Sometimes I text the “wrong” person . . . on purpose. Just to start a conversation.

—Frank Warren, boxing manager and promoter

There is absolutely no doubt that text messaging is a powerful prospecting and communication tool in modern military recruiting. It’s fast and easy, and it’s the preferred communication tool for many of the prospects you engage. It’s not uncommon to make an outbound prospecting call on the telephone and have the prospect text you back with a question about who you are and what you want.

Text messaging is part of a balanced prospecting methodology. But there are some important rules. Rule one is that it must be used judiciously. Blasting text messages out indiscriminately can turn prospects off and hurt your personal brand. It can also get your number blocked—which means you lose both the text and phone channel for reaching the prospect.

People are averse to getting random text messages from people they don’t know—especially recruiters.

The people we text with are most often people we know. Text has become the go-to medium for communication with family and friends. People, including you and me, don’t want their text message in-boxes invaded by strangers. This is because it feels extremely personal.

Since texting is so personal, it can be a powerful channel for getting the attention of prospects. Because it so personal, though, your text messages can easily be interpreted as intrusions or violations of your prospect’s privacy. For this reason, timing and technique are more important than with any other prospecting channel.

What makes text messaging such a valuable prospecting channel is the total integration of mobile phones into the lives of your prospects. Your prospects might lose their keys or wallet, but they will never lose their phones. Their phones are with them 24/7. Your prospects sleep with them and eat with them. Your prospecting calls, e-mails, social in-box messages, and text messages all go through this single ubiquitous device.

Familiarity Is Everything with Text

We talk to strangers on the phone, e-mail strangers, and meet strangers in person, but we rarely text strangers. This is why, more than with any other prospecting channel, familiarity is critical for prospecting via text. The probability that your text message will convert—compel your prospect to take action—increases exponentially if your text comes after contact through another channel.

For example, when you are prospecting by phone, if you call a prospect multiple times—meaning that your prospect sees your number pop up on their screen on several occasions—the probability that they text you back goes up versus calling only once. When you meet a student at an event, talk to them in the hall, engage in a phone conversation, connect on social media, or meet them out in the community, texting becomes an appropriate channel.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t take a gamble on a text message to a hard-to-reach prospect when all other means have been exhausted. When you have nothing to lose, the chance of causing offense is worth the risk.

One key reason why text messages work is that most people feel compelled to read and/or respond to them immediately. This is why familiarity plays an important role in getting prospects to respond to your text messages (and not report you as spam or block your number completely).

Text messaging works best as an integrated part of a larger prospecting system and as part of a strategy rather than a standalone channel. According to a recent study,¹ a text message sent alone converts at 4.8 percent. That same message, if sent after a phone contact, increases conversion by 112.6 percent.

You can amplify that impact even further when your text message follows an e-mail contact or social media interaction. And you gain even more traction when your text follows a positive face-to-face interaction. The better the prospect knows you, the more effective your prospecting text message will be.

Use Text to Anchor Face-to-Face Conversations

Text messages are excellent vehicles for setting appointments following face-to-face interactions at school and community events and other situations where you’ve had a positive face-to-face encounter with a prospect. Many of these encounters end with a vague promise to get together sometime in the future. Yet most of those promises are never fulfilled because you get busy and fail to follow up, or your prospect gets busy and ignores your e-mails and phone calls.

Text messaging is a much easier, faster way to get through the noise, get their attention, and set up an interview. With text messaging it’s easier than ever to send a quick follow-up thank-you message and ask for the next step. Here’s what you do:

1. During your conversation, when you make the vague agreement to meet sometime in the future, casually ask for your prospect’s phone number and say, “Sounds good. I’ll text you my contact information so we can get together.” (It is highly unlikely they’ll protest if your conversation has been positive.)
2. As soon as you walk away from the conversation, send a social media connection request (if appropriate). This continues the process of building familiarity and, if your prospect accepts, opens up another communication channel.
3. Within 24 hours, send a text message thanking them for the conversation and request a meeting. Personalize it with information you gleaned during your conversation.
4. If you don’t get a response, try sending your text again a day later. In some cases, they won’t recognize your phone number and will ignore your initial attempt. They may also be busy and don’t get to it.
5. If your second attempt fails, shift to the phone and e-mail to make contact. It serves no purpose to create potential ill will by continuing to text.

