When a new lead doesn't answer your call, text them right away from the number you just called from. Say who you are, name what they asked about, and ask one question they can answer in a word. Then follow a set schedule of calls and texts, so no lead depends on someone remembering to follow up.
The scene is familiar to any sales manager. A lead fills out a form, a rep calls within minutes, and nobody picks up. The rep leaves a voicemail, maybe sends an email, and moves on to the next lead. By the time anyone tries again, the lead has talked to someone else.
We're voice-first at Callingly for a reason: the call is where deals actually close. The hard part is getting the lead to pick up, and that's the job texting does best: it tells the lead who's calling, and it gives them an easy way to answer when they can't take the call.
Why the Text Gets Read When the Call Gets Missed
Most people screen calls now. In a Pew Research Center survey of 10,211 U.S. adults in July 2020, eight in ten said they generally don't answer their cellphone when an unknown number calls. Only 19% said they do. So a missed first call is the normal case, not a sign the lead has gone cold.
A text lands where the lead is already looking. Textline's roundup of business texting stats puts the open rate for text messages at 98%. Selling Power reports an average response rate of 45% for texting and an average reply time of 90 seconds. A lead who won't pick up a call from a number they don't know will often read a text from it.
What to Text a Lead Who Didn't Answer Your Call
Send it right after the call, from the same number, while the lead still remembers filling out the form. On its own, a missed call from an unknown number looks like spam. A text from that number saying who you are turns it into a call they were expecting. A text from a different number just reads like a second stranger.
Put three things in it:
- Who you are and where you're from.
- What they asked about, in their words: the address, the quote, the service.
- One question they can answer in a word or a time.
For example: "Hi Dana, it's Sam from Brightline Insurance. I just tried you about your auto quote. Is later today better, or tomorrow morning?"
Keep it to one segment, like that example at 128 characters. A single SMS holds 160 standard (GSM-7) characters, and one emoji switches the whole message to an encoding that holds 70 (Twilio). Anything longer is split into more segments, and Callingly bills texts per segment, so a two-segment text costs twice as much as a one-segment one. Save the emoji for the group chat.
Then keep going. One missed call and one text is a single attempt, not follow-up. A simple sequence: a call and a text the minute the lead arrives, another call a few hours later with a text if it goes unanswered, then a call the next day at a different time of day. The exact steps are yours to pick.
Text only leads who asked to hear from you, and stop when someone replies STOP. Our guide to texting new insurance leads covers consent, carrier registration and five first-text templates, and our post on the automated call and text combo covers the text that goes out before the first call.
When the lead replies, that's your window. "Can't talk, in a meeting" or "call me after 5" is the conversation you were trying to start. If they're free now, call right back. If they named a time, call then, not before. If they just can't talk, offer two times, the way your first text did.
The Manual Texting Trap
At this point, many sales managers think, "Great, I'll just tell my team to text more." That rarely lasts, because texting by hand at scale is:
- Time-consuming: Reps get bogged down typing out individual messages, which takes them away from the calls that close deals.
- Untrackable: Texts sent from personal or company cell phones rarely make it into the CRM, so you can't see who was contacted or when.
- Easy to miss: When a hot lead texts back but the assigned rep is on another call or in a meeting, the moment of interest passes.
Texting only works for every lead if the texts go out on their own, on the same schedule as your calls, with no one having to remember. It also needs someone to answer replies, even while your team is busy.
How Callingly Runs the Call-and-Text Follow-Up
Callingly's AI Agent calls new leads within seconds during your team's call hours, and texts are steps in the same sequence, so calls and texts run on one schedule:
- A text the moment a lead arrives, with separate wording for inside and outside your team's hours.
- A text right before a call, so the lead knows who's calling. This works on AI calls too.
- A text after each unanswered call attempt, and one when your team doesn't answer.
- Each text can pull in the lead's name, the sender, the lead owner and your custom fields.
You set each of these up as a step in your team's sequence. On AI-only accounts, each text goes out from a number picked the same way as the call's. If your calling number can text, the lead sees the call and the text come from one number. Calls and automated texts to leads in the US and Canada go out only between 8 AM and 9 PM in the lead's time zone (read from their phone number by default, or your account's time zone if you choose it). The sequence ends when its last step has run.
When a lead texts back, Callingly's AI SMS agent can answer. It replies from what you've told your AI agent about your business, and it stays on two topics, your business and getting a call set up:
- If the lead says they can talk now, it starts a call that connects them with an available rep, as long as your team is inside its hours and someone is free. If not, it offers to schedule one.
- If they'd rather talk later, it proposes a time, and once they confirm, it schedules the callback for then.
Your reps pick up the phone for leads who are ready to talk, and the AI keeps the rest of the follow-up moving.