text reminder program

[dgargan]

On the ProChoice site they are advertising a program that will text your customer for their appointment reminder and then send them a text every 6 months for cleaning reminders automatically. Do you think most customers are ready for this yet?

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Yes I think it's a great idea.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Another great idea that will be massively abused.

 

[Goomer]

Not sure why yet, but I get the feeling that text messages are a little more......."intimate"......than a phone call, or e-mail...ESPECIALLY to a woman.
I would never text a female customer unless she ok'd it by texting first.
I guess a computer generated reminder is different.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

It sounds great but I think a verbal approval to use the cell is a must. Some may see it as telemarketing.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

My girls said it is creepy.

 

[Jamesh921]

I had to have a tooth removed on a friday afternoon a couple years ago. My dentist was closed on fridays, so I had to go to another clinic.

I've never been back to that clinic, and don't plan to, but every couple months I get a text from them saying it's time for my next cleaning and I need to call their office to book an appointment.

I veiw it as annoying and an unwanted infringement on my time. Which makes me NOT want to ever use them that much more. So, what does that tell you?

 

[Vivers]

I think as long as you have built a great relationship with your clients, done an amazing job, and they genuinely like you and your company it's a great idea. But of course you need to ask them if they approve and even better ask them when they would like the reminder sent.

Most of my clients here in Southern California are extremely busy and they are loving the idea. E-mails go into spam or get deleted real easy, newsletters or postcards cost a lot with thousands of clients, everybody reads there texts and typically responds to them. Just make sure to ask them and it will go great I think.

 

[dgargan]

Sorry I meant to say pro cleaners network not prochoice. You can see the video on their home page. This is something you would have your clients agree to before you would start texting them. See video here.


Www.procleanersnetwork.com

 

[Dmreed4311]

I love it and from my vet to my childrens doctor they all use this for reminders and i do not mind, in fact I love it. It is not like they just do it they all asked for permission first.

 

[The Great Oz]

It's a great idea as long as your text is of value to the customer.

Our Cleaning College web tools guy, Miles Austin, says you need to ask your customers how they would prefer to be contacted. He said if you ask, you'll find that over half the people under the age of 50 will choose a text message. If you ask businessmen that percentage jumps to 50% of those under 65, since they're Blackberry users.

That's why we have Miles doing the workshop on Saturday. Too many of us are guilty (me for too long as well) of letting our own preferences limit our options.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Reminding me about a scheduled appointment would be great, soliciting me for future work or seasonal sales I think I could do without.

As Bryan said that just me personally, I'd want to aks my clients how they feel.

Last month I bought a couple of pieces of lawncare equipment. I bought the warranty on one and purposely not on the other. Over the last two weeks I've received as many as 4-calls a week about getting warranty on the other equipment.

I felt more harrassed than I felt like I was receiving good customer service. :x