Find out how to start your sales conversations off right and keep them running smoothly with these twelve sales follow-up SMS templates.
Sales is kind of like dating.
Okay, maybe that’s not a perfect comparison, but they both involve an important first contact followed (hopefully) by more meetings/conversations before a commitment gets made.
Do you hope that your prospect will fall head over heels for your product at first sight? Of course. But since only 2% of sales happen during first contact, it’s unlikely.
That means you’ll need to follow up with your leads at least once to help move the sale along. There are countless ways to conduct these follow-ups, but as you may have guessed, I recommend texting.
I’ll explain why and how to follow up with sales leads using SMS and throw in some easy templates you can take and use in your own business — whether that’s real estate, software, hospitality, or home security.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Other than the fact that I work for an SMS service provider, why on Earth would I recommend texting as the number-one way to follow up with your prospects? I could go on a tangent, but instead, I’ll give you a few of the most important reasons.
Send follow-up texts:
📕 Here are way more templates for sales text messages for the full sales process.
You came for templates, and templates you shall have. Use these example texts to follow up with prospects before a sale is made to help them decide on you and your business.
So, your prospect has put their number into your web form or texted in your keyword. Use a text like this to get the conversation started.
After meeting a prospect to understand their challenges and desired outcomes, you can use a text message to book your next meeting. We recommend showing your appreciation for the prior conversation and being clear about the next step in your sales process.
If you offer a demo as a precursor to buying your product, follow up with your lead after the demo is complete to answer any questions or help them get signed up.
Similar to the demo template, you’ll want to touch base about next steps after providing a quote or consultation to a potential prospect.
If your product comes with a free trial before prospects commit to a purchase, don’t drop the ball as that trial comes to an end. Keep up the momentum by getting in touch as their trial is about to expire.
Your prospects love to know that you’re invested in them as an individual, not just a number. If they’ve achieved something big recently, reach out to congratulate them.
Sometimes prospects get busy or lose interest — it happens. That’s when you can follow up with a text message to re-establish contact and get the conversation back on track.
Your conversations with prospects can also go beyond strictly driving the sale forward. You also want to show them that you have value to add aside from the product you’re offering. Do this by reaching out with a link to content that might help them.
If you’ve got a webinar or conference coming up with information your prospects could use, be sure to send them a message with an invitation and a link to register.
There’s nothing like a little fear of missing out (FOMO) to motivate prospects who are on the fence to go on and buy. Let your prospect know that you’re reaching out to give them a limited-time opportunity.
Just because your new client made a purchase doesn’t mean you should lose touch with them. Use these templates to keep clients coming back for more after their initial purchase.
Hooray! You made a sale. Now’s the time to strengthen your reputation as an attentive, client-focused sales rep by reaching out again to stay top-of-mind.
After a prospect has made their initial purchase, it’s a good idea to call their attention to other products they might like related to that first item.
As a business owner, you’re always looking for ways to improve. The easiest and most efficient way to pinpoint what you can do better is to ask your clients. Send a follow-up text after each sale asking for thoughts and suggestions.
It can be disheartening getting crickets in response to your lovingly crafted text messages. So much so, that it can be tempting to just stop completely for fear of annoying potential leads.
But research shows that a little perseverance can pay off. Sending “just one more” follow-up text can increase your average response rate by 11% and campaigns with at least one follow-up message convert 22% more leads than those with none.
I was curious as to how salespeople get responses, so I reached out and looked at the social feeds of a handful of sales folks I respect. Here’s what I discovered.
Sales follow-up tips:
Noah Kagan, Chief Sumo at AppSumo says he “always follows up,” adding that “50% of the sales I’ve made recently are from my second email. A lack of response doesn’t always mean a lack of interest. Everyone is busy. Make sure to make sure you get a no or a yes.”
The more tailored your follow-up texts are, the better. “I feel like if you know a person or business well, there’s a higher chance of closing — especially if you know their pains and if they can afford what you’re selling,” says Sandra Djajic, Chief Marketing Officer at Klu.
The easiest way to make sure you’re sending the right follow-ups to the right people is to segment your list.
“The better you can segment, the better your follow-up can be,” says former sales agency owner Zac Gawn. “Segment on customer type, product type, and stage in the buying cycle. Now we can send super personalized messages based on those, not some bog standard newsletter follow-up.”
As the saying goes: Strike while the iron’s hot.
“Sending a follow-up text message immediately after a potential lead makes the first contact is one of our most effective lead generation and nurturing techniques,” says Lisa Richards, the CEO and Founder of Candida Diet.
With research indicating that over 70% of customers will make a purchase from the first company to respond to their initial queries, this seems like a good game plan — but what does “first contact” actually mean?
