In order to sell someone, you first have to get them to book a meeting with you. And as business owner saying this is far easier said than doing it.
Making countless calls each day, hoping and praying that one of their prospects will pick up the phone is useless and just bloody hard work. You probably didn't even get the chance to pull out your attention-grabbing statistic or perfectly phrased value proposition before the call ended.
Booking appointment does not need to be hard and using SMS or Facebook messenger makes this process is a lot easier and effortlessly without the back-and-forth of unanswered phone calls and voicemail messages.
Should You Use Facebook Messenger?
Yes if you're wanting to stay ahead of the trends of instant messaging or at least in bracing SMS and live chat to help make it easier for people to communicate with you during their interactions. Mobile phones are a way of life for many people and are a tool they use to help make their lives easier.
Mobile phones have become integrated into modern-day society, it has allowed people to utilize the power of messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and in 2015 messaging apps surpasses social media networks.
Marketing is not about fighting the trends, rather learning how to utilize new technology in our marketing and sales activities more effectively to build better outcomes for the client and your business.
Understanding Facebook Messenger
To understand Facebook Messenger, I'd like to remind you about the human desire to be connected and communicate others in our everyday life. If we look back before the internet and even back further to cultures such as Australian Aboriginal, they used rock painting to share stories, warn of dangers that could be shared with others.
The power of rock paintings allowed a person to communicate a message that others could read at a later stage when they wanted without being there at the time of creating the rock painting (ie message). As time when on we evolved to using pen and paper, telegrams, fax machines, email messages and now instant message with mobile phones and the internet.
The greatest advantage of messaging apps like Facebook messenger is the ability to send a short message to another person, that allows them to read and respond to when they are ready. Plus it gives the features to add many people, upload images and files and links to web pages etc.
Giving us more options to communicate while on the go, nearly in real time. Like all great technology, there is the potential to be used it in a positive or negative way. When used in the correct manner it opens the possibility for faster communication and increased sales. If used in the wrong manner it opens the possibility of being classed as the spammer and no sales.
Let's look at best practices
How to Use Facebook Messenger (Instant Messages)
Before jumping into Facebook Messenger it's always important to remember how we personally interact with people in a face-to-face situation. It is socially accepted that when meeting a person for the first time we start with a conversation of “hello my name is David” and handshake depending on the situation.
Theory suggests this human ritual dates back to ancient times when strangers travelling would offer their hand out (handshake) to indicate that they are un-armed and mean no harm to the other person. This is an important factor to remember when using a messaging app like Facebook Messenger.
Step 1 - Know the purpose of using messaging app
Often businesses are unsure where to use a new technology in marketing and sales strategy due to not understanding it and the context of when to use it. I suggest thinking of messaging app like a post-it-note to determine when and where it could be used.
The key is to understand that we are leaving a short message for your client to respond to your request. This is best done by mapping out all the interactions between the salesperson and the customer, then make a list where a post-it-note could be helpful for both the salesperson and customer.
Step 2 - What is the context of the interactions
With your list of possible places to utilise messaging app, we need to ensure that it can be used in a positive manner. It becomes important to understand the context of where the customer is at in their buying journey with your business.
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To help determine the context of your customer it becomes important to be able to look at their actions like how they have been interacting with your business. For example, have they recently visited your website, what web pages did they visit, have they responded to a social media post, have they open or click on a recent email.
Remember these digital actions help to identify the context of your customer’s intentions. Just as a customer enters a shop does not mean they are ready to buy. However if they pick up a product to look at its price, this shows context and willingness to be approached by a salesperson to offer assistance.
To understanding these digital signals you first must have the capabilities to capture this information before using the messaging app effectively. If your business currently does not have this functionality, I would recommend not implementing messenger apps until you have a CRM system that can capture these digital actions. Without it you will not be able to determine context and will fall quickly into to trap of spammer, sending a message to people who are not interested.
Step 3 - I mean no harm
Timing is everything when it comes to salespeople reaching out to a customer at the right time with the right message can greatly improve the success of cells outcomes. For example, if you were to receive a phone call at 2 am with the message that you have won a million dollars on Gold Lotto, I can safely say you would not be upset about the timing of the phone call.
The timing of the message and wording of the message are linked to the success of the desired sales outcome.
When reaching out to a customer using a messaging app like Facebook Messenger, it's best to provide value/benefit to them. This could be a helpful article, information about a product or just an offer to help.
If the person is opened to interact with you they will normally respond within 24 hours, and if so you can move to step 4. If the person doesn't respond it is generally recommended that you don't continue sending messages via messaging app, rather using another method like email.
Step 4 - Inviting the customer to take action (ie book an appointment)
The very nature of messaging app is a very impersonal medium in which to communicate as we don't have the advantage of using body language or voice tone to help us communicate. I recommend you think how would invite a friend a party, your message will need to include the benefit to them and how you like them to take the action. You need a simple way for them to take action to book the appointment or purchase the product/service.
For this reason, it will be important you have the capacity to allow the person to book a meeting using their mobile phone or to purchase the product using the message messaging app like Facebook Messenger.
Consider using is an online calendar appointment system such as HubSpot meetings or investigate payment systems which allow you to take payment via Facebook Messenger. It will be worth your time to investigate these possible solutions as studies have shown that making it easier for your customer to respond does increase sales outcomes.
Need Help with Facebook Messenger
The wonderful thing about FB messenger it is currently being used by millions of people and it is relevantly easy to learn just by downloading the app on your mobile phone.
Where most businesses fail is to utilise this new technology good technology foundation like CRM systems, website, payment systems and provide staff with training.
If you'd like to speak to one of our staff on how we can help you implement messaging apps into your business please feel free to contact us here.
