If you donโt think itโs professional to text your prospects and clients in commercial real estate, let me try and change your mind.
Last year I ran a LinkedIn poll to ask my network if they felt it was ok to text clients in a business-to-business context.
The results were conclusive:
- 68 per cent – Sure it’s another channel
- 27 per cent – Maybe, if you know them well
- 5 per cent – No, texts are unprofessional
In commercial real estate, text messages are an underutilised communication channel.
If youโre not using them, youโre neglecting one of the most efficient and personalised communication channels you have at your disposal.
Think about it.
People are bombarded with emails, so they donโt read all of them. Many just get deleted. This leads to delays and information gaps.
If you want a quick answer, you can call somebody. However, screening incoming calls is the norm nowadays, and people spend a lot of time in meetings, which means you often donโt get through.
Text messages, on the other hand, are almost always opened and read instantaneously.
Once you have established texting rapport, you have near-instantaneous access to that person.
If youโre ready to leverage the power of text messages to create more efficiency and effectiveness in your day, while also upgrading your relationship status with prospects and clients, here are five texts I recommend:
- Send meeting confirmation texts at the start of every day. These remind people that you have an appointment which minimises no-shows or last-minute cancellations. Better yet, it gets you and them thinking about the agenda so you can have a more focused and productive meeting.
- Text people after youโve sent them an important email that needs their attention. This increases the likelihood that they will prioritise the email as theyโre working their way through their inbox โ even if itโs just subconsciously at their end.
- When you miss a call from somebody, or receive an email that requires a long response, send them a placeholder text. This is a great strategy for when you donโt have time to get into a conversation with them or to send them a detailed reply; it buys you time to provide a more detailed response.
- Let people know when youโll be โin the areaโ and available to see them. Itโs a great way to fill in some extra time, and even if the meeting doesnโt happen, itโs still a nice touch point to keep you top-of-mind.
- Send a non-text text, like a video message or a voice recording. These are irresistible โ most people canโt help but watch or listen to them immediately โ and also theyโre a great pattern interrupt compared with a typical text message.
On the other hand, here are a couple of things to avoid when texting clients and prospects:
- Donโt use texts to open conversations with cold leads. A prospect should be warmed up before you open the texting lines of communication. If the relationship is too cold before you start texting, you may be marked as spam and have your number blocked, which means you can never text the person again. You could also receive that awkward reply: โWhoโs this?โ.
- Avoid using abbreviations and emojis the recipient may not understand. If someone has to Google IMHO (in my humble opinion) to understand your message, youโre negating the benefit of speed, which is one of the points of texting in the first place. Similarly, if you make someone feel stupid or frustrated because they donโt understand what youโre saying, thatโs unlikely to improve the relationship.
Thereโs a lot more to gain than lose from texting. Yes, there will be a small number of people who donโt like it. Some people wonโt reply. However, how many emails donโt get replied to? Tons, of courseโฆbut that doesnโt stop us from sending emails!
Texting will elevate relationships and accelerate deal flow, so, to build stronger connections with your clients and warm prospects, and to get deals done faster, itโs time to start texting!