“First contact entails anything from filling out a contact subscription form, sending an inquiry through private DMs on social media, or even sending us an email,” says Lisa. “After this initial contact, we send a follow-up text to the lead to inform them of potential next steps, such as scheduling a quick consultation to get to know them better.”
Leads don’t want to have to jump through hoops to understand what you’re selling them or what you want them to do. Lay out exactly what you expect and be as clear as possible in your follow-ups. This is particularly important in text messages because you’re so short on space.
“Maximize lead generation through follow-up text messages by minimizing user effort,” says Normand Chevrette, the President and CEO of CME Corp. “Craft concise, compelling messages that highlight value and incentivize action.”
Along with keeping things short and sweet, make sure you’re sending relevant information to each lead. This goes hand-in-hand with personalization tactics, but it also relies on you knowing what information a lead might need at each stage of the sales cycle.
“In my experience, the best way to generate new leads with follow-up text messages is to use them as a way to get people in touch with you the next time they need something,” says Gauri Manglik, CEO and Co-Founder of Instrumentl. “For example, if you’re selling a product or service that takes multiple steps to sell — like a home security system — you could send a quick text message immediately after a customer leaves your office telling them about how easy it’ll be to get started.”
There’s a time and a place for joking around, but when you’re landing directly in someone’s personal SMS inbox, there’s often room for tasteful humor — if only to forge a deeper connection.
“Integrate humor in your follow-up text messages to lighten the tone and create a memorable impression,” says Riva Jeane May Caburog, the Media Coordinator at Nadrich & Cohen.
But there’s a caveat: “Ensure that the humor aligns with your brand’s voice and reflects the recipient’s preferences. Consider the nuances of your target audience’s humor sensibilities and customize your approach accordingly. Humor can make your messages more relatable and engaging, but the key lies in striking the right balance between being witty and staying on-brand.”
Let leads know exactly what steps you want them to take next with a clear call to action (CTA).
“Every follow-up text should have a straightforward CTA, such as scheduling a callback or asking for more information,” says Matt Little, Co-Owner of Damien McEvoy Plumbing.
The goal of SMS sales is to open a dialogue between you and the lead and learn more about them with every message.
“Very few first engagements will result in a conversion,” says Ryan Rottman, Co-Founder and CEO of Online Sports Database. “The follow-up text creates the foundation to begin an ongoing conversation in which we are able to learn more about the customer, their pain points, and their motivations. This allows us to gradually tailor our promotions to match their interest and needs.”
Remembering to follow up with every lead at the perfect time can be a real headache — especially as your business starts to grow. To avoid being on your phone 24/7, automate your follow-up process.
“There are many amazing tools today that allow us to automate and optimize the follow-up text messaging process, and you can set it up to trigger both before and after the sales process,” says Tom Golubovich, the Head of Marketing at Ninja Transfers.
If following up at several points in the sales cycle for each prospect sounds like a lot of work, the good news is that it doesn’t have to be.
Provided you use an SMS platform, you have a few ways of automating these follow-up messages to get your texts out quickly and with very little effort on your end.
The process will look a little different based on the software you use, but I’ll walk you through each automation method in SimpleTexting.
If you use a text-to-join keyword to bring contacts onto your list, you have the option to fill out an auto-confirmation text that will send automatically when they text your keyword to your number.
This is a great opportunity to instantly start the sales conversation off on the right foot.
Autoresponders are similar to auto-confirmation messages, except that you set them up to send at a designated time — which could be right after a contact texts in your keyword or hours, days, or weeks later.
Unlike the two automation methods I mentioned above, there are lots of ways to automate follow-up messages using software integrations.
Be sure to check with your SMS provider to see which software they can integrate with, but SimpleTexting prospects often choose to integrate with platforms like Shopify or Salesforce to trigger sales follow-up texts based on prospect behavior.
Others choose to connect their account with an appointment scheduler to send messages before or after appointments or with Zapier for a wider range of text customization options.
These are some of the software pieces that SimpleTexting integrates with (including the option to create your own custom integration).
You’re almost ready to start sending! Before you do, here are a few tips to help you start (and keep) your sales conversations on the right foot.
When all you want to say is, “Buy this, it’s worth the investment,” it can be tough to find the perfect balance between persuasive and polite.
Thankfully, these templates will take some of the guesswork out of how to effectively communicate with your prospects to keep them engaged and motivated to buy.
Meghan Tocci, Lizzie Davey, and Nathan Ellering contributed to this piece. Lizzie Davey sourced original contributions from Lisa Richards, Normand Chevrette, Gauri Manglik, Riva Jeane May Caburog, and Matt Little.
Lily is a content marketing specialist at SimpleTexting. She specializes in making helpful, entertaining video content and writing blogs that help businesses take advantage of all that texting has to offer. When she’s not writing or making TikToks, you can find Lily at roller derby practice or in a yoga studio in the Seattle area.
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