Text My Customers? How Messenger Boosts Dealership Communication

Messenger, the built-in texting feature of Anvil Pro’s Dealer CRM solution, allows employees to communicate directly with customers, prospects, vendors, job candidates, and more via SMS and MMS—all from one place. More than just a “nice to have” feature, Messenger’s engagement, recording, and automation capabilities make it an essential component of Anvil Pro’s dealer intelligence platform, helping dealers increase engagement and sell more equipment. 

Here we’ll walk through just a handful of the nearly unlimited ways Messenger can be used at your dealership to strengthen external communication and enhance interactions, helping foster customer loyalty and paving the way for long-term success.

According to recent studies, texting has become the preferred way to communicate personally and its use by businesses continues to increase year-over-year. With open rates of nearly 98% vs. 20% with email, text messaging is the clear choice for businesses that want to engage customers and prospects where they are. But should dealers be concerned that sending text messages might impact the air of professionalism they strive to maintain when marketing and selling high-cost machinery?

It depends. A sales rep sending texts to a customer from their personal phone number isn’t likely to cause issues if they have already developed a relationship with that customer. But complications can arise when texting new customers or prospects, who might not recognize the sales rep’s number or connect it to their dealership. And as strong as any dealer-customer relationship might be, if the sales rep leaves the company, misplaces their phone, or is otherwise unable to communicate for any reason, the entire history of the rep’s interactions with that customer may be lost. Not to mention that other dealership employees might not even have access to that rep’s contact information or communication records, potentially disrupting the continuity of service. 

To optimize sales and marketing efforts, dealerships need to see all customer communication in one place. That’s where the Messenger feature in Anvil Pro’s CRM comes in. Unlike texting from personal phones, Messenger facilitates consistent communication between businesses and customers through a centralized platform, enabling smoother management of customer inquiries, prospecting, lead follow-ups, repair and service appointments, and other processes that rely on staying in contact with current and potential customers.

With Messenger, employees can call or send texts from their personal phone or computer using an official dealership number.This not only maintains professionalism but also creates a permanent record of all sent and received messages to and from a contact. These records are easily accessible to other team members, ensuring that even if an employee is unavailable or leaves the company, the dealership has a complete communication history to manage the customer relationship seamlessly.

Built directly into Anvil Pro, Messenger provides all these capabilities and more. Powered by Twilio, one of the very best business messaging APIs on the market, it’s easy to set up and start using immediately from within the platform. Read our blog introducing the core features of Messenger to learn more about these capabilities.

Because it records all interactions, using Messenger has benefits that extend well beyond engagement. Message records essentially create a communications paper trail, which can be crucial for resolving disputes or providing evidence should any legal issues arise over paperwork or contracts. This transparency also keeps all dealership employees accountable. 

Here is a short list of just a few of the countless ways Messenger can be used in routine processes to enhance engagement and foster collaboration across departments. We hope these ideas serve as inspiration for you to improve your strategies, invest in your future, and build innovation into every facet of your business.

Follow up with leads and prospects: Send messages to prospects who have recently received a quote to keep them engaged. Create text-messaging nurture campaigns based on user segments to send targeted messages to specific customer groups (e.g., “Send to: Every new person who has walked into our dealership in the past two weeks”) or even a series of messages based on specific conditions (e.g., “Auto-send message #2 if: Contact didn’t respond to first message after seven days”).

Forward offers and promotions on equipment: Using Messenger’s “Outreaches” feature, sales reps can quickly send SMS or MMS messages with exclusive equipment offers or promotions to segmented customer lists. By operating within a single platform, sales teams ensure all relevant prospects are engaged consistently, and interactions are recorded for future follow-ups or to refine marketing strategies.

Update customers about new inventory arrivals: Easily notify your customer base about newly arrived equipment or pre-orders via text, creating urgency and driving faster sales. Messenger makes it simple to access available stock units from Anvil Pro’s Inventory Manager and send alerts about availability in real time.