Use Text to Nurture Prospects

Text messaging can play an integral role in nurturing prospects with whom you have a relationship but are not in the WEO or ready to make a commitment. A quick, value-added text message is an easy way to keep top of mind without seeming too intrusive.

For example, Petty Officer Second Class Burdett systematically leverages four prospecting channels—phone, e-mail, social, and text. He calls once a quarter to find out how his prospects are doing. He supplements those calls with monthly e-mails, direct messages, and text messages with links to articles and news about the Navy or sports or other things his prospects are interested in. He also follows his prospects on social media and, when appropriate, likes and shares their posts.

Burdett’s text message strategy works brilliantly. He reserves his best value-added information for text messages. Because he is familiar with his prospects’ interests and motivations, he often texts links to relevant articles, memes, and videos that he knows will grab their attention and interest. This often creates a short back-and-forth dialogue on an area of interest, which, in turn, maintains a connection with his best prospects.

Burdett’s strategy keeps his prospects engaged and nurtures the relationship. His text messages are appreciated and nonintrusive because they are valuable and personalized. Because of this, Burdett is always top of mind when his prospects are considering education and career paths.

Use Text to Create Opportunities for Engagement

Text messages are also well received when they make your prospect feel important. Short text messages sent to congratulate them on a milestone, an achievement, a sports team win, an individual accomplishment, an award or recognition, or something they posted on social media will get their attention.

Engagement text messages usually get a positive response as long as they are sincere, personalized, and free of direct solicitations for anything. The goal is simple: Give your prospect a reason to engage you in a conversation. You increase this possibility by making them feel important.

Seven Rules for Structuring Effective Text Prospecting Messages

For your text message to be effective, you need to engage your prospect and get them to take action in the blink of an eye. Packing your message into a small space requires you to be thoughtful, creative, and focused. It’s difficult to make an impact in 200 characters or less. There are seven rules for effective text messages:

1. Identify yourself. Never take for granted that your prospect has your information saved on their phone. As a best practice, include your name, rank, and branch at the top of the message. Example: [FROM—Jeb Blount—Fanatical Military Recruiting]
2. Message matters. What you say and how you say it carries impact. Be very careful that your tone is not misinterpreted in a negative way. Use complete sentences to avoid sounding abrupt, harsh, sarcastic, or flippant. Keep it professional at all times.
3. Be direct—be brief. Say exactly what you mean in clear, precise, well-written sentences using good grammar and spelling. Remember that this is a professional message and you are an NCO in the United States Military. Keep the text to one to four short sentences and less than 200 characters when possible. Avoid rambling, run-on sentences. Avoid using emoticons (some are inappropriate), and most important, you must be professional.
4. Avoid abbreviations. Avoid using abbreviations on text messages to prospects. Abbreviations like LOL, OMG, WTF, and others don’t come off as professional. Likewise, you should avoid acronyms and slang. Yes, I know that the folks you are texting use a lot of abbreviation. Yes, I know that you do the same with your friends and family. But this is not appropriate for professional text messages, and you don’t know who you might offend with a wrong abbreviation or who else (parents) may be reading your message.
5. Use transparent links. People are extremely suspicious of shortened hyperlinks. When you send URLs to prospects that link to articles or other resources, send the entire URL so they know where they are clicking.
6. Before clicking “send”—pause and read it again. Make this your rule when it comes to text messages (and, frankly, all written communications).
7. Know your numbers. Finally, as with all prospecting channels, know your numbers. Track the number of texts you send each day, the response rates, the conversions into interviews and, ultimately, enlistments.

• Do not text while driving—put the smartphone down!