6 Ways Messenger-Based Sales Is Helping Small Businesses Transition To WFH
In the wake of COVID-19, small businesses built on a personal connection are struggling to survive. Owners can’t get out and shake hands anymore, but they still need to bring in revenue. Fortunately, messenger-based sales are proving that chat isn’t just for keeping teams in touch — it’s also a powerful way to connect with potential customers and keep sales going while working from home.
Since the pandemic started, Facebook says messaging has skyrocketed, with chat usage up more than 50% across Messenger, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp. Although chat is still underestimated as a business tool, millions of people are already buying and selling through messenger apps. Today, consumers can order a pizza from Domino’s, shop for fitness wear or even file their taxes through chat. And in addition to selling consumer goods, chat platforms like LinkedIn’s InMail offer B2B companies a lightweight way to nurture their leads and close more deals.
Here are six ways that small businesses are keeping afloat while working remotely thanks to messenger-based sales:
Pivot To Digital Without Building A Website
For 40% of small businesses that don’t have a website, shifting from in-person to online is no small task. The last thing they’d want to do right now is drop everything to compare web hosts or search for a freelance developer. Setting up a social media page, on the other hand, takes a fraction of the time and comes with messaging apps built right in.
Those who sell consumer goods can attract virtual window shoppers on Instagram or Facebook with engaging posts and then encourage them to order (close the deal) through DMs. LinkedIn and Twitter are excellent places for B2B salespeople to identify and start to chat with decision-makers.
Open A Whole New Communication Channel
There are all kinds of people in this world. For some, the thought of picking up the phone is enough to send chills down their spines, while for others, composing an email is a chore they dread.
So, what about chat?
In the US, 14% of messenger app users said shopping and delivery was their most-used chat feature. As texting-obsessed generations gain purchasing power, huge players like Facebook and Apple have seen the signal and begun investing heavily in business chat features.
It’s evident that small businesses need to accommodate customer preferences, but chat also represents a new way of attracting and nurturing relationships with customers. With sales down, now is the time to appeal to a broader audience and open all the channels possible.
Offer A Cohesive Customer Experience
There are millions of moments along the buying process that a potential customer can “abandon cart.” Small businesses can minimize frustrating moments of friction by offering a cohesive experience. One of the best ways is to limit channel switching — in other words, don’t ask people to move from one communication method to another unless necessary.
For many businesses, channel switching is a part of life. They offer chat on their website, but once they understand that you’re a lead, they interrupt the flow to ask you to connect with sales through email or phone. Then after becoming a customer, the phone calls disappear, and the only assistance is through chat. Messenger-based sales is the missing piece of the puzzle: small businesses can stand out by making it easy to sail through the entire buying process on chat.
Keep Personal Touch & Stay Top-Of-Mind
In turbulent times like this, the worst thing for a business is to appear opportunistic. The fact remains, though, that small businesses can’t afford for customers to forget about them. Chat is beneficial for this because it has the care-free image of being fun, unedited, and spontaneous. Pinging someone with a friendly message is a great way to keep rapport with light, more “human” conversations that incorporate emojis and gifs.
Do More With Fewer Resources
Small businesses, to stay afloat during the crisis, are going to need to run a tight ship. The days of making an interested website visitor wait 2 hours for you to get back to them are over. Every potential customer matters, so when inquiries are made, salespeople need to respond fast.
Chat allows multiple conversations to take place in real-time. That means that if you’re dealing with one lead and another one messages you, you can juggle both simultaneously.
Messengers are also something that can be automated with bots, allowing small businesses to keep their doors open 24/7. Although it might seem intimidating, many tools will enable you to create chatbots without writing a single piece of code. And if that still sounds scary, there are hundreds of thousands of freelance bot specialists out there who can create something that delivers a return-on-investment in no time.
Social Selling And Business Development
Even though Slack was made for team communication, its communities offer online businesses and B2B companies an excellent place to build their networks and find customers too. In many communities, small businesses can find potential customers who are explicitly seeking their services. And even when they don’t hit the jackpot, these chat-based groups still do the double-duty of helping you network and discover new potential customers to keep an eye on.
During this turbulent time, every little bit that helps small businesses keep their heads above water is essential. Realistically, messenger-based sales are not going to swoop in and save a company, but it may just help keep the lights on.
