When it comes to marketing for limo drivers, party bus operators, and others within the transportation industry, a lot of time and money is spent on getting leads. Once a prospective client finds your website and fills out a request form, what happens next is crucial.
Implementing the right follow-up protocol will have a huge impact on the number of leads you convert into actual sales. Keep reading to learn how you can improve your closing rate with automated SMS follow-up.
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Two Types of Follow-Up for Limo Companies
When it comes to follow-up communication for limo drivers, there are two distinct types of follow-up: pre-quote and post-quote. Let’s take a look at each and explore a potential automated follow-up strategy.
The Right Pre-Quote Follow-Up for Limo Companies
Pre-quote follow-up refers to communication you send to a potential client who requested a quote you haven’t given them yet. Factors like how long it takes for you to respond to them can greatly impact whether you convert that lead. Ideally, you’ll want to follow up as quickly as possible, even if you are not providing a quote right away.
There are various ways to approach pre-quote follow-up. What works best for you will depend on your personality. Perhaps you enjoy speaking to leads on the phone and consider yourself great at closing deals. If this is the case, you can respond to a quote request with an automated SMS to introduce yourself and let the client know they can expect a phone call from you shortly. It’s always a good idea to include your name and the phone number you’ll be calling from.
In my experience, most operators do not like getting on the phone to deal with “tire kickers” or bargain hunters. It’s far more common for operators to send an automated SMS right away to let the client know you are processing their quote, and then to follow up with another SMS containing the quote.
While some operators still prefer to do an email follow-up, I highly recommend using an automated SMS as well to ensure potential clients receive their emailed quotes. In my experience, you don’t really need to send a quote via email unless you are providing a complex quote, sending B2B correspondence, or if you operate charter buses or motor coaches and you are sending a high-ticket quote (think $9,000). Even so, you’ll still want to follow up with an SMS alerting your potential client that an email was sent, just in case it ends up in their spam folder or gets buried by incoming mail.
The Right Post-Quote Follow-Up for Limo Companies
Your post-quote follow-up strategy will determine how you follow up, how quickly you do so, and how many times you’ll send follow-up correspondence. Post-quote follow-up is crucial.
While some operators elect to follow up manually, if you are getting 20-40 quote requests a day, this can turn into a full-time job. That’s why I recommend using an automated app, like my ITechGloble app, or a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that allows you to enter a client into an automated follow-up sequence once they’ve been given a quote.
Automated Follow-Up With SMS
Here’s what an automated follow-up sequence might look like:
Four hours after giving a quote, the software sends out an SMS with a simple message like this:
“Hey there, it’s Mark from Mark’s Limos, I’m just checking to see if you have any questions about the quote?”
You can also automate a follow-up email. Some of my clients still get landline numbers in their quote forms, so we’ll send out an email about 15 mins after the SMS to capture those leads.
My biggest piece of advice for follow-up content is to personalize it and make it seem organic, rather than automated. That means including the client’s name, as well as your own name in the message. When texts are structured in this way, there is a 60–65% higher likelihood that potential clients will respond. If you send an email only, however, that likelihood plummets to 20–25%.
If your lead doesn’t respond, you can set the software to send another follow-up SMS 1–2 days later, followed by an email another 15 mins later. Staggering the messages in this way can make things seem more organic and less automated.
Here’s what a second follow-up message might say:
“Hi, this is Mark from Mark’s Limos, I just wanted to follow up with you again to see if you had questions or were interested in booking.”
At this point, you have technically followed up four times. If they still don’t respond, some operators leave it at that. The way I see it, you’ve invested money into gathering leads, and it’s worth giving it a final try.
To do so, you might set your automation software to send one final SMS and email follow-up 3–7 days after sending a quote, but this time, include an offer, such as 10–15% off on the ticket price. At this point, your lead is not very likely to respond, but it’s still worth trying. Perhaps someone is planning a vacation nine months out and not looking to book right away — you’ll still want them to remember you.
Remember, once you’ve set these parameters up in automation software, you will spend exactly zero time on sending out follow-up correspondence. The software will take care of it for you.
