Welcome back for 2009! I don’t know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the break. So what’s happening in 2009? Well I thought I’d start off the year looking at one of the most popular features we delivered last year. The SMS module has to be, without a doubt, the most popular module the tech crew setup last year and the one that I personally have fielded the most questions for on training and certainly within sales. So let’s look at what this module can offer you in times when the experts are predicting an increase in business operating costs.
Firstly, and most importantly, I receive a lot of questions which ask how effective the SMS module is, in terms of contacting customers and, more importantly, getting them to contact you. My answer has always been (especially in light of the tightening economy), second to none. Firstly, SMS represents excellent value for money versus time input. Why? Well because the SMS messages can be templated and sent almost instantly from within the software to multiple people, it remains one of the most cost effective way to contact a storer.
The message is short, to the point and stops those “have a chat” storers from using up your valuable time when you could be doing other things like selling a new space. Most importantly, it delivers the message that you need to get across. The beauty of this lies in the simple fact that the person does not know who the message is from before they read it, therefore they have to read it. Generally, most people will call you back if you have included your facility phone number in the message. Those that don’t probably won’t pay you in the long run anyway.
Secondly, once setup the module can be triggered to be sent with NO user input from the staff onsite apart from completing Daily Processing. I have had feedback from numerous sites that the facility phone starts ringing with responses from the SMS messages before the manager can finish Daily Processing. Now that’s a result!
Thirdly, because these messages can also be sent on an ad-hoc basis through the customer interface, it also delivers a fantastic touch point device to reach out and either cheaply touch base with existing storers (so that they just don’t get a bill from you each month) but you can also use it in the sales and quoting module to launch storer specials and other promotions across a wide reaching front very easily. One word of caution here though, is that you will need to check the anti-spam laws in your state to see if you are contravening them in any way should you decide to do a big campaign.
All this for just $0.33 per message (prices quoted are in AUD for Australian customers; different prices apply for different regions; service may not be available in all regions, please contact us for details) …now that’s value for money! As the SMS system uses Advam, those people that already have a Storman account with Advam do not need to pay any setup costs for this service – just the cost of the messages themselves.
SMS is working for hundreds of others out there on a daily basis. Use the power of Storman & enhance your business! You’ll be glad you did.