Provide financing and leasing information: Sales reps can send personalized financing and leasing options to customers directly from Messenger on their phone or computer, ensuring they have all the information needed to make an informed purchase. Messenger ensures transparency by keeping a log of these communications for future reference.

Confirm equipment service appointments: Send automated appointment reminders, reducing no-shows and keeping the shop schedule on track. Once service or maintenance is completed, technicians can notify customers immediately, ensuring a fast and transparent handoff.

Send reminders for regular maintenance checks: Proactively reach out to customers by sending reminders for upcoming maintenance based on equipment usage or time since the last service. 

Update customers on parts availability and order status: Quickly notify customers when a requested part arrives, keeping them informed about the status of their parts order, whether it's being processed, has been shipped, or is currently delayed. 

Send updates on equipment delivery status: Delivery teams can notify customers about the exact status of their equipment delivery. From shipping confirmation to delivery times, centralized messaging ensures customers are informed every step of the way.

Confirming delivery schedules: To prevent miscommunication, the app can be used to confirm delivery dates and times, ensuring both the customer and delivery team are aligned. All confirmations are permanently stored in the message records, providing a clear communication history in case of disputes.

Send satisfaction surveys and feedback requests: Following a sale or service order, request feedback from your customers with a text that helps you gauge and enhance customer satisfaction. 

Offer advice on equipment use and maintenance: Customer support can periodically send helpful tips to customers on how to best maintain or operate their equipment, fostering better customer relationships and increasing brand loyalty.

Provide warranty and service plan information: If customers inquire about legal or equipment-related documents, Messenger can be used to deliver this information directly. By keeping a record of all warranty-related communications, both the dealership and the customer benefit from a clear trail of interactions.

Forward invoicing and payment reminders: The finance team can send reminders for upcoming payments or invoice due dates directly through the app, reducing the likelihood of late payments. 

Keep customers aware of financing application status: Send timely notifications to keep customers in the loop about the progress of their financing applications.

Send announcements to employees: HR teams can use Messenger to quickly send internal updates or urgent announcements to individuals or segmented groups of employees. Alternatively, employees can send messages using the Chatter feature (included in every Anvil Pro subscription), an internal communication tool that fosters collaboration and keeps everyone on the same page. Learn more about how to overcome communication gaps at your dealership using Anvil Pro.

Coordinate interviews and onboarding: Human Resources employees can use Messenger to schedule job interviews and send onboarding instructions to new hires, ensuring that new employees receive all the necessary information in a timely manner.

As the above list illustrates, while Messenger excels at streamlining prospecting and sales efforts, it can be used in any process where improving efficiency and scope of customer communication is needed. Here are a few of the features built into Messenger that make it a powerful tool for facilitating both communications and purchasing.

Automated message logging: Messages from any dealership source are attached to the appropriate customer record as well as relevant work requisitions, quotes, and deals, ensuring critical customer information is not lost in personal phones or messaging system siloes. 

Automated data population: Messenger pulls important data from incoming messages and automatically populates forms and records appropriately using Anvil Pro’s connected data.

Message automation: In addition to automated Outreaches to customer segments, set automated messages to be triggered by specific prompts or text included in incoming messages, further streamlining communications. 

Send links and images: With MMS capability, messages can include links or pictures showcasing inventory pieces. When a customer inquires about the condition of a specific combine, a sales rep can simply walk out on the lot, take a picture, and send it to the customer. 

When it comes to boosting communication, driving sales, and improving operational efficiency, Anvil Pro is an equipment dealer’s go-to solution. By seamlessly integrating with both internal and external systems, Anvil Pro centralizes customer and operations data and inventory management into a single, easy-to-use platform. This unified approach empowers dealerships to streamline operations, enhance team collaboration, and deliver outstanding customer experiences. 

With Anvil Pro, you gain complete visibility and control, helping your dealership run smoother and more profitably. Ready to take the next step? Schedule a demo today and discover how a dealer intelligence platform like Anvil Pro can take your business to the next level.