Texting. It’s not just for kids anymore!

By Kelly Mangum and Kim Vezina Woods

Nearly half of American adults are smartphone owners (as of February 2012, according to Pew Research). Originally thought of a childish form of communication for kids and teens, text messaging is now a large part of adult life and the business world. To some of us using SMS (texting) technology to conduct business sounds odd, but it’s not. Consider this scenario; your prospect is sitting at his desk thinking about franchise ownership. He should be doing his job, and he knows it, but he is thinking about being his own boss. He is completely in the moment right now. He does a quick search online, finds Franchise Solutions and gets to the ‘Quick Connect’ page where he can quickly request to start an SMS/text conversation with you. Perfect! He can actually communicate with you, while at his job, under the radar. In this scenario, your prospect does not have the availability to speak to you on the phone, he may not feel comfortable logging into his personal email for fear the person behind him may see, but he is in the moment now. What do you want to do? Text him back or lose the connection by forcing him down another communication avenue he has already chosen not to take? We all know, the more friction we create in the sales process the more sales loss we experience. It is imperative to communicate with prospective buyer the way they want to communicate and to give them answers to their questions as quickly as possible. That’s the good news about ‘Quick Connect’ inquiries. It delivers text inquires via text, so you can respond appropriately. Now you may be wondering…“how does ‘Quick Connect’ work?” It’s actually quite simple. We drive mobile traffic to a special page on our site that enables users to request to be contacted by you, via text message. When a user completes a request to contact you (completes the ‘Quick Connect’ form), we send a text message to you through a third party mobile messaging company. You will get a text message that includes this person’s name, cell phone number, email address, and question they want answered. Now the process is in your hands. The best thing to do is immediately respond via a text message and engage this person so that you can bring the conversation away from texting, to the phone when the timing is right. Just like web inquiries. Here is an example conversation via a ‘Quick Connect’ inquiry: Message to you from ‘Quick Connect’ inquiry: “Bob Smith is requesting information about territory. Please text or call at 6035704110 to engage this prospect.” Once you have the inquiring person’s phone number you create a new text message directly to this person and engage them immediately…

You: “Bob, thanks for your interest in <your company>.  My name is Kim. What territory are you interested in?”

Bob: “I’m thinking about the Portsmouth, NH area, is that territory available?”

You: “Yes, it is and we offer exclusive territories! Are you free to chat today? “

Bob: “Yes, I’m free at 11 am EST today. Please call my cell phone.”

You: “Great, I’ll call you at 11.”

After you have engaged the prospect, you should request to have a phone conversation.  The ultimate goal is to get the prospect to talk to you on the phone! The way buyers seek information, communicate, and ultimately make a decision on what business to buy has changed. Therefore, all of our follow up methods and sales processes need to change too. Embrace technology or your competition will be ahead of you making sales to the candidates that respond by texting. Call your Sales Consultant today to Try “Quick Connect” 1-800-898-4455 or email us at sales@franchisesolutions.com.