays, it’s important to include a variety of different channels in your sales approach. You never know who the decision-maker is on the other end of the sale. Increasingly, prospects both young and old (especially young) use SMS as a primary means of communication, and being there with a well-timed, well-written text can make all the difference.
You can easily incorporate SMS into your sales cadence by using sales cadence automation software.
Use SMS as a Follow-up to Supplement Channels
According to a study done of over 3.5 million prospect interactions, sales teams that implemented an effective SMS strategy could see conversion gains as high as 328%. “Effective” is the operative word here. The findings showed that sending purposeful texts after an interaction with a prospect leads to a significant jump in conversions.
Interestingly, texting before either a call or email decreases the likelihood of conversion. You can read more about the study here. As mentioned, to ensure that you’re always sending your texts at the right time, it’s best practice to automate your sales cadence with sales engagement software.
Don’t discount the power of the text message. With proper SMS compliance, the right queue-based sales engagement software, and an understanding of when to make the touchpoint, SMS can be a useful tool in your sales belt.
