Text and Sales

[billbenson]

I recently tried to sell a car on Craigslist. The ad had email, text, and phone as an option. I had some emails, but they were spam. I didn't get one phone call, everyone wanted to text. Almost like they were afraid to make a phone call. That took me by surprise.

I'm in the process of taking a B2B business I had several years ago live again. I haven't tried to sell in several years. I can't imagine corporate purchasing people texting, but maybe I'm just old. I'm going to use Grasshopper for my phone service. Do I need to incorporate texting? I have no idea if Grasshopper can accommodate texts...

[Harold Mansfield]

I recently tried to sell a car on Craigslist. The ad had email, text, and phone as an option. I had some emails, but they were spam. I didn't get one phone call, everyone wanted to text. Almost like they were afraid to make a phone call. That took me by surprise.

I'm in the process of taking a B2B business I had several years ago live again. I haven't tried to sell in several years. I can't imagine corporate purchasing people texting, but maybe I'm just old. I'm going to use Grasshopper for my phone service. Do I need to incorporate texting? I have no idea if Grasshopper can accommodate texts...

Lot of things in there...


First off, I've personally never used or trusted Craig's list and I would never purchase anything from anyone on it.
Funny enough, I did just purchase a Truck from a broker that I saw on Facebook marketplace. I don't know what options Craig's list has, but being able to see a lot of photos of the item was key.

Very few "business people" text me. There have been a few...even tried to send me photos and documents that way.... and I've been the one to set the standard that for business related things they need to call or email if they want me to see it. I have a phone number, a toll free number and have used the same email for over a decade. I'm not monitoring text messages too. Maybe that's the cranky old man in me, but so be it.

Phone and email is sufficient, and it's how grown ups do business. If your clientele is younger and lack the skills to handle business unless they're text messaging..you may want to think about leaning into that curve if it's doable in your specific situation.

I'm pretty sure Grasshopper does texts but I think it's an additional charge.

[turboguy]

I think it depends on the clientele you are dealing with. Much of my business is with landscapers but some is with homeowners and I do get a lot of texts with both categories. Way back I was on a plan with unlimited data but texts cost me 50 cents each. Since when I signed up I had never had anyone send me a text that sounded like a good deal. It turned out to be very expensive. Now I have limited internet and unlimited text for a lot less money. Texting is getting very common.

I like Craigslist. A lot of furniture in my house came from Craigslist. I bought a really fancy entertainment center that was 2K new for $ 400.00 and one of the coolest desks I have seen for $ 350.00. I have bought a lot of equipment like lawn tractors, etc on craigslist. Most were decent. The zero turn mower I bought was a piece of crap but all in all it was good. Sometimes I sell stuff there and plan to put a 20 foot flatbed trailer on there as soon as the new one arrives. The last time I sold a 4 year old similar trailer for $ 400.00 less than I had paid new. That is what I plan to ask for this one as well. When I need workers that seems to be a good place to advertise pretty reasonably as well.

[Fulcrum]

I've got a car hauler for sale right now and I've had both calls and texts from it, though more texts than calls. The worst part of selling this way I find is that the offers I've gotten for me to take half of what I'm asking so the buyer can turn around and sell it for my current price.

[tallen]

Our businesses are B2C not B2B, but we do have customers who will text. We are using a google voice phone number for one of the businesses, and we do advertise that customers can text that number -- and some customers will initiate contact that way.

In our other business, texting with customers only happens after we have established a close relationship and shared our personal cell numbers, since that business's phone number doesn't support texting.

We also text with our employees.

And there are several vendors that we often communicate with via text -- but again this is only after we have established a relationship and exchanged cell numbers.

As an aside, I have used Craig's List to buy and sell stuff a fair bit. Yes there are scammers , phishers, etc... out there, but I find it to be a decent online marketplace, not that different from Facebook, eBay, etc.... As a seller on Craig's List, you can control how much contact information you make available, and Craig's List does offer some relay services as well.

[turboguy]

I think the two things I like about Craigslist is that it is busy and does produce good results when you want to sell something and has a lot of offerings when you want to buy something. Of course another nice things for merchandise is that it is free. The biggest plus is it tends to be local. If you are looking for something that isn't easy to ship like a riding mower it is a much better option than Ebay which is not as focused on regions.

There are ways to buy and sell on Craigslist with reasonable safety such as their anonymous email service and you can always meet in a WalMart or Home Depot parking lot or someplace like that.

[billbenson]

First off, I've personally never used or trusted Craig's list and I would never purchase anything from anyone on it.

@Harold - I've bought a number of things on Craigslist. I bought a weight machine several years ago, a $2k machine for $600 in good shape. I bought my current car there. Unless you want to go to a dealer, I really don't know where else I would go for a used car. Sure there are scams, but those are everywhere. You just need to use the usual precautions you would use taking credit cards or whatever.

It sounds like I don't need to worry about texting which is good. It really just took me by surprise trying to sell this car that nobody wanted to use a telephone for a phone call.