• November 8, 2016

The 6 Texts Salespeople Should Send Their Prospects

Keeping in constant touch with your clients is of utmost importance to salespeople, as the legendary ones using Spiro’s AI-powered sales automation CRM already know. It helps you build rapport and assure that they remember who you are.

Most of us are used to reaching out to prospects by phone, email, or even sending them articles via LinkedIn and Twitter. But how many of us use texting as another vehicle for communication?

Although it may seem like a casual, too personal way to reach out, I beg to differ. There is a time and a place for everything, including the texts salespeople should send.

What Salespeople Shouldn’t Do When Texting 

Let’s begin with some general rules on texting No-Nos. Don’t text your clients outside of normal business hours – receiving a text from a sales rep at 10PM on a Saturday is way too personal and has crossed the line.

Also, don’t send pictures, emoticons, or gifs. Just keep it to a simple message, preferably in the form of a question, that can be responded to quickly and easily.

Always, always, always make sure to carefully read what you wrote before hitting send. If your phone is on autocorrect, don’t trust that it knows what you want to say. I’m sure we have all read funny, embarrassing auto-incorrect mess ups. Don’t be the next laughing stock of the internet!

So for those who haven’t texted a prospect yet, you may be asking when is the right time? You want to get in touch with a client, but definitely do not want to intrude when it’s inappropriate. Here’s our thoughts on 6 good opportunities to send a text.

1. Can I Grab You a Coffee?

If you can get your client smiling and happy before your meeting even begins, then you are off to a very good start. So why not send a text to your prospect as you are waiting in the coffee line and offer to grab them something. It’s a nice gesture and opens up the texting line of communication.

Try this, “Hey Jane, on my way to our meeting. At Starbuck’s – can I grab you a coffee?” Not only are you now feeling in good spirits for being thoughtful, but your text also acted as a quick meeting reminder. Win, win.

2. Urgency Emergency

Since the majority of you probably receive about 3,000 emails a day, I bet most of you have your phone set to NOT alert you when a new email comes in. But, text messages are fewer and farther between, so when you hear a ding on your phone, you check it. Right then and there.

Texting shows that you have a message you want the person to receive right away. I believe in making sure that your prospects know that you have deadlines that are important to you, and a text is a great way to convey this point. But make sure to only use this when there is a real sense of urgency, or it loses it’s luster.

3. Announcing the Main Event

It’s hard to get prospects to answer their phones. One of the things that has worked for me in the past is sending an email saying “Hey, I am going to call you in 30 minutes to discuss next steps. I hope you can take my call then. “ It sets the stage and let’s them know you are planning to calls. I see it as the opening act that announces the main event. And it works.

So why not try this with texting as well? Send a short text alerting your client that you’ll be calling in 30. If that isn’t a good time for them, there is a good chance they’ll quickly text you back. But that’s okay, because you now have their attention and can set up a better time to talk.

4. Confronting the Ghost

Has this ever happened to you? Everything goes well with a client, you’re getting positive vibes, then they disappear without a trace? Well, you’ve been ghosted. If your emails and calls aren’t be responded to, before you give up, why not send one last outreach – a text.

Try this, “Hi Bob, I hope you’re doing well. Just wanted to make sure that I didn’t do something to offend you in our last meeting. Can I give you a quick call?” The only way to fight ghosting is to know what caused it. Try a text to get an answer. Then you can close their file, or hopefully move on past the issue and win the deal.

5. Prospect Research 

If you have successfully scheduled a sales call with a prospect, chances are you know quite a bit about their company and how you plan to pitch your product. But you can never know too much. Before your call, send a quick text to gain some more insight into their main problems that you plan to solve.

I recently received this text message from a rep, “Before our call, can you tell me what your #1 priority is?” Not only did I respond right away to her, but it also got me mentally prepared for the call. By the time she called I was focused on what I wanted her to help me with, and she saved my time by having an answer ready.

6. Running Late

Lastly, when you are running late a text is a must. While successful salespeople are rarely late, when we are, a quick text is much more helpful to a prospect than an email. This is simply because it’s likely to be noticed right away. Yes, it’s bad to be running late, but at least the prospect won’t be sitting and wondering if you will even show up.

So, What’s the Wait? 

If you are not already texting your prospects, what’s the wait? Perhaps the system you use to track your accounts doesn’t allow for you to directly text from a contact’s record. Bummer. Or maybe there is no way to record that text salespeople sent message back into your CRM, logging it as an action. Also, bummer. Well, then maybe it’s time to get with the times and find a CRM that gives salespeople every option to reach out to their contacts and close more deals. How about you try Spiro